Deaf Culture Research Paper

The documentary, Through Deaf Eyes, is a two hour film that focuses on all things related to Deaf life over the span of 200 years. The documentary includes interviews of people who have made a significant impact on the Deaf community, including actress Marlee Matlin and various people who work or either have worked at deaf schools such as Gallaudet University. Before watching this documentary or even before signing up for this ASL course I knew a little bit about Deaf culture through my own personal experience. After watching this documentary I have learned so many different interesting facts and now I have a whole new perspective on the Deaf culture.

What is culture? Culture reflects the customs of one particular nation or group of people. This term is often used to distinguish one societal group from another due to differences in beliefs, languages, traditions, arts, and behaviors. Throughout the world, there are many different cultures that play a variety of roles in various communities. In the 1980s, many people began to recognize Deaf culture and the unification of the Deaf community. Language plays an essential role in the development and unification of a culture or nation. Through the use of American Sign Language (ASL), a new type of culture emerged that embraced the Deaf community. According to Carol Padden and Tom Humphries, in their novel, Inside Deaf Culture, “We used a definition of culture that focused on beliefs and practices, particularly the central role of sign language in the everyday lives of the community” (Humphries & Padden 1). With that being said, through the use of novels, movies, and deaf events one is able to witness Deaf culture firsthand and recognize similarities and differences present between the hearing and Deaf communities.

Deaf people share certain behavioral norms such as eye contact, body language and gestures enable them to communicate effectively. They rely on body touch waving hands, using a third person, hugs and have open communication. They value the ASL, interpreters, devices that help them communicate effectively such as vibrating systems, and visual alerts. They have a tradition of sticking or forming their own groups where they champion for their rights and respect from others in the community. The Deaf subculture is referred to as a subcultural group mainly because the members have distinct behaviors, physical artifacts, traditions, values, history, and beliefs that distinguish them from the other people (Minnesota Department of Human Services, 2013).

People who became deaf later on in the life time. They told me that they can still hear music, but through the vibrations because I told them I play the Guitar and Ukulele. People who were hard of hearing, but can still hear a little. There were people who could hear and sign ASL really well unlike me I still need a lot of practice. The people’s sign competence was great they were signing too fast for me to understand so they slowed down when I kept asking again and I needed practice. The history of deaf community was outstanding. I did not know they were different sign languages for like Portuguese, French Canadian, Brazilian, and Japanese and more. The people who were at the Deaf Expo were really friendly and were happy. They seem to enjoyed the Game Show by Sorenson Communications. The deaf people admired that I tried to communicate with them even though I am not so great at ASL. The event was very interesting and fun being able to communicate with the deaf

Deaf culture describes the social beliefs, behaviors, art, literary traditions, history, values and shared institutions of communities that are affected by deafness and which use sign languages as the main means of communication (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaf_culture). Much is the same when describing the social cultures of the deaf-blind communities. They come from different social, vocational and educational backgrounds. They have many jobs and roles: teachers, professors, counselors, homemakers, agency directors,

This has had a result by a great history of rich ASL books, magazines and storytelling. The verbal tradition of telling stories has let members of the Deaf community pass down their history of great Deaf individuals, providing Deaf children access to different role models that let them feel rooted into history. The Deaf community is different from many cultural groups, that are doing very well, around the globe because it is not commonly looked at as distinct and discrete. Most deaf individuals are born within in an existing cultural group obtaining access to their family, friends and the community cultural traditions, normal things and values that are passed down from parents to their children.

The book also describes how life has changed for deaf adults through the years. Previously, many deaf adults were not able to get jobs in many places, because there were not many places that were accepting to them. These days, however, almost every business or company is looking for those that are fluent in American Sign Language, due to the simple fact that they would be able to accommodate that many more people and earn more money for their business. Also, there were not many outlets for deaf adults to use in relation to entertainment or basic needs, because again, mostly everything was catered to hearing adults only. However, they have recently developed many different ways for the deaf to communicate with the hearing and with one another, including TTY, full-keyboard, and internet phones and closed-captions on television stations and movies.

