People continue misunderstand about this loosely affiliated "group" on FB called "Deafhood? No Thanks" thinking it's based on the denial about ourselves regarding our hearing loss and who we are.
That's the furthest from the truth.
Rather it's our polite way of telling people that we do not subscribe to a closed society's approach using peer pressure, the incorporation of 'deaf power' movement or the flavor of it, the 'one communication option' approach, or using the movement to bully others through fear or use of oppressive tactics. Yet probably the most important of all is that we don't subscribe to playing the perennial victim card. Subscribing to those approaches is a sure way to alienate further hearing parents of deaf/hh children, hard of hearing and deaf people, and even Deaf people. We don't subscribe to a victim mentality. We don't subscribe to the philosophy of exclusion and judgements regarding deafness. We don't subscribe to going after parents who make alternative decisions for their deaf or hard of hearing children. We favor open society approaches such as equality for all deaf and hard of hearing people regardless of their backgrounds, communication methods and technology options. We invite anyone and make no judgements when it comes to deafness and their choices.We give them our support regardless the choices they make on deafness related issues.
We don't go around and mock other people's ability to speak calling it "yowling." We support them if they prefer to use their voice or not. Sign or not. Cued speech or not. Use of pen and paper or not. Use SEE or not. Use ASL or not. Use CI or not. Use implantable hearing aid or not. Prefer a hearing society over a deaf society. We don't go around wishing people harm or death because of philosophical difference or disagreement regarding deafness or their communication preferences. We don't harass people and sic the CPS on them. Or call their employers. And most important of all, we don't see ourselves as victims lamenting about the cruel fate of life, the unfairness of it all. The woe is me shtick. We don't need more labels. We don't need the stereotypes. We define it for ourselves as each of us see fit. Our journey is already deeply personal to begin with. A mere label doesn't do justice. And many of us simply do not care for it. While others may like the label and use it as they see personally fit, which is fine but I leave a caveat.
You may say it's simply a journey when it comes to "deafhood" but to go further by tacking on that label with a political ideology will only serve to alienate people further. Using the term to advance a political agenda and a springboard to attack individuals or companies while hiding behind an obvious facade. Hypocrisy shines through when those things happen. We may be deaf or hard of hearing but we ain't blind. The concept of "deafhood" has de-evolved away from the concept of diversity and simple acceptance into the maws of power, politics and even greed. If it were about diversity and simple acceptance it would have been plainly obvious for all to see. But the mask has long since fallen off.
The term "deafhood" will never be accepted by the larger population of people with hearing loss. This is a population with some 33 million people with hearing loss ranging from mild to profound hearing loss. The majority of people are those with mild and moderate hearing loss. A smaller percentage of that population are people with severe to profound hearing loss. Smaller still are people considered to be culturally deaf with ASL that makes up roughly about 2 percent of the total population of people with hearing loss (~600,000 or so).
It's like trying to incorporate "blindhood" and say that it's for all people with any kind of vision impairment who are undergoing their own journey, even those with easily correctable vision. But ask them if they are blind and they'll emphatically say they are not while others with more serious vision loss or impairment may say they're legally blind to those who have no vision at all are completely blind. The same with "deafhood" when it comes to people with mild or even moderate hearing loss who function fine with hearing aids (or even in some cases without hearing aids) and ask them if they are deaf and they will emphatically say they are not. Hard of hearing sure. Some hearing impairment? Sure. Have a hearing loss? Sure. But don't tell them they're deaf. That is the reality. That is how they wish to identify themselves as. I'm not in the position to tell those people that they are wrong if they see themselves as deaf, hard of hearing, Deaf, partially deaf, partially hearing, hearing impaired or simply a person with a hearing loss. It's an individual thing. Respect that.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
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12 comments:
That's right. Not sure why they need you to repeat these points but there you go anyway... Thanks for reminding them.
Very nicely said. Many people think that conforming to one way of being deaf or Deaf is necessary and required of us all. It is a ongoing battle to gain respect of the community as a whole, dealing with people that are ignorant and give us a bad name is hard especially when we aren't them. It's all about stereotypes and applying them to ourselves. Kind of exactly what we don't want hearing people to do, tell us we're all the same and to define ourselves as a group of people that embrace "deafhood" is misleading.
Your continued badgering at Deafhood began to bore me. That is my last posting and visit.
I have a hearing loss and never was interested in Deafhood.
You are stupid for being obsession.
So long.
Buh bye, anony @ 7:50PM. I guess you dont' exactly get it.
Thank you, Mary. People seems to not realize the problem of lumping every single individual with mild to profound hearing loss whether born with it or acquired at a later age under the label of "deafhood" when its all about the status quo as a Deaf person.
Barry, yeah. Sometimes you have to keep repeating it. There are always new readers out there who don't know the full story. Just because people are already familiar doesn't mean we should stop explaining the problem.
Great post! By the way, sent you an e-mail.
I believe that "D"eaf people conceptualize other "d"eaf people only through their own personal experiences. A "D"eaf person might have Deaf parents, siblings, offspring, and/or extended family members who are also Deaf. They may go to a residential school for the deaf, and then to Gallaudet. They may have been forced to be oral in school or to have speech therapy, but they use ASL exclusively. They aren't interested in speaking or listening and think no one else needs to be either. The only people they know and have spent a substantial amount of time with are just like them - Deaf. They don't have the ability, interest, or open-mindedness to develop relationships with anyone who is not Deaf.
Whereas myself and others, who have some residual hearing, some speech, some opportunities to interact with the hearing community through listening and speaking, may have an entirely different world view. I consider myself culturally Deaf now, even though I learned sign language late. I also have met hundreds, if not thousands, of other deaf people who communicate in combinations of ASL, PSE/CASE, SEE, sim-com, oral-only, etc. I have seen some deaf students successfully mainstreamed, and some who were not. I have seen some deaf students succeed academically using ASL, and some not. I have seen many deaf students who never developed proficiency in either English or ASL, but are gestural.
In short, Mike, I completely agree there is more than one way to be deaf. "D"eaf people who use ASL are a very, very small fraction of the majority of people with hearing loss.
Anonymous the Second
Excellent perceptive!
Anony the second,
There's an advantage I have what many Deaf people don't and that I've seen both ends of the deaf and hard of hearing spectrum, culturally and not. On one end is that you have these deaf organizations (e.g. CAD, NAD, DeafNation, etc) that are completely and exclusively for the most part Deaf people with a totally different way of interacting and mindset. Now, if you have ever attended Hearing Loss Association of American workshops or attended their chapters (like I have) and met people there you'd find out it to be a completely different environment because you'll come across people with mostly with mild, moderate and severe hearing loss, with many of them knowing sign while a majority of them are people who speak and listen. An almost completely different social camaraderie there than an exclusively Deaf environment. Those are the people that are representative of the population in the U.S. of people with hearing loss. They are deaf, hard of hearing and Deaf.
I did watch that video about HLAA's Walk4Hearing, and was quite inspired. I applaud what they are doing so well, especially that so many people with mild to moderate hearing loss get the message that they're not alone. But as a Deaf person who uses ASL primarily, and LSL secondarily, I wonder if I'd feel quite in the minority in that crowd. I would have liked to see a lot more ASL signers than just the one guy. it's not fun being a minority, even though I'm sure I would be welcomed.
I even fantasized about putting a team together for the next walk. it would be so nice to build bridges between the ASL community and HLAA. We have more in common than we have differences.
Anonymous the Second
anony, you commented in the wrong blog piece. I copied and pasted your response in the right location on my discussion about walk4hearing.
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