For some culturally deaf people who like to constantly attack hearing people, belittle them, and just be plain rude will only add to the image problem of culturally deaf people as a bunch of angry, uneducated, ungrateful, rude, anal retentive people who have nothing better than to complain and whine incessantly like a little child. Freud would be so happy to have them for his couch. I don't believe one bit that these are the "intrinsic attitudes" and "behavioral norms" for culturally deaf people. You just have a few bad apples, rotten to the core and filled with writhing worms. There's a time to speak up but certainly not in the manner to attack every living hearing or deaf/hh people for that matter who think differently or have different set of opinions. And yet, of course, there's a bit of cultural norm when it comes to being direct that are a part of deaf culture. Being direct isn't a cart-blanche right to be downright rude or hostile at hearing people just because you're deaf.
I worked at a bowling alley as a bartender. During the “league season” we have on average a couple hundred regulars coming through in just a few hours and a lot of them like to drink. Bartending for bowlers is a chore in itself, but every customer set is different and that’s the job.
However, there was also a large party booked that day of around 100 deaf people. I was still the only bartender working at the time. My bar had access from 2 sides to it, one from the lanes and one from the bar area. We had slips of paper and pencils out for the deaf party so they could better communicate their orders. I understand that being deaf is a handicap, but I don’t understand sign language and you can’t understand me, so let’s use the paper and help each other out. Screaming “tah key one eye!” (obviously a Tequila Sunrise) at me over and over again when I offer you a slip of paper because I can’t understand you doesn’t resolve the issue. And when I turn to help the line of league bowlers, who are in there drinking every week for the next 6 months, don’t slam the glasses on the bar to get my attention. I am CLEARLY busy serving people who have been patiently waiting. Don’t throw the paper at me that we set out for you to write orders on to get my attention. Don’t scream at the top of your lungs because you think I can’t hear you. I have acknowledged you, politely held up my hand to ask for a minute while I serve someone else. I even asked some partial deaf people to teach me some basic signs so I could try to communicate better. Don’t use your handicap as an excuse to be rude.
Versus a situation when a bartender gets a $10 tip from a deaf person.
I’ve waited on a few deaf people in my life and never really had a problem. I used to have this one “regular” who was really cool and tipped well. He would write his order down on a piece of stationary then hand it to me. On the top of the stationary, it explained that he was deaf and mute. He would tip a solid $10.00 every time.People will certainly draw the line if people use their existing condition as an excuse to crap on everybody and think they have some kind of entitlement because of their lack of sense.
Ok. That was a double entendre, so sue me.
3 comments:
Yes, you're absolutely right that there are some Deaf people that do not treat hearings well. (It is too bad that the bowling alley bartender did not have a menu printout, so that the Deaf people could point out their orders - my local coffee shop has that and it works wonders!)
However, please remember that there are two sides to this story as well.
Last night, I went to a store to seek assistance for my pager. After waiting a half hour for my turn, I then was the only customer. I explained to the service person that I lip-read somewhat, he'd have to go a bit slowly in order for me to understand and that one person would need to talk at a time. Being young as he is, he had TONS of energy. He would talk so fast, like a bobblehead -- and sometimes he forgot to look at me! I was the only customer in the store. Why was he in a hurry?? The store wasn't closing for another three hours?! I was not happy... From this point on, I'm taking my business to another store.
Eh. How's that different from well-off white hearing elites whining about people who aren't like them (SES-wise, religion-wise, race-wise, nationality-wise, et cetera)
Social conservatives are the biggest whiners ever ("sob sob it's TOTALLY my business if two persons marry...if they happen to be in the same sex. And.. sob sob why don't public schools insist on the worship of my God?" and so forth).
Why don't you write about them? Until you do, you're just an empty hypocrite to me.
Ben,
No difference. I already said in the first sentence, "like in many others." That is those in other kinds of communities outside of the deaf community. Meaning the crapping on other people isn't an isolated thing only found in the deaf community amongst the few who habitually target hearing people just because.
Hypocrite? I already acknowledged in my blog that there were many other people in other communities that like to do the sort of crapping on other people because of "name your thing." Besides, I like to focus on deaf and hh people and issues relating to deafness.
Post a Comment