1. Introduction
According to Singer (1998: 6) culture is made of “verbal and non-verbal language, attitudes, values, belief and disbelief systems and behaviors” which are “accepted and expected by an identity group”. While the Hearing always belonged to a culture that was accepted and deemed relevant by the majority, the Deaf did not have that. Within a predominately hearing culture the d/Deaf were viewed as disabled who were unable to perform well in society. This opinion is also reflected in the terms used by the h/Hearing to describe d/Deaf people, i.e. deaf mute or deaf and dumb. Especially the latter one, deaf and dumb, echoes the views h/Hearing people had/have on the intelligence of d/Deaf. As, Siple (2000: 146) points out, these “labels
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Dahm (1998: 524) argues that being deaf causes a person to loose living quality, to be excluded from society and a social everyday life, as well as, in the case of deafened adults, possible depression. Naturally one might argue that Dahm’s article was published nearly 20 years ago and that today’s stance toward deafness has changed. However, the Fact Sheet published by the National Institute of Health (NIH) in 2010 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) states that “this remarkable technology [the CI] enables deaf and severely hard-of-hearing individuals to enjoy an enhanced quality of life by providing the ability to listen and participate in conversations as they typically occur throughout our society”. Demonstrating once more that the stance has changed little. Nevertheless, the points brought forth by Dahm and the NIH stand in stark contrast to the arguments of the Deaf community, who campaign for the usage of the term Deaf Gain, as well as for the Hearing to see that being deaf is not the end of the world but the beginning of a new one. Therefore, the next chapter will concern itself with the concept of Deaf
Sara Nović’s novel True Biz is, at its core, a depiction of the struggle between the Deaf community and its hearing counterpart. Much of the book is spent describing how hearing people who fail to understand the Deaf community have mainstreamed their deaf children through the use of ASL deprivation and the use of cochlear implants. Nović feels pride about the Deaf community and wants to teach us about it so that we in the hearing world can better help to prevent its destruction. Unfortunately, in doing this, Nović has painted a one-sided picture regarding the use of cochlear implants by failing to include examples of successful ones, her depiction of Austin's family struggle around the issue, and most importantly, by glorifying the destruction of the bionics lab.
Sound and Fury centers two families who faced a challenging decision on whether to get a cochlear implant for their deaf child. Peter and his wife Nina are both deaf and gave birth to three deaf children. Neither Peter’s brother Chris nor wife Mari are deaf but one of their twin boys was born deaf. Peter and Nina are proud of being part of the Deaf community therefore they’re not as open to the idea of cochlear implants. On the contrary Mari and Chris, although having deaf in their families, are not involved in the Deaf culture and have a more positive outlook on cochlear implants.
On October 25th in the year 2000, a film was release that tackled the difficult topic, that at the time, broke family ties and rattled an entire culture from a single procedure. In Josh Aronson’s film, “Sound and Fury”, the topic of cochlear implants was fought about between an extended family, who both had Deaf children. The families thought very differently about the cochlear implant procedure and this lead to many arguments and even splitting of the families for some time. The cochlear implant procedure threatens Deaf culture and was considered very offensive to the Deaf community. Throughout the documentary, these topics were debated back and forth, about whether the benefits outweighed the risks.
It doesn’t require any special measures to change them. The Journey into the Deaf- World offers a comprehensive absorbing study into the Deaf- World. The first two chapters brought insight into the Deaf culture, as well as benefits and struggles the Deaf face. The first chapter was an introduction into the Deaf World, showing the Deaf’s experiences
From watching the video I've learned a lot of interesting things. Some Deaf people although there's a implant called cochlear implant that would basically give them hope of hearing wouldn't want to do it because some of them said that they're so used to the Deaf culture and that it wouldn't really change how they are as a person. Some said they wouldn't want to undergo cochlear implant because hearing wouldn't change anything and that they're happy of how they are born, and that they love their language they don't care about having an implants. There is a guy in the video and he said that Deaf people are normal, although they have some accommodations to be made to survive in a society where it's dominated by hearing people, but at the same time, if a hearing person come into the room and it would be full of Deaf people then that hearing person would need the accommodation as well which is true, I felt that when we came into few of the Deaf events.
I read a memoir called Burn Down the Ground written by Kambri Crews. Kambri wrote about her rough childhood and growing up with two deaf parents. One parent, her father, was born completely deaf, and her mother was born with a little bit of hearing which was enhanced with hearing aids. Kambri acquired both English and ASL as a child, and still signs ASL and speaks English fluently. Kambri Crews' life story shows what it was like to be raised by deaf parents and how both the hearing world and Deaf culture impacted her life.
