Ginny Stewart

EDSP 1115-002
Danielle Goyette
September 16, 2020
Reflection Paper #2
Deaf Culture

There are two very different views points when discussing the subject of deafness. Some

people see it as a disability that must be fixed. These types of people believe that Deaf people

need to learn the spoken language and frown upon the Deaf community using sign language.

This group sees Deaf people as inferior. On the other side of this topic, people who are Deaf are

seen as equals in the community with a difference in culture. These people accept the Deaf

community for who they are and view sign language as an equal form of communication. People

who see deafness from this viewpoint respect the Deaf community and encourage them to live

their lives in their own culture. Personally, I view deafness this way and fully believe those who

view deafness from the other perspective are incredibly wrong.

There are many reasons I believe deafness should be viewed from a cultural standpoint

instead of a medical perspective. People who are deaf and use American Sign Language are just

part of a culture that uses a different language than those who speak English. Most people do not

see those who speak French or Spanish as inferior, so why should the community who uses ASL

be seen this way? In the end, they are still a human being, with emotions, thoughts, and dreams

that they have every right to share with the world. A disability does not make you any less of a

human being.

As a person who works with people who have disabilities, I have seen how they can be

treated. People with disabilities are often separated from the rest of the world, like how many

public schools separate the children with disabilities from the non-disabled students. By doing
this, the school district is expressing to children that disabled people are different from them and,

therefore, must be separated. Things such as this are why people believe that people with

disabilities and people within the Deaf community are “inferior.” These thoughts lead to people

thinking that a child who is born Deaf needs to be fixed, but that is not the case. “Mainstream

hearing America puts too much emphasis on the spoken word” (Clason, 2019). If a Deaf person

chooses to remain Deaf and use ASL, then power to them, and if a person chooses to get hearing

aids or a cochlear implant, then power to them, but the choice of being hearing or Deaf should

not be made by other people. Within this, society should “encourage the development of all

communication modes including - but not limited to – speech” (Wixtrom, 1988).

Another reason I believe that deafness should be viewed and accepted from a cultural

standpoint is because of the lack of support of socialization within the deaf community can be

extremely harmful to Deaf children and teenagers. I recently watched a YouTube video posted

by Goalcast of a Deaf comedian named Kathy Buckley. In her comedy show, she talks about the

difficulties she experienced growing up Deaf but being forced into a hearing society. At eight

years old, she was diagnosed as Deaf and put into a school for the Deaf. At this school, she was

able to connect with teachers and learn to speak. Two years after attending this school and

learning to talk, she was sent to a public school to finish her education. In public school, she had

difficulty making friends and understanding the teacher. By the time she had graduated high

school, “she had a GPA of 1.0 and tried to commit suicide five times” (Schauer, 2018) due to the

fact that no one would accept her in the hearing culture. Forcing people into a culture that they do

not understand and cannot fit in because society does not want them to can be extremely harmful to

people in the Deaf community. While people today are a lot more accepting than people many

years ago, it can still be equally as damaging to the person to be taken out of their own culture. It
is extremely important to support the Deaf community to socialize and be a part of the culture

they are a part of along with socializing with society as a whole.

When it comes to deafness, I believe the only way to see the deaf community is from a

cultural viewpoint instead of a medical viewpoint. By viewing the Deaf community as a culture,

the people who are part of the community are seen as equals, which they are. The medical

viewpoint sees them as inferior and believes that they need to be fixed to be able to function in

normal society, but this is just not the case. People in the Deaf community have the right to live

their lives the way they want to without being forced into conforming to what society tells us is

“normal.” The medical viewpoint needs to come to an end, and society needs to accept people in

the Deaf community as equal members of our society.

 References

Clason, D. (2019, December 24). Deaf culture and community: Why it is important. Retrieved
September 16, 2020, from https://www.healthyhearing.com/report/52285-The-
importance-of-deaf-culture

Goalcast. (2020, July 9). Deaf Comedian Turns Tragedy Into Comedy | Kathy Buckley
Inspirational Video | Goalcast [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=RwhVslaotNA

Schauer, M. (2018, September 07). Comedienne delivers jokes and life lessons to college
students. Retrieved September 16, 2020, from
https://www.ocregister.com/2018/09/05/comedienne-delivers-jokes-and-life-lessons-to-
college-students/

Wixtrom, C. (1988). Two Views of Deafness. Retrieved September 16, 2020, from
http://www.aslaccess.org/2viewsofdeafness.htm