posted 05-30-2004 08:45 PM         

quote:

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Originally posted by Ezekiel 25:17:
I am new member of thirteen, whoa! Please welcome me.

I am deaf and grew up in mainstream and took deaf studies (the most boring class) for requirement in college. What is deaf culture mean? (Sorry for using small "d") Why must large "D"?? That’s sound ridiculous, how about big "H" as hearing, Big "W" as wheelchair, eh? What about big "B" as blind. Wheelchair and blind dont have any own culture, hmm?

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it's ironic your grammar is closer to being ASL than english, and ASL is the language that emerged from the deaf culture in america.

it doesn't matter what's being capitalized, in my opinion. deaf culture is just a collection of common experiences, going back for generations. this is not a complicated concept, and it is not something artifical that some random group invented. there is probably a blind culture, but i would guess they're not as widespread and not as rich since the blind people are already capable of speaking the same language of whatever dominant culture there is, american or asian to name examples.

deaf people exposed to their own culture tend to be more emotionally mature than those not. i'm not really qualified to say why this would be, but i guess the culture gives them a chance to socialize more and this of course gives them more experiences in what interactions are proper.

try being intelligent sometimes, it's an enjoyable thing to be.

posted 07-06-2004 08:54 AM         

I'm doing research for a Deaf Culture class on how Deaf Culture is changing to take in late-deaf adults who use English, not ASL, word order; new signs as "slang" words or social changes or new technologies (DVDs, hand-held computers, etc.) emerge; new ways of being Deaf, as cochlear implants and scientific research change the physical realities/possibilities.

I'm not wanting to talk about the good or bad of implants--this is more on how the implants are changing how Deaf kids are being assimilated into Deaf and hearing cultures, or if they're being left out of both.

Thanks for any help!

If you want to reply off line, my e-mail is salauthor@yahoo.com.

posted 10-31-2006 08:57 AM         

My understanding of the distinction between /deaf/ and /Deaf/ is that the first is a medical diagnosis and the second is a signifier of identity and of language preference.

It is by no means possible for all deaf people to learn to lipread and to speak. The amount of effort spent attempting to teach these skills to children who cannot hear detracts from other aspects of their education. There is good evidence that teaching kids Sign and then teaching them other subjects through Sign is generally better. There may be some few exceptions. (This applies to those born deaf or prelingually deafened. It is hardly possible to be born Deaf: the newborn do not have a language preference or a culture.)

Now, some of the reading I've done suggests that Deaf culture is a bit insular, and that the Deaf-World can be a claustrophobic place, where everyone lives in everyone else's lives, and where people are judged for their family background or language skills, not for their personal characteristics. It also seems (again from my reading) that some Deaf people are a bit paranoid about the hearing world.

The two or three Deaf people I know are not like that, and one at least has a great sense of humour and is perfectly happy to joke with hearing people. And all the Deaf people I know are eager to help those of us who are trying to learn ISL.