deaf culture- chapter 3

Prevalence of Hearing Loss

- Approximately 17% of the population, or 36 million people in the United States is hearing loss including both deaf and hard-of-hearing people, according to the textbook. That data research is based on between 1999-2004. - Not every deaf person uses sign language or participates in events and organizations sponsored by the Deaf community. Majority of deaf people do not affiliate themselves with the Deaf community because they became deaf later in life. For example, a person who lost his/her hearing in 50s or 60s would probably not identify with Deaf culture nor participate in the Deaf community.

The 90% Formula

--Deaf people are born to hearing parents --Hearing parents have had never experience with deaf people prior to give birth of their deaf child --Deaf adults have hearing children --Hearing parents are unable to communicate with their deaf child --Deaf children are unable to achieve intelligible speech in spite of years of intensive therapy --Children who are deaf at birth chose sign language, even they learned in oral at little. -It applies to the cultural aspects of the Deaf community. --Deaf families with deaf children use sign language --Deaf children with Deaf parents attend a signing school like school for the deaf or large deaf programs --Marriage of Deaf people It relates to other aspects of Deaf people's lives. --Deaf signers were former oralists. --Currently, deaf children doe not attend school for the deaf. --Deaf children do not benefit from bilingual-bicultural program. --Deaf children have delay language acquisition in spite of hearing aids and assistive technology. Also, they do not get language accessible at hearing parents' home.

Other Terms & Labels

Acceptable --Deaf --Hard of hearing --Late-deafened Not Acceptable --Deafies --Deaf and dumb --Deaf mute --Dummy --Hearing challenged --Hearing disabled --Individual with deafness

Toward a Better Description - Linguistic Minority

Deaf people often perceive themselves as more similar to members of various linguistic minority groups than to people with disabilities. The new term "DeaF" was proposed by Bauman (2008) and has not replaced Deaf as the primary name for this group of people.

Distinction of deaf/Deaf

In 1980s, the the term of capitalizing "d" in Deaf has been used in the literature. The non-capital letter of deaf is to imply that people who does not choose to participate in the Deaf community and embrace Deaf culture. The term "Deaf" is defined to characterize deaf individuals to use ASL as their primary mode of communication and identify with Deaf culture, and participate in the Deaf community.

Hearing

Most non-deaf people would not describe themselves, but Deaf community uses the term "hearing" to describe people who are not deaf or hard of hearing. In the same way, Black people refer non-black people as "white", and Gay people call non-gay people "straight". Deaf students at a school for the deaf often called the opponents during an athletic competition "hearing" even if the competing team was from another school for the deaf.

Naming as a Liberating Factor

Some colleges and universities have designated the names. Black Studies ---> African American Studies It is impossible to draw the line between deaf and hard-of-hearing people. There is no one uniform type of hearing loss. Federal and state governments have designated specific requirements in order for a person to receive services such as special education, vocational rehabilitation, or other agencies. As a benchmark, the lower dB level a person has 0-20 dB reflecting the typical hearing.

Hearing-But

The HEARING-BUT label by Deaf community is for hearing people who have a positive attitude toward Deaf people and a deep respect for Deaf culture. HEARING-BUT individuals who have fluent ASL skills have gone out of their way to support Deaf people are a positive difference from the majority of hearing individuals who have little or no understanding of or sensitivity toward Deaf culture.

Common Labels

The five common labels are used to identify a person's status and affiliation within the Deaf community. --Hearing-Impaired --Deaf --Hard of Hearing --Hearing --Hearing-But In the early 1970s, the disabled community attempted to replace the negative connotations associated with disabled people in general. Terms such as visually impaired, developmentally delayed, and physically challenged were popularized during that time. However, the Deaf community never accepted this artificially created and politically correct term because the "impaired" as the part of identity did not seem well with many Deaf people.

Deaf

The general public's perception of deaf people is their inability to hear and the "isolation" of the deaf individual, but this is not how Deaf people's perceive themselves. The term "deaf" usually describes inability to hear well, but in the Deaf community, its definition is more socially oriented. Arden Neisser (1983) points out, "no living creature organizes its behavior around something it does not have." James Woodward (1972) became the first scholar to propose the use of the capital "D." It is used for Deaf people use sign language for their primary mode of communication. Deaf individuals in the Deaf world should be designated with capitalized Deaf. Bauman (2008) proposed the perhaps the "F" in Deaf should also be capitalized to reflect the fluidity both the Deaf and hearing worlds on a daily basis. "The DeaF position is to be aspired to where one's identity is bilingually and biculturally fluid and fluent." The label has not been labeled widely used in Deaf community.

Influence of Deaf Culture on Families

The presence of a deaf person in a family and the accompanying influence of the "Deaf Way" on that family usually last only three generations, affecting the Deaf individual, his or her parents, and his or her children. Parents are forced to adjust family dynamics in order to better integrate the child into the family when a deaf child is born. Using sign language by parents can accomplish their deaf child. Parents of deaf child install the visual systems like doorbell, phone signals, and use communication devices such as videophones at home. Frequently, a deaf child is isolated in a hearing environment until he or she becomes an adult and brings home the new solutions for effective living-acquired through contact with Deaf individuals Deaf parents usually have their own typical hearing children to be influenced by Deaf culture at home. They are identified as Children of Deaf Adults (CODA). Deaf Adults can be both parents or one parent. Hearing children usually live in both worlds: Deaf and hearing cultures. They acquire ASL as their first language at home, with English as a second language. Hearing children may be enlisted to act as go- betweens or interpreters for their parents from a young age. Deaf families who give birth to deaf children are totally different from those of hearing families. Deaf children of Deaf parents have the benefit of ready-made solutions. Deaf babies are provided with a fully accessible language through ASL, a barrier-free communication system via signing. Deaf parents keep up a steady stream of signing to their babies, just as hearing parents expose their hearing children to spoken language. Deaf children with Deaf parents tend to be ranked superior to those from hearing families in academics, personal and social development, language acquisition in both English and ASL, communication skills and career aspirations.

Membership in the Deaf Community

The social position of deaf and hard-of-hearing can change depending on how they respond to hearing loss at particular times in their lives. In 1980, Baker-Shnek and Cokely proposed a model identifying four domains that Deaf people must satisfy in order to achieve a comfortable place in the Deaf community. Baker-Shenk and Cokely proposed, theorized, and posited the diagram model about people's attitude toward the Deaf community. The four domains --Audiological --Linguistic --Political --Social A person needs to possess a hearing level that is different from typical hearing person, use sign language, have Deaf friends, and interest in the well-being and integrity of Deaf community in order to fully accepted in the Deaf community. An appropriate attitude that a Deaf person must exhibit toward Deaf culture and the community of Deaf people in order to claim and enjoy membership in the Deaf community. A profoundly deaf person can be easier into the place in the Deaf community than someone appears to be hard of hearing. A person who is fluent in ASL will not have problems assimilating into the deaf community compared to a novice signer, and very involved in the Deaf social scene will be welcomed more readily than a person who has a very few Deaf friends. A person who is not interested in the Deaf community can be audiological on basis of Deaf people's attitudes and views.

Hard of Hearing

The term "hard of hearing" is frequently used in the Deaf community to describe whose who have some use of their residual hearing and apparently vague. The reason for this ambiguity is opposite to Deaf and hearing. Frequently, Deaf people's views are that hard of hearing's signals experiences that are closer to those of hearing people. A person who has a lot of residual hearing or the speech ability functions well in the Deaf community belongs the three components (Deaf, Social, and Political). A deaf student can be labeled as hard of hearing when he or she prefers. In other way, hard of hearing students who grew up in a school for the deaf or large deaf programs can be labeled as Deaf.