Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Monday's Class
While in class on Monday, one thing that stuck out to me is the fact that it took so long for researchers to realize that Deaf people were not mentally challenged. I hated seeing those 2 words, "Deaf" and "retarded", in a sentence together. However, when I talk about my major to other hearing people that have no connection to the Deaf community, they tend to have the same stigma as the researchers had in the article. I once spoke with someone about CODA's (Hearing Child/Children of Deaf Adults) and they looked at me and said, "Oh those poor kids growing up with Deaf parents."... You do your best to educate but sometimes it just doesn't sink in with some people. At the same time though, I wonder if I had no connection to the