Personal Narrative Report

There are numerous facts concerning the Deaf culture that I am not aware of, and a few of those elements have been made known. One of the new facts that surprised me was that approximately 90 percent of Deaf people are married to other Deaf people. This goes along with them being a tight-knit community. Another interesting piece of information I have learned is that I am to focus on a signer’s face, instead of their hands, while they are signing. Once I began to consider the expressions he or she would be showing while signing, and how one should pay attention while talking to another, it made perfect sense.

For my American Sign Language class I needed to attend some type of Deaf event. The event I chose was the showing of Love is Never Silent on October 22nd from 6-8pm in Wiley Hall at the University of Minnesota. Love is Never Silent is a very touching and powerful television movie from 1985. This movie can help the hearing world get a look at what it is like to have family members that are Deaf. This movie was also probably an inspiration for Deaf people by how relatable it could be to their life. The movie follows Margaret, a child of Deaf parents, through childhood until she is a grown adult. During the stages of Margaret’s life depicted through the movie I learned new information about Deaf culture and was able to make

This was the first deaf event that I attended this quarter. I was even more excited about it than I was before. I always had fun before, even though it always started with a little bit of embarrassing. Because compared to people who really sign in their daily lives, I knew very little signs, so I always feel like I cannot communicate with them that much. After last

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.

that she had a male, Igor Gentsaryuk, in custody for DUI near the 3700 block of

For my Deaf event, I attended Deaf Coffee Night at Starbucks. When I walked in, I was happy to be able to look around and see people communicate through the use of only their hands, body and faces. I was also encouraged by the fact that I understood a majority of the signs I saw. After I ordered my drink, I approached a table of two people who were using ASL and I introduced myself. One person at the table was hearing while the other was Deaf, but both were happy to include me in their conversation. We talked for quite awhile about each of our lives. It was interesting to notice that throughout our conversation, the three of us were equally engaged in the conversation at hand about the lives of these strangers. This is a lot different then most conversations in the hearing world since most of the time we do not talk about our lives for that long and when listening to the lives of other people we do not actually care to pay close attention.

“To the hearing world, the deaf community must seem like a secret society. Indeed, deafness is a culture every bit as distinctive as any an anthropologist might study.” (Walker 1986) Lou Ann Walker’s autobiographical book, “A Loss for Words” details the story of her childhood with two deaf parents. She is the oldest of three children, with two sisters who are named Kay Sue and Jan Lee. All of their names were chosen for ease of lipreading for her parents. As she is the eldest of the three, she begins to act as an interpreter, and does so; often dealing with store keepers, mechanics, and others who would not know American Sign Language, but who would still need to understand what her parents are saying. Lou Ann, as she grows up, realizes

Mark Drolsbaugh’s autobiography, Deaf Again goes through his life journey as a deaf individual who tries to find his Deaf identity in the hearing world. Mark was born as a hearing person, but as he got older he gradually started to lose his hearing which made it difficult for him to fit in as “normal child.” When Mark was in kindergarten, he started to feel lost with his classmates and heard less and less. After this incident, his grandfather took him to numerous doctors to find a solution for his hearing loss, but there wasn’t any resolution. Despite the fact having deaf parents who knew sign language, Mark was never encouraged by his parents nor grandparents to communicate in sign language, they were told by doctors that signing would interfere

Article one Deaf Culture Tip Sheet written by Professor Linda Siple (2003) provides a detailed description on the Deaf culture and highlights some suggestions for effectively communicating with people who are deaf. The author first explains the different terminology within the Deaf culture that are used to label

I was interested in immersing myself with this group because they are a community of people that I’ve often wondered about. I’ve always wondered about the way they communicate with others and was it hard being deaf or hearing impaired in some ways. As myself, I learned that most people feel uncomfortable when meeting a Deaf person for the first time and this is very normal. When we communicate with people, we generally don’t have to think about the process. When faced with a Deaf person, we are uncertain which rules apply. We don’t know where to look, or how fast or loud to speak. When the Deaf person gives us a look of confusion, we don’t know how to correct the problem. Accept the fact that your initial

On Saturday, September 26, 2015, I attended the Deaf Rave event at the Pittsburgh Association of the Deaf. The Greater Pittsburgh Community Center for the Deaf hosted the event and all of the proceeds went towards the GPCC Sportsman Club. The event was a very laid back, enjoyable occasion. I went to the event alone but I met up with a fellow classmate after arriving and there were also a few ASL1 students who arrived a bit later. Upon entering and paying the admission fee, I was given a glow-stick necklace and glow-stick bracelet to wear. Once inside, I saw that the Community Center had been decorated with black lights, strobe lights, some colorful balloons, and they were in the

In late 2016, I was granted the opportunity to attend an American Sign Language class, at my local community college. Prior to this, I had only one experience meeting a deaf person. I was seventeen at the time, working my first job. I felt like a deer caught in headlights,

I immediately became aware upon entering the building and taking seat at a round, conference-style table arrangement that there was no sign language interpreter available. I asked the authority figure as to whether or not one could be provided and she was unable to accommodate. If I required a translator, it would be my responsibility to access a person to provide that service and bring them along with me to the meeting. This information immediately got me thinking about what course of action I would have to take if I were not only deaf but experiencing a socioeconomic crisis.

On Saturday April 16 I attended the ASL Club event, Dack to the Resc-U! I arrived at 6:40 and the event started a little late at 7:10. When I entered the room I saw about 30 people, I would say the majority deaf maybe 20 were very very fluent in ASL and I recognized some from class, previous deaf events, and such. Most everyone were strangers, there were a few friends and couples. I was happily greeted as soon as I entered the room by two college kids. The two people that stood out most to me were the two 8 year old girls in the front row. They were best friends and there with one of the girls parents who were also both deaf. It was very cool to see two young people signing so fluently because I am mostly around students all the time. It was interesting to see her give her mom some sas

The summer of 2015, I went on a deaf camp titled T.I. Deaf Camp. Short for Teen Insitue Deaf Camp. Now because i’m hard of hearing but I stand out as a deaf person, friends came naturally, almost as if you was the hottest thing in Cosmo magazine. In other words myself and others was noticed instantly. Now also I realized that we had some kids who was only partially deaf (not full deaf) and they had hearing aids on and everything but also they didn’t know American Sign Language, it was so different and weird to work with them and during special events such as team basketball, volleyball or even during scavenger hunts etc. Both kids who could sign and couldn’t were very distance from each other. I didn’t know the answer to this conflict, so myself