I have seen comments like this from deaf people before and I always find it interesting that within the deaf culture, being deaf is seen not as a disability that should be accepted but as something that should be embraced entirely. Being deaf it seems is not a disability you have to suffer with; it's a culture you belong to. I remember reading about the American Sign Language community being vocal against cochlear implants, including children born to hearing parents. I don't know enough about deaf culture or implants to comment on whether their stance is just but it at least hints at a parochial culture which you cant be a part of if you don't play by the rules.8 – Oh, are you going to get that implant thing to fix your hearing?
Besides the fact that this question assumes that something is wrong with me that needs to be fixed, it’s a really personal, complicated question.
I share your impressions. I thought this might be interesting to people for various reasons, but if I'm honest, as an outsider to deaf culture, I found some of the rationales rather bizarre. For example: It's so dismissive of the ability to hear. I can't grasp that. I mean, it's so important to me in ways more fundamental than "hearing birds chirp, or whatever." It's all well and good to be part of a culture that provides support and acceptance, but being against cochlear implants for children who have a good chance of living in a way that reduces hardship for their parents seems . . . odd, at least from my point of view.and b) the fact that they like hearing birds chirp, or whatever.
Yep. Just to be clear I'm not trying to knock deaf culture, hopefully someone on hubski who has more experience can offer their opinion on how it operates. It looks to me that if you are a deaf person there is a large amount of pressure on you from other people within the culture to avoid getting an implant. If I was deaf and the choice of getting an implant means I lose my friends or am shunned from a culture that provides me support then that's a very difficult choice to make. It seems this article hints around that.
I think it certainly does. Like you, I'm not trying to disparage deaf culture. I certainly found some of the items in the list to be informative. Another thing that struck me was how the lines were drawn, that is to say, this list made it more apparent to me that there is a very real cultural divide between deaf culture and the larger culture. I have only limited knowledge of ASL, but I understand that the grammar is very different from spoken English. The way in which we communicate primes us to take certain cues for granted. Certainly, I think that though people tend to focus on content and tone in spoken exchanges, much of what we "say" face-to-face is communicated via other vocalizations that are not part of speech as well as the "tone" of our body language and gestures. I wonder if there's any way to bridge the gap between deaf culture and the culture at large. If there is, I then wonder if there would be resistance from either side.
This is a really good point, I have on occasion called my boss a bastard to his face but because my tone was playful the message was received as I intended. When I ask my wife whats wrong and she says "Nothing." I know I'm in trouble. We do it without thinking, imagine how difficult it is for a deaf person to communicate with a hearing person who is constantly using tone to increase the amount of information they send when speaking. That has to be tough. It may go a long way to explaining why there is such a divide between the two groups.much of what we "say" face-to-face is communicated via other vocalizations that are not part of speech as well as the "tone" of our body language and gestures