★ deaf culture

Instructions

There is a glossary in the notes and credits for terms used that may be confusing. Mini essay is in instructions. Thumbnail image ID is in notes and credits. Today I'm going to talk about Deaf culture. (Warning, this is a fairly long read) [CW for mentions of ableism] First off, what is Deaf culture? A short explanation of Deaf culture is common experiences shared among Deaf or HOH people. Deaf culture is to take pride in your Deaf identify, even if hearing people want to 'cure' you, be ableist, etc. Deaf culture to many people means using Deaf instead of deaf, going to a Deaf school, finding community with other Deaf people, using or learning sign language, wearing colorful CIs/hearing aids, making Deaf culture art- and many more! Though Deaf/HOH people are the primary ones in Deaf culture, there are also people who are CODA, DHH teachers, etc. Second off, another explanation. Each hearing or Deaf person is probably going to have different views on the Deaf community. This is just a summarized version of things I've learned in my DHH classes, my opinion, etc. For me personally, I dislike it when hearing people try to speak on what Deaf culture is. They aren't Deaf, and usually unintentionally use stereotypes as a source. Most hearing people will say that Deaf culture is made of mostly/entirely people who are 100% deaf from birth, with no residual hearing, who solely speak ASL or lipread. And while that is true for some people, that's not the case for many people in the Deaf community. While many people in the Deaf community are fluent in ASL (me!), some aren't, and many use a different sign language. The same goes for lipreading, and other stereotypes. With that in mind, I'd like to share my own, probably biased, views on what Deaf culture is to me. To me, Deaf culture is taking pride in my Deaf gain, its about calling myself Deaf, instead of deaf. It's reclaiming language that hearing people use against me. It's making art of Deaf characters. It's going to Deaf events, and DHH classes. It's using ASL at the grocery store. It's still going to school after being made fun of. It's just talking with my Deaf accent. And so much more. So with that, I invite Deaf, HOH, CODA, and anyone else who is in the Deaf community some way, to share what Deaf culture is to them in the comments!