Deafness As Culture

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Deafness as Culture Language, universal or not, provides mankind with understanding via communication. Every rotation of the Earth is based off of the human ability of speech. This vital aspect of human anatomy has evolved over thousands of years, eventually unraveling into complicated, diverse and tautological languages. Language is used, and needed in more circumstances than any other human ability. However, deaf people are troubled as they lack the ability of spoken language, the easiest and most simple form of communicating. The definition of deaf is, lacking the power of hearing, or having impaired hearing. This disability prohibits the person to be able to speak or hear. Most deaf people in the world today use ASL to communicate. ASL stands for American Sign Language. The deaf do not see themselves as handicapped but as a different cultural and linguistic community. The act of trying to integrate deaf people into conventional schools has stirred up much resistance from activists and people who favor sign language. Helen Keller once stated, “Blindness cuts people off from things. Deafness cuts people off from people.” A long time ago, deafness was never looked at or attempted to be cured; it was just negated out of society. It was not until the sixteenth century that people attempted to teach deaf children. In 1789, the French Academy of Sciences tried to determine if deaf people were “capable of reasoning.” The deaf community today believes that they are not handicapped but they are a linguistic minority. It is very promising that deaf people are standing up for themselves and expressing that they do not think they are at a disadvantage in life and don’t want to be treated like they are. They do not need a cure for their condition because they are happy and used to living with it. Most of the deaf people in the world would answer, simply, “no” to the

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