The Deaf Community

It is my belief that never is there a community that is so diversity as the Deaf Community.

The very word “deaf” can mean different things.

The word “deaf” – written in a lower case "d" refers to a hearing disability. This word can be found in the medical world and to people who either talk or acquired deafness in childhood or adult.

The word “Deaf” – written in a capital "D" is normally for those who use British Sign Language (BSL) and adopt the Deaf Culture and norms, which differ from hearing community.

In the Deaf Community one can expect to find the following views:

• Celebrating BSL. This form a very strong part of the Deaf Community.
• General rejection of the cochlear implants and sometimes hearing aids. This is because deafness is then seen as something that needs to be “fixed”.
• Rejection of oralism.
• Do not use words like “hard of hearing” and “hearing-impaired” as they have no intention to be regarded as a “hearing” person. They are proud to be Deaf.

BSL has its own grammar and rules that are not related to speech. Some hearing impaired people may used Signed English, where the grammar is similar to speech. Therefore the purpose of Signed English is to support speech and its grammar.

There are also different levels of hearing loss. Deaf or Hearing Impaired is the general description of hearing lose. There are “hard of hearing”, “and partially deaf” for those who do not have a great deal of hearing loss. “Severely deaf” and “profoundly deaf” is someone with a greater hearing loss, thus is more deafer than hearing.

There are some Deaf people who are so proud of their culture that they reject the deaf people who do not uphold the Deaf community views. Likewise, there are deaf people who do not want to be seen using sign language. I find this really sad, because at the end of the day, we all have a hearing problem/are deaf and faced communication problems and discrimination at some point in our lives.

I think we really should pull together, as the old saying goes “United we stand, Divided we fall”.

We should celebrate our diversity, as not many hearing people gets the change to be bi-lingual, bi-cultural, having to switch between the deaf and hearing worlds. If only they could be so fortunate.

Deaf power or not?

Quick background history, I am not sure when it was discovered that deaf children could be taught to communicate via sign language, but up to 1880 deaf children was educated in sign language and could communicate in sign language.

On 6 to 11 September 1880, the Milan congression education of the deaf, passed a resolution that oral education was better than manual (sign) education and signing was banned. Thus begun the 100 odd years of oppressions, in the educational establishment.

By early 1980's sign language was making a comeback, it started a debate on pros and cons of sign language v speech language.

In 1989, the National Deaf Children's Society published a series of letters on this subject in their "TALK" magazine. Most of these people were hearing professionals or hearing parents of deaf children. Most of them supported the speech method of communication.

I felt I had to give my view as a deaf person. Although I was proud that my letter was published, the interesting thing was that in the follow magazine, professionals and hearing parents of deaf children there still deliberating each other's view but not mine.

A deaf child has no voice, as he/she is not legally an adult and so cannot make a formal choice. Yet, I was an adult at the time and it did alarm me to see that my view was not taken into consideration. No one ever took up my comments. I could not help but think I had no say in this matter. That was a scary thought. It was like, to think I have no control over my life.

What is the real disability?

There may be certain oppressions that I can face.

It can be an environmental factor, such as access to information that is provide verbally. There are people's attitudes, where I could be seen as something to be pitied at, or a brave soul. Finally the institutions; such as the education system, the medical institutions and social services departments.

There are two ways of looking at deafness; the medical model and the social model.

The medical model determines that deaf people cannot function in a society because of their hearing lost. For example:-

I could not go to my local school because my DEAFNESS requires special needs.

The social model says that deaf people cannot operate in society because the environment is constructed for hearing people. So for example:-

I could not go to my local school because the AUTHORITY was not prepared to pay for the equipment I needed.

So of the two models, the social model is easier to adapt and to overcome obstacles.

Thankfully, things have improved since I was a child, we still got some way to go, but I think things are looking up.

For me it is not my deafness that is the disability but rather how society perceives me. So I would say please look at the person, look at the ability not the disability.

For all that, when I look at myself and my deafness, I think, "I'm alright Jake!"

Deafness

I believe that deafness is the least understood disability, due to a number of factors.

It is hard for a hearing person to try and image what it is like not to hear, especially not to hear the sound of his/her own voice when speaking.

Deafness is not only a hearing disability; it is also a communication disability. A Deaf person who signs will either have an interpreter with them, sign slowing, mouthing the words or resorted to reading and writing to a non signer.

A deaf person who used speech to communicate will have to lip-read, to have someone to act as an interpreter to repeat in a clear fashion of what is being said or even replying on pen and paper.

This has an impact on social life. Communicating with someone who does not know how to sign or understand the important of speaking clearly knocks the pleasure of mixing with people. So it should not come as a surprised if people with a hearing loss stick with their own kind.

It is not my intention to paint deafness in a negative light, each deaf person copes in their own manner and all leads rewarding lives. My statement here is to point out that deafness is a double edged sword, as it is both a hearing and communication disability.

Personally, I am not ashamed to be deaf. I think my deafness brings out the fighter in me and I am stronger for that. I believe life is what you make of it. I remember reading this quote or statement from somewhere, "Don't let what you can't do, get in the way of what you can do."

There is no better advice.

Welcome to Nicola's deaf blog!

One of my "50 things to do before I die" was to write a book or something like that. I think most of us do, you know to make a mark in life. I do not think my written English is good enough, but I thought there is nothing to stop me from writting a blog.

As the only deaf person born to a hearing family, I have one main aim for this blog, to try and give a peep of what it is like to be deaf to hearing parent/s of a deaf child or children, but anyone can read my blog.

I hope you will enjoy reading my blog.