Hearing Loss In Native Americans

Hearing loss continues to linger in the elderly population of today’s society. Yet, the onset of hearing loss can occur at any age and at any point in

This topic is very important to me because I was raised in the Deaf culture. My entire family is Deaf and have faced many of these questions that hearing people are unaware about. I feel that it is my job to educate when I have the chance to do so. By being able to educate at least one person, I have done my job. I do not think there is enough information out there to reach everyone’s awareness of Deaf culture.

The Deaf community contains the basic characteristics of any particular ethnic group, despite the attempts from hearing people to destroy their culture through medical interventions. This community contains members who share a feeling of community. They value recognition by others and self-recognition (Lane). They feel strongly identified in their group, as they create a family environment, which provides support for each of its members. Moreover, the Deaf community has a set of norms for behavior. In decision-making processes, they try to agree on the course of action to take through consensus and not just by individual initiatives. Allegiance to their culture is also another distinct value that characterizes the members of this community. People with hearing impairments have the “highest rate of endogamous marriages of any

First, this book allowed me to see the negative way in which deaf people were perceived. This book is not old by any means, and I was taken aback by the way deaf children were perceived by not only others in the community, but often times by their own parents as well. The term

In this book, Deaf in America, by Carol Padden and Tom Humphries, the two authors wrote stories, jokes, performances, and experiences of Deaf people. They also wrote Deaf culture and Deaf people’s lives from various angles. This book is great navigator of Deaf world for hearing people and even Deaf people as me. There are several factors attracting reader. To begin with, I could learn about backgrounds of deaf people and hearing people. Authors wrote about a Deaf boy who was born into a deaf family. Until he discovered that a girl playmate in neighborhood was “hearing”, he didn’t notice about “Others”. Authors

Kleinman’s questions are more applicable to deaf people in general who are more in favor of and interested in improving their hearing through hearing aids, cochlear implant, and/or speech therapy. Therefore, they would be more likely to answer his questions even though they do contain the term sickness as these people are more to likely view deafness as a disability compared to people who strictly identify themselves as a part of Deaf culture. Also, Kleinman’s questions can be especially applicable for hearing parents with deaf children who want to raise them as hearing children. According to the ninety percent rule, ninety-percent of deaf children have hearing parents and ninety-percent of hearing children have deaf parents (Sparrow 141). Since hearing parents want to raise their children in the hearing culture, it is ideal for them to be able to utilize Kleinman’s eight questions as a means of providing a way for their deaf children to improve their hearing through hearing aids, cochlear implants, and/or speech

If you or a family member has become depressed and lonely because of a loss of hearing, we have a solution for you, and you can change your life. Hearing loss affects

Many Americans may assume that the only difference between Deaf and Hearing culture is that one can hear and the other cannot. However, this assumption is very far from the truth. Although both cultures exist in the U.S. they are both very different from one another. The purpose of this paper is to share my experience of how I felt spending time within a culture that was not my own as well as applying the taxonomy of Hofstede’s six value dimensions to make a cross cultural comparison of both cultures.

90% of all deaf children are born to hearing parents who never thought much about the deaf community (Bat-Chava). That is why in mainstream society, the quality of being deaf is seen as a disability rather than something to be praised. The common view of deafness is that it is simply a person who cannot hear and “is deficient in some way because

Now that it has been clearly established that there is deaf culture, lets discuss why deaf people are a minority group worthy of further research and to be the epicenter of a project like this one. Deaf individuals are singled out every day for not being able to communicate in the manner that the majority of people do, though even within deaf communities there are very diverse groups. As pointed out by Author Padden and Humphries:

Through great controversy with the hearing the deaf were able to interject themselves into the hearing world over many years. Deaf went through a time when they were known as “disabled” and therefore put in asylums for their hearing disabilities. When sign language was finally discovered by Thomas Gallaudet it was brought to the United States by Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc, making the deaf become better understood. Nonetheless it took many years for the deaf to earn the reverence they have today and I hope to keep helping the deaf pursue the understanding of the hearing

When it comes to the medical and cultural views of deafness, it seems to be a house divided with how the doctors are quick to show parents handouts regarding how to make the person "normal," perhaps with a cochlear implant versus letting them embrace the Deaf culture. It's all about money with the medical view of deafness. Then, there is the Deaf view of deafness—they believe that they are a linguistic minority. The medical field thinks the Deaf can be fixed, but the deaf see nothing wrong with themselves.

The deaf community does not see their hearing impairment as a disability but as a culture which includes a history of discrimination, racial prejudice, and segregation. According to an online transcript,“Through Deaf Eyes” (Weta and Florentine films/Hott productions Inc., 2007) there are thirty-five million Americans that are hard of hearing. Out of the thirty-five million an estimated 300,000 people are completely deaf. There are ninety percent of deaf people who have hearing parents (Halpern, C., 1996). Also, most deaf parents have hearing children. With this being the exemplification, deaf people communicate on a more intimate and significant level with hearing people all their lives. “Deaf people can be found in every ethnic group,

What should we know about hearing loss? The main causes for hearing loss is head trauma and exposure to loud sound. The only way we can take care of ourselves is by knowing how to.To prevent hearing loss we can turn down the volume, use earplugs or remove ourselves from situations where noise is excessive. More Importantly, Digan states,”The major source of dangerous noise is a personal media player combined with a pair of earbuds”, ( Pg.11). For example, Digan writes,”Sound is measured in

Throughout many years, people have asked, “What is deafness?”. “Deafness is the partial or total loss of the functional sense of hearing. Loss of hearing can result from environmental or genetic causes and it can be temporary or permanent” (Lichanska n.p.). This shows that there have been many thoughts and confusion about deafness, as people thrive to find cures for this large obstacle. This is important because the deaf community is growing. The human population needs to find more ways ways to make life more convenient for the deaf community. “The deaf population in the world stands at about 0.1 percent of the total population. About 10 percent of the world's people have poor to below average hearing, where most of the people in the poor hearing range occurs in the adult population, especially among the elderly. People in industrialized countries generally have worse hearing than those in