Deaf culture in is one of America’s many sub-cultures, which means that it is a culture imbedded into the overall culture of the nation. What is unique about the deaf culture is that at times it is a sub-culture of a sub-culture, of a culture, for example the deaf community in Colorado is a sub-culture of Colorado’s culture, and Colorado culture is a sub-culture of the American culture. It can get even more complicated than even that, because say there is an African American deaf culture in the deaf community that adds another deaf culture. It is also unique and set apart from other cultures because of the language barrier between the deaf community and the hearing community. Deaf culture has only recently been accepted by the general public, as well as they have not always had access to an interpreter. Deaf culture has changed drastically since before the 1960’s.

The Deaf community is comprised of people of a variety of ethnicities and backgrounds, as Deafness prevails around the world; discriminating against none. The Deaf community grows continually. As a hearing person learning about the community, it’s distinctive culture and how to communicate in ASL, I am developing myself and discovering my fairly new position within the Deaf community.

Deaf culture is culture like any other. Deaf people share a language, rules for behavior, values, and traditions. The way the Deaf culture is living today is a direct result of the Deaf history that preceded it. Deaf history greatly affects how deaf people live their lives today. And not only do deaf people have a history, they have a culture.

Sadly there are Deaf people who never learn ASL. Most Deaf children are born into a family which consists of all hearing individuals. In some circumstances the parents may want their deaf child to learn oral methods of communication only. These children often struggle throughout life in both education and social settings. In other circumstances hearing parents who have never had any experience with Deaf people have to learn new skills such as ASL in order to communicate with their Deaf children.

The deaf culture is similar and different at the same time with us, “the normal people.” What I mean with normal people? The people who can hearing. I think that the deaf people are interesting because they have another language, which they can express themselves, deaf is not a limitation because they can do everything and inclusive more things that I and others can do it. It would be interesting how a doctor found that a person, or for be exactly a baby, is deaf. How a person can learn the sign language? Or how their parents react about the notice that their son is deaf? It’s awesome everything about it because a deaf culture appreciates more the music instead us, “the normal persons”. About deaf culture

Deaf Culture vs. Hearing Culture Everyone has his or her own culture like their religion, language, traditions, food, and lifestyle. Deaf culture is also a set of learned behaviors of a group of people that share a language, values, rules of behavior, and traditions. The Deaf people have learned to communicate in sign language and their education, communication skills, values, behaviors, and attitude come from the culture they live in. Deaf culture and hearing culture was the most critical for people to know what is the difference between the communication and education and also, the Deaf culture value is to treated with respect than the hearing culture.

People tend to think stereotypically for many groups of people, so it is not surprising for them to also think this way for the Deaf community Most myths have to do with their everyday lives such as their home lives, work lives, and school lives. There is a myth that some people believe where Deaf people cannot drive a vehicle, yet it has been proven that Deaf people’s other senses are more enhanced than a hearing person’s due to the fact that they are deaf (Kins, Casey). I think that many people think stereotypically about the Deaf community because they do not know what it is like to live in it, and they have not experienced what it feels like to be deaf. Deaf people usually understand this and are willing to explain and describe to others what it is like to live in this world with no hearing. It is possible to learn of these things through what Deaf people tell you or what they write

The book “A Journey into the Deaf-World”, by Harlan Lane, Robert Hoffmeister, and Ben Bahan, is about the different people who are considered deaf: hard-of-hearing, deaf, and CODA. People who are hard-of-hearing are people who don 't hear well; people who are deaf lack the power of hearing since birth; you can be born hearing and throughout time lose some or all of your hearing sense. People who are CODA (children of deaf adults) are often signing because their parents are deaf and CODA’s often are helpful by being interpreters. CODAs become a great link between their parents and the hearing world. This book explains about deaf culture and how sign is a visual and manual way of conversing. The benefits of sign language are many and the ASL “foreign language” is growing among hearing as well. About more than 500,000 people sign in America alone. ASL is dated from 1779, but probably even earlier. Sign language promotes cultural awareness; deaf culture uses sign language as their main form of communicating.