Once again Candy offers considerable debate for further discussion regarding the age-old conflicts of why so many still oppose the deaf having a culture, while agreeing everyone else has. I'd like to respond on my own blog, as it is rather extended to include on Cathy's.
I think the issue is via the 'collective' status as a culture, it has become virtually impossible to separate people via loss degree, language, or communication used, and not welcomed either these days, despite desperate back-peddling by those determined to preserve deaf cultural aspiration, who seem to have alienated those that can help preserve the status quo of it. Deafhood has played also played its part in alienating deaf and HI people of all types.
The basis of 'deaf culture' is on sensory loss i.e. and what is regarded as a 'disability', by most, so without deafness and loss, no culture, not least 95% who are not born that way, will rarely recognise it as much else....and the 20th and 21stc means of offering CI's, better hearing aids, more inclusive communication options, and better protection to parents about illness, which caused many babies to be born deaf etc, all these advances are playing their part in removing the idea of a dedicated culture, because the basics are being removed for it to flourish. Should we mourn it's passing ? Oppose these advances, limit these options ?
What makes deaf, deaf is also no longer the norm, the deaf schools, the clubs etc, certainly not here where we are, which form the bedrock of deaf culture, and as we saw with the American thing recently, deaf schools created deaf culture by putting all deaf in one place. Only recently, two deaf schools shut for good here, one had only 8 pupils in it, the rest, mainstreamed, deaf associations where they still exist, seen organising support areas for CI implanted children who are rapidly replacing the born deaf.
Access has also seen determined undermining of sign language in many media areas, where captions are now seen as the primary and preferred means of following them, even by the deaf themselves. This has allowed the powers-to-be, to remove sign language options without breaking access laws, and where sign language IS seen in vision, deaf are demanding captions still as back up. This suggest deaf are not all cultural via sign language, which is the sole visual means many deaf are being identified, and another issue and area of dissent.
A culture of sorts probably DOES exist, but based on just 2% of the entire deaf/HI population. Born deaf are very, very small minorities, within deaf minorities too. All credit to these people for punching in huge excess to their weight, even if the message of culture is being lost in the drive to 'offer support' to them, which is seen as anti-social models of being deaf. I think questions still arise regarding what constitutes a culture, aka language, arts, music, literature etc in the deaf sense. If we look at HOW these things are done, are accessed by the deaf, they are not dedicated to the 'deafhood' concept of culture at all, it is still very much aligned as to how hearing do things, it's deaf culture because sign is used ? We aren't parrots, we are people.
We needed to see something more distinctive regarding culture, something that makes the deaf stand apart as a culture, the trend seems to be retiring to enclaves, and 'protected' oe exclusive areas and this is further isolation....it is becoming increasingly difficult to see that can work, and will become even harder as advances and choices are made by individuals themselves, who are no longer really part of the old 'collective' that gave the concept of culture impetus. The UK used to use the terms 'classless society' and 'multiculutralism', but both have failed completely, because they forgot one simple basic premise, none of us want to be the same as anyone else, and while we insist and go through the motions of 'cest la vie', (what our new religion is, I'm a happy atheist frankly), we are really just standing apart from what is happening and pursuing individual goals, and nervous and unsure at the fragmentions that are going on, while (To use the awful pun), paying lip-service to it. We are in defence mode mostly of ourselves, nothing is worse than conformity, or 'all the same'. Which is a living death to many.
Aka "I support deaf culture.." but, won't participate in it, won't encourage it, won't really respect it, because I have another life to lead....a culture killer surely ? Unlike black people (Forgive me if this is not PC somewhere), we deaf cannot be universally recognised just by colour, or just by sign language... It is this lack of real identification, and the reluctance to BE identified, that is the issue, allied to the drive for people to distill that ID to the individual, and not disseminate it to the whole, that gives deaf culture no real reference point... It will always be on the backfoot...
2 comments:
Have a comment ?