All that i can ever be is nothing more than myself
RSSPosts tagged with "deaf culture"
it bothers me when hearing people start preaching about Deaf culture.
there is a difference between educating someone and full out preaching.
it bothers me when i see hearing people who think themselves allies write things like, “Deafness is not a disability! and screw all stupid ignorant parents who force their poor deaf child to be isolated and grow up alone!”
some d/Deaf people DO consider themselves disabled. and thats not a bad thing. its a persons identity. and theirs to choose. and yeah, some parents are uneducated about Deaf culture, or even deafness in general, but that means they are just as uneducated as you were at some point its not your job to call them out as being horrible. and growing up oral doesnt mean a child needs your pity. instead advocate for the childs right to equal access to everything.
a better way to say something like that is, “Deaf culture does not view being Deaf as a disability. It is important to educate parents of deaf children on the ways of Deaf culture so that they can provide their child with the best access to language.” then refer them to such and such d/Deaf person.
d/Deaf/ HOH people are all different. and its not your job as an ally to preach, educate and refer yes, but i see ASL students getting all huffy and offended and angry and going over board with out any acknowledgement from any d/Deaf people, and often they say things offensive to deaf and HOH people. You get angry? think about how we feel, we live it.
reasons why its important to teach inclusively about d/Deaf/HOH people in Deaf studies classes. and to teach how students should react to lack of Deaf knowledge in the hearing community.
ASL with “FF-want?”
From a recent Skype video chat from a friend of mine, Andrew mentioned he’d like to see ASL as a required language in schools all over the country. Hmmm. He got me thinking (and thinking is something I don’t do often — so pay attention, this is going to be good).
Now that I think about it, high schools offer a lot of foreign languages. Spanish, French, German, Russian, Latin — whoa, waitaminute. Latin? With all due respect to the classics, what use does the average high school student have for Latin?
SIGNLINGOPHOBIA
(Note; this is not an official word but a playword. I originally came up with signphobia. Apparently, it seems signphobia means fear of sign boards or ad boards.)
Now you’re thinking, what the heck is signlingophobia, Mike?! Allow me to explain. I believe all of you know what is phobia. Let’s take a look at SIGNLINGO, shall we?
SIGN- Reference of Sign Languages
LINGO- Spanish noun for Language
Combination: SIGNLINGOPHOBIA. And the meaning? You guessed it right! Signlingophobia is the fear of Sign Language.
If you ask me, why would there be signlingophoia? Because—
- Audism exists
- Audists fear/hate sign language
- Oralism is preventing sign language and an access to understand what’s being said.
- there are so many people who believes sign language would delay English/native language acquisition or speech skills.
- there are also people who does not like sign language
I’m pretty sure many of you have heard about myths and stories about Deaf people (especially black Deaf people). For some reasons, black Deaf people getting insulted because people think they are making “gang signs” . Not to mention, self-pity deaf people blaming the language as the source of illiteracy.
If you’re a proud Deafie from different country (I don’t care where you from), it’s time to show your sign language is the beautiful language. AND tell the world your sign language is nothing to be feared of. Because if you don’t—that’s the end of beautiful sign language as we know it.
Peace and Love,
MikePS: Did you know lexidactylophobia (fear of fingerspelling) exists?
Being Deaf In College
I feel like I have to post this since he’s my former roommate in all, but this is a very, very touching article.
is that sarcasm? i cant tell. cause i thought this article was disgusting.
How so?
im all for letting people have their opinions and talking about their experiences and what not, but that article is so filled with internalized audism.
and why do articles about d/Deaf people always mention a silent world, i dont know about you but im pretty damn LOUD.
here are a few quotes:
“Being deaf especially sucks when it comes to love. You can’t ever love someone unless you’ve talked to them. So how do you communicate effectively? Everything I’ve ever thought of is awkward, because none of them are ever normal. Social norms are norms because they are what people expect.
I’ve talked to people “normally.” It’s hard, it’s error-prone, and we have to repeat a lot. That’s never a good recipe for love. It’s hard to have awesome conversations when you have to repeat every other thing you say and are never sure whether the other person understood.
I could try to find a deaf girl. However, I don’t want my kids to have an increased chance of deafness. Even if they come out hearing, we’d need to make sure they’re raised right - who will teach them how to talk? And I don’t identify with Deaf culture, which takes pride in being deaf. I accept that deafness is part of me, but it’s just there. Like the fact I have black hair.”
“I never considered myself part of Deaf culture. It arose because, I suspect, we were lonely. It’s the same for any minority. Except this time, Deaf culture came together because of a common language everyone could understand - American Sign Language. I’ve heard the stories. Deaf people entering college for the first time. Finding other deaf students. Suddenly, during their first sleepless night, they’re making up for all the conversations they had missed.
Some become angry at the hearing world. They went so long without feeling like they belonged. Without feeling loved.
Some don’t think deafness is a disability; it’s just a way of life. After all, we can do anything except hear. But I don’t want to be part of the Deaf world, which seems so cloistered sometimes. I want to be part of the larger world - and out here, not being able to hear is a pretty significant disadvantage.”
its so UGH. and now hearing people are reading this and thinking this is what all deaf/Deaf and HOH people feel. where is the balance?
this is pretty much how I felt whilst reading this article.
Yes, I get frustrated and pissy a lot. Yes, I have a lot of self-loathing. I’m sure I post more rants about being deaf on here than positive things - but that doesn’t mean I hate being deaf.
It can be hard for sure, but I think I have a pretty fulfilling life (to a point. it is not fulfilling sitting around job hunting ok) - I do a lot of the same things hearing people do. One of the major things you’ve probably noticed by now, is going to concerts which I hope you have noticed and realized that clearly being deaf doesn’t affected my ability to listen to and enjoy music.
This article for me, while it ended on an okay note, was painful to read. It was so negative. That quote Elle pulled about love & relationships was horrible - anything romantic-ish (???? there has got to be a better word for it because it is NOT romance, far from it) that I’ve done has been with hearing guys. I communicate with hearing people, and for me it is so much more than just talking. I read body language, I read your signals. Maybe you can’t whisper sweet nothings in my ear, but that’s not really a big deal.
The fact that this guy says it is just a part of him, that’s just there, to me that shows how much he doesn’t realize it impacts his life. How much it can impact his life positively. You don’t have to be a part of Deaf culture to be okay with your deafness - I am not a part of it, for no specific reason, and I am okay with my deafness. And I don’t think it’s this cloistered world either, and you folks on tumblr have shown me that.
If I was a hearing person reading this, with no knowledge of deafness, I would think that this is the worst life ever. It isn’t inspirational. It isn’t educational. It is just about how much this guy sees his disability as an enemy.
^^^^
accurate post is accurate.
Being Deaf In College
I feel like I have to post this since he’s my former roommate in all, but this is a very, very touching article.
is that sarcasm? i cant tell. cause i thought this article was disgusting.
How so?
im all for letting people have their opinions and talking about their experiences and what not, but that article is so filled with internalized audism.
and why do articles about d/Deaf people always mention a silent world, i dont know about you but im pretty damn LOUD.
here are a few quotes:
“Being deaf especially sucks when it comes to love. You can’t ever love someone unless you’ve talked to them. So how do you communicate effectively? Everything I’ve ever thought of is awkward, because none of them are ever normal. Social norms are norms because they are what people expect.
I’ve talked to people “normally.” It’s hard, it’s error-prone, and we have to repeat a lot. That’s never a good recipe for love. It’s hard to have awesome conversations when you have to repeat every other thing you say and are never sure whether the other person understood.
I could try to find a deaf girl. However, I don’t want my kids to have an increased chance of deafness. Even if they come out hearing, we’d need to make sure they’re raised right - who will teach them how to talk? And I don’t identify with Deaf culture, which takes pride in being deaf. I accept that deafness is part of me, but it’s just there. Like the fact I have black hair.”
“I never considered myself part of Deaf culture. It arose because, I suspect, we were lonely. It’s the same for any minority. Except this time, Deaf culture came together because of a common language everyone could understand - American Sign Language. I’ve heard the stories. Deaf people entering college for the first time. Finding other deaf students. Suddenly, during their first sleepless night, they’re making up for all the conversations they had missed.
Some become angry at the hearing world. They went so long without feeling like they belonged. Without feeling loved.
Some don’t think deafness is a disability; it’s just a way of life. After all, we can do anything except hear. But I don’t want to be part of the Deaf world, which seems so cloistered sometimes. I want to be part of the larger world - and out here, not being able to hear is a pretty significant disadvantage.”
its so UGH. and now hearing people are reading this and thinking this is what all deaf/Deaf and HOH people feel. where is the balance?
Being Deaf In College
I feel like I have to post this since he’s my former roommate in all, but this is a very, very touching article.
is that sarcasm? i cant tell. cause i thought this article was disgusting.
i actually have a really good idea for a childrens book about a little Deaf girl if any d/Deaf/HOH writers ever want to you know, write a childrens book! im no writer but i can draw!
well… i think its a good idea..
Deaf people have had to fight for the rights hearing people take for granted, such as driving and jury duty.
- For Hearing People Only
im sorry I don’t care if you are deaf, Deaf, hoh or hearing, sign language IS the d/Deaf language. It is as much ours as Spanish is to Spanish speakers, or any other language. In your second ask you said, “i just meant some deaf ppl walk around acting like we invented it” this just cracks me up, because uhmm.. deaf people DID invent it… if not deaf people then who? Hearing people? HAHAHA no.
Okay anon, no one ever said ALL hearing people are jerks. Don’t put words in our mouths. However calling out ignorant hearing people is an important matter to fighting audism. And oh those poor poor hearing people, aw a deaf person was mean to them? Cry me a freakin river.
We don’t just complain, sure we vent sometimes, but our goals are to educate. My blog, Mike’s blog, the Legalized Deafies blog and plenty of other personal blogs on here are about educating. We don’t have a ‘lets hate on Hearing people blog’. And even if we did, people have the right to complain.
I will stop complaining about Hearing people when they stop being Audists. When I can go to the grocery store without having carts repeatedly shoved into the back of my legs because I didn’t hear someone say excuse me. When people stop yelling at me for being rude, when I simply didn’t hear them. When my own family stops ridiculing me in public for not understanding them. When doctors treat me like a competent and capable human being able to make my own decisions and communicate with me rather than treat me like a child and screw up my medical needs just because it took a little extra patience to communicate with me. When I can go to any movie theatre I want and have captions available. When I can walk into a guest lecturer at my school and understand what they are saying. When I can go to class and have just as much access to the information as the other students in my classroom. When a teacher understands the difficulty in my presenting in groups and doesn’t mark me down for lack of participation when I was spending the whole time just trying to figure out what the other speaker was saying. When I can go out in public without being harassed for using my preferred mode of communication. When cops stop abusing d/Deaf people. When d/Deaf children have equal access to language as hearing children. When my worth to society is not impingent upon what hearing devices I wear.
THEN I will stop complaining about Hearing people.
About All that i can ever be is nothing more than myself
22.
Feminist.
Deaf.
<3 Tattoos.
<3 Books.
Teacher.
Feminist.
Deaf.
<3 Tattoos.
<3 Books.
Teacher.
