Blog #5

http://ehis.ebscohost.com.libproxy.gc.maricopa.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=45828758-0ccb-491d-9743-0fe447568c5d%40sessionmgr114&vid=8&hid=102

^^ I do not expect you to go to this link and read this entire article because it is a long one for sure. I basically read the synopsis of this article titled "Signs of Their Times". This article goes over deaf community and how they are perceived to the hearing world. This goes on to say that deaf people have been treated as dumb and with disrespect for countless years. Until 25 years ago, deaf people were considered handicapped and hearing people were trying to find "the cure" for their "disability". I think we can all say that obviously being deaf is nothing more than the absence of hearing and using an alternate method to communicate with others. Yes, deaf community and culture do differ from hearing culture. Yes, life as a deaf man/woman is harder because they have to intermingle with these foreign people that they don't know how to communicate with. And yes, communication and overall way of life is different. But we are all people! Why is it that for so long people didn't understand that deaf people are just like everybody else?! I feel that technology was not advanced enough for people to even know their children couldn't hear. Maybe people put them into the "mentally retarded" category because the child couldn't respond to sound. Or maybe people correlated lack of communication with loss in the brain. I don't know. But overall, my opinion on deaf society is that people should not try to force hearing on these people. They were born a certain way for a reason. Yes, dominant society is hearing, but there are many parts of the world who have a different way of living. I don't see being deaf as any sort of loss, but rather a new opportunity to show us hearing people how beautiful language can be.