What is the difference between deaf and hearing culture

Individuals can choose an audiological or cultural perspective. Whatever the decision, the NAD welcomes all Deaf, deaf, hard of hearing, late-deafened, and deaf-blind Americans, and the advocacy work that the NAD does is available to and intended to benefit everyone. Deaf and hard of hearing people have the right to choose what they wish to be called, either as a group or on an individual basis.

Deaf and Dumb — A relic from the medieval English era, this is the granddaddy of all negative labels pinned on deaf and hard of hearing people. Source: Deaf Heritage , by Jack Gannon, The term is offensive to deaf and hard of hearing people for a number of reasons.

They use sign language, lip-reading, vocalizations, and so on to communicate. Obviously, this is incorrect, ill-informed, and false. Deaf and hard of hearing people have repeatedly proved that they have much to contribute to the society at large.

Some examples are:. Most hearing people, when they think about technology for deaf people, think about hearing aids and cochlear implants. To Deaf people, this is a "hearing" way of thinking - i. For most Deaf people, technology means things that will make living as a Deaf person in a predominantly hearing culture more comfortable and convenient, e. Throughout history, Deaf people have devised ways to live as Deaf people. Even before we had modern technology, Deaf people found ways to adapt household items to suit them.

Deaf people also prefer or select particular kinds of environments - they often prefer open-plan houses with good sight-lines, round tables rather than rectangular, and they always choose strong, even lighting rather than soft lamps, candles, or flickering lights.

All these things, and many others, give Deaf people a sense of their place in history - they hold a place in the world's story that is uniquely theirs. Deaf people who grow up isolated from the Deaf community and later discover it, also discover this sense of historical identity and belonging and it becomes very valuable to them.

In fact, this common experience of isolation from the Deaf community is part of Deaf history. Deaf theatre groups are popular in Deaf communities. In Australia the Australian Theatre of the Deaf is well known, but there are also amateur theatre groups. Deaf artists often have a particularly "Deaf" style, for example the depiction of Deaf symbolism such as hands and signs.

Film making is now becoming a popular art form in the Deaf community. Deaf people tell jokes about the Deaf life, and about hearing people. Deaf communities often hold comedy nights where people tell jokes, funny stories, and true life anecdotes. Cultures develop around people's self-identity, i.

It is a natural development when people who share similar experiences and identities come together. Cultures gather strength when they are passed down over generations and are enriched with historical knowledge. Deaf people's interaction with other people and with the world around them is primarily visual. Deaf culture is based on this visual orientation. Many people seem to believe that by isolating Deaf people from each other, this Deaf cultural identity would not develop. But people seem to have an innate need to congregate with others who are like them in some way and who accept them for who they are, and Deaf people are no different - sooner or later they seek each other out.

Ironically, the experience of isolation from the Deaf community and the Deaf culture becomes for many Deaf people one of the commonly shared experiences and hence one of the culture's unifying factors. It is considered rude to break eye contact because it gives the impression that the person does not care or is not paying attention. Since the form of communication is entirely visual, the moment someone looks away, he or she will miss what is being said.

I am profoundly deaf and since I grew up oral, I grew up in the hearing world. Hearing people occasionally glance away, so whenever I interacted with hearing people, I will sometimes break the eye contact by quickly glancing away. Later, when I started learning ASL and became involved in the Deaf community, I was not aware of the cultural differences.

I was chatting with a few Deaf friends or fluent hearing ASL signers and during the conversation, I would sometimes glance away. I was given feedback that I was being rude whenever I darted my eyes from the person I was speaking with and was informed to not do that. Ever since, I have always held constant eye contact whenever I interact with Deaf people or fluent hearing ASL signers.

They may prefer to communicate with speech. For instance, they may have been born to hearing parents and grown up in the hearing world with little or no exposure to the Deaf community. Hard-of-hearing is a widely-accepted term to describe mild to moderate hearing loss.

A person who is hard-of-hearing often does not use sign language as their first or preferred language. This may be due to them never having the opportunity to learn a sign language, or preferring not to.

Someone with mild to moderate hearing loss may identify as Deaf and be involved in Deaf culture and the Deaf community. Likewise, someone who has a very small amount of hearing or no hearing may like to identify as hard-of-hearing, rather than deaf or Deaf. Ultimately, each individual person has their own preferred term for how they identify themselves.

There are some people with hearing loss who are comfortable with this term and self-identify as hearing impaired. If you are a hearing person, consider how much you depend on sound in your everyday life: announcements on public transport are made over a loudspeaker, in-person conversations are usually spoken without going down in writing or through an interpreter, and social media videos and free-to-air television are rarely captioned or interpreted though this is getting better!