Let’s be real here and acknowledge for a second that Mainstream Society has never really cared about Deaf people at all. Back-in-the-day, the American Deaf used to be forced to learn spoken English- despite not being able to hear it- and lip-reading- despite the fact that when done perfectly it is still only 30% effective. People who signed were compared to lowly animals. Students caught signing in school were punished severely.
Within the Deaf Culture movement, there is ongoing controversy on whether or not a child should have their “deafness” surgically removed. Cochlear implant surgery is an ever progressing technological advancement, and while many parents of Deaf children oppose this surgery, there is talk of sueing those parents who deny cochlear implants for children that are appropriate candidates for the surgery. Throughout Adam B. Zimmerman’s “Do You Hear the People Sing? Balancing Parental Authority and a Child’s Right to Thrive: The Cochlear Implant Debate,” this issue of legally overriding parental authority is examined with the use of scholarly language and credibility as a writer for the “Journal of Health & Biomedical Sciences”, as well as various forms
I have recently watched your documentary film “Sound and Fury” about the cochlear implant, and have seen the pressure you have been facing from your relatives on being for and friends who are against the cochlear implant. I may not be able to fully understand the challenges that you may have faced in the deaf culture, I have some insight on how it is like after reading the article “The Mask of Benevolence”, by Harlan Lane, a professor of psychology at Northeastern University in Boston, on how the procedure is done and the challenges that kids may face after the implant. In the documentary Heather’s grandmother mentioned about how deaf culture is starting to become extinct due to people not being exposed to the culture as time goes by and that
Through this documentary, I learned that most people who are categorized as “deaf” view them self as being part of their own special community/culture. This documentary was released in 2000 and is about two American families with young deaf children and the conflict they and their families face over whether or not to give their children cochlear implants, is the right choice for their children. Cochlear implants are surgically implanted devices that may improve their ability to hear but at the same time viewed as a threat to their deaf identity. The main question that the implant brings to the table is “if you could make your deaf child hear would you?” To me, a person who is of hearing, if I had a child who was born deaf, the response would be easy.
The topic of cochlear implants is causing quite the argument between the deaf and medical community. The core of the disagreement centers around whether or not cochlear implantation should continue to be considered as an option for hearing impaired individuals to improve auditory ability.. According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association a cochlear implant is “a device that provides direct electrical stimulation to the auditory (hearing) nerve in the inner ear.” Proponents of cochlear implants claim that hose who are born with or later experience a problem with the sensory nerve of the inner ear have the opportunity to gain the ability to hearHowever, many are now arguing that this device is not as useful or healthy for the human ear as it has been said to be. Those who oppose cochlear implantation, namely the deaf community, view it as a threat to the deaf community and its culture.
Inside Deaf Culture Inside deaf culture is a very strong book written by carol Padden and tom Humphries in this book authors have tried to give a tour of the most important moments that has shaped the Deaf culture. Book starts by showing how much power hearing people have had over the deaf population in the past and how they saw death people almost the same as criminals and also how they tried to get rid of them by placing them into asylums and intuitions and how this was a beginning of first schools for the deaf and how much power and control they had over the children under their care also there was a lot of rumors of how children were molested in these schools and because they
Many years later my aunt first child a girl was born deaf, but the family really did not know she was deaf until the baby was two years. Twelve years later, due to family problems, my mom ended up temporary custody. While my cousin was in my care, I had no idea what the Deaf Culture consist of, how many problems, confusion and conflict these individuals go through just because of their deafness. I focus on Black Deaf Americans because they are faced with two obstacles: 1: being Black Americans and the historically oppressions that the majority of them had gone through for generations and still are going through; 2: being Deaf in a hearing world. These individuals faced twice as much prejudices, discrimination, and stereotyped as “Deaf and Dumb.”
Some people think those who are deaf become senseless and can not reason with others. People have different views about everything, however most people cannot see that. Most views people have are about the deaf not being as smart or helpful as the hearring. I personally think some of the deaf people might be very smart and can do things hearing people can
I watched Sound and Fury, a documentary that came out in 2000, centered on the complications of getting the Cochlear Implant, and how Deaf and hearing communities can differ upon the topic. Particularly within one family, brothers along with their wives and parents have a tough time deciding if their Deaf children should undergo such a procedure. They all travel to visit families that are hearing with children who aren’t learning ASL because they have the implant. They visit a Deaf family whose 10-year daughter is the only person in the family to get the implant. They also visit schools focusing on speech to help Deaf children who wear hearing aids and/or got the Cochlear Implant, and visit a Deaf community with a school focused on ASL.