Deaf Culture Book Summary: Chapter 1 Deaf Community Past and Present PDF

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Book Notes/Summary for Deaf Culture chapter 1...

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Deaf Culture Book Notes Chapter 1: Deaf Community: Past and Present ● A capital D in Deaf = member of Deaf Culture. ● Lowercase d in deaf = someone with major hearing loss

● While culture = the values, beliefs and practices of a group of people.

● Deaf Culture = the beliefs, mores, artistic expressions, behaviors, understanding, and language expressions that Deaf people use. ● In Deaf culture, being deaf is automatically accommodated and is the positive default. There are cultural exchanges, a common resilience, socialization, and a protective and complete space for the deaf community using their own visual language. Within this culture, people are living full lives, often with no desire to hear. ○ Many are born into Deaf culture, from their Deaf parents. ○ Others (born from hearing parents) join later in life ● Deaf Culture as a term became popular only in the 1980s, after the book Deaf in America: Voices from a Culture was published ● Negative Labels ○ Auditory Handicap ○ Hearing Impaired ○ Hearing Handicapped ○ Deaf Mute ○ Prelingually Deaf ○ Deaf and Dumb ○ These labels are negative as they look at being Deaf as only a “loss of hearing”, someone who is disabled (w/ the connotations of broken, missing, and wrong). When many individuals within Deaf culture do not consider themselves disabled in any way. ● Not Disabled but... ○ Instead, Deaf culture wants their members to be labeled as “people who primarily use vision, sometimes supported by audition to communicate and interact with others”.

○ Using the labels Deaf and Hard of Hearing ● The Larger Deaf Community ○ The larger deaf community is extremely diverse, just like any other. Filled with diverse deaf members and diverse groups, there are also multiple communities within the larger community. ■ Aspects of Diversity: ● Local Geographic Area ● Religions ● Political Opinions ● Socioeconomic Status ● Sexual Orientation. ● Levels Of Education ● Country Or Origin ● Levels Or Hearing Loss ● Use Of Spoken Languages ● Additional Disabilities (sensory, physical, cognitive, learning, reading, or psychosocial disabilities) ■ Fundamental Similarities ● using signed languages ● being upfront as a Deaf person ● being comfortable with other Deaf people ● wanting to interact with them ○ Deaf Children of Culturally Deaf Parents (A group within the deaf community)

■ Children raised within the community ■ Surrounded with sign language, Deaf social events (festivals, conventions, sporting events) since birth ■ The children can be raised focused in Deaf culture (almost exclusively sign), bilingual and bicultural (using both spoken language and sign), or using only spoken language ○ Deaf Children of Hearing Parents (A group within the deaf community) ■ ~ 96% of deaf children are born to hearing parents ■ These parents are shocked to learn their child is deaf (going through stages of anger, grief, denial, and possibly doctor shopping) they must learn how to communicate with their child ● They do not know any sign language and only some learn ■ These children will either enter Deaf culture through meeting Deaf individuals later in life, or stay within the hearing community ○ Hearing Members in Deaf families (A group within the deaf community) ■ Hearing siblings of deaf children ■ Hearing children of deaf adults (CODAs) ■ Hearing partners of deaf individuals ■ These members are often bilingual (sign and spoken language) and connect with the deaf community ○ Hard-of-Hearing Individuals (A group within the deaf community) ■ These people can still hear to a degree

■ The culture they are most comfortable with often depends on their parents, of course, others don’t follow their parents’ culture ● Some with Deaf parents will be comfortable within the Deaf Culture and the deaf community ● Some with hearing parents will want to be hearing and avoid the deaf community ○ Many will struggle to find their place, and not all HoH folk will learn a sign language ○ Late-Deafened Individuals (A group within the deaf community) ■ Folk who become deaf past the age of 18 ■ This loss of hearing may be sudden or gradual ■ These individuals were already adults within the hearing community, and many will grieve their hearing loss (often first looking for auditory aids) ■ Some will learn to sign and join the deaf community ○ Deafblind Persons (A group within the deaf community) ■ Folk who are both deaf and blind ■ Some are born blind and deaf, other lose one or both senses as they age due to a variety of reasons ■ These individuals communicate mainly via touch, some will join the DeafBlind community ■ While some do learn sign, many members of the deaf community fear losing their vision and are uncomfortable around DeafBlind folk ● Stats

○ Worldwide: ~ 360 million deaf and HoH individuals ○ US: 17% of the population (36 million) ○ From Schools in the US: there are increasing numbers of deaf Latinx and Asian students, while the numbers of African American and Native American deaf students are stable ■ All of these minority groups are expected to together become the new majority of deaf individuals w/in the US...