04-28-2007, 07:40 PM
04-30-2007, 07:40 PM
M, I agree that the idea of AS culture is more similar to Deaf Culture than to traditional ethnic cultures.
Here's a piece I read on Deaf Culture -- I agree with you that there are parallels:
From For Hearing People Only: Third Edition, Chapter 55:
One possible definition of U.S. Deaf culture (and there must be many!) is a social, communal, and creative force of, by, and for Deaf people based on American Sign Language (ASL). It encompasses communication, social protocol, art, entertainment, recreation (e.g., sports, travel, and Deaf clubs), and worship. It’s also an attitude, and, as such, can be a weapon of prejudice—“You’re not one of us; you don’t belong.”
Despite the mighty efforts of generations of oralists [interesting term...], deaf people still prefer to communicate and mingle with their own kind. That is the psychosocial basis of Deaf culture. Deaf people in the United States have staunchly resisted the unstinting attempts of oralists to eradicate the use of sign language and assimilate them into the hearing mainstream. The simple fact is that deaf people who attend the common residential schools for the deaf—no matter what mode of communication is forced on them in the classroom—tend to seek out other deaf people and communicate in sign language. This is true, to some extent, in other countries, but the U.S. arguably has the most sophisticated and creative—and public—Deaf culture of any.
Note that “Deaf culture” is a positive term, indicative of pride and a communal identity, whereas terms like “hearing-impaired” and “deafness” do not connote any particular pride or sense of community. There are oralists (deaf as well as hearing) who deny that there is such a thing as Deaf culture. They prefer to see it as an artificial political construct formulated in recent times, more of a self-conscious, posturing attitude than a reality. This view denies the importance of ASL to Deaf people.
Deaf people who claim a culturally “Deaf” identity compare themselves to members of other ethnic communities. “We have a language; we have a culture,” they say. Opponents of this view don’t see deaf people as members of an ethnic minority but simply as handicapped persons, people with a hearing loss, people with a hearing disability, audiological patients.
Here's a piece I read on Deaf Culture -- I agree with you that there are parallels:
From For Hearing People Only: Third Edition, Chapter 55:
One possible definition of U.S. Deaf culture (and there must be many!) is a social, communal, and creative force of, by, and for Deaf people based on American Sign Language (ASL). It encompasses communication, social protocol, art, entertainment, recreation (e.g., sports, travel, and Deaf clubs), and worship. It’s also an attitude, and, as such, can be a weapon of prejudice—“You’re not one of us; you don’t belong.”
Despite the mighty efforts of generations of oralists [interesting term...], deaf people still prefer to communicate and mingle with their own kind. That is the psychosocial basis of Deaf culture. Deaf people in the United States have staunchly resisted the unstinting attempts of oralists to eradicate the use of sign language and assimilate them into the hearing mainstream. The simple fact is that deaf people who attend the common residential schools for the deaf—no matter what mode of communication is forced on them in the classroom—tend to seek out other deaf people and communicate in sign language. This is true, to some extent, in other countries, but the U.S. arguably has the most sophisticated and creative—and public—Deaf culture of any.
Note that “Deaf culture” is a positive term, indicative of pride and a communal identity, whereas terms like “hearing-impaired” and “deafness” do not connote any particular pride or sense of community. There are oralists (deaf as well as hearing) who deny that there is such a thing as Deaf culture. They prefer to see it as an artificial political construct formulated in recent times, more of a self-conscious, posturing attitude than a reality. This view denies the importance of ASL to Deaf people.
Deaf people who claim a culturally “Deaf” identity compare themselves to members of other ethnic communities. “We have a language; we have a culture,” they say. Opponents of this view don’t see deaf people as members of an ethnic minority but simply as handicapped persons, people with a hearing loss, people with a hearing disability, audiological patients.
Pages: 1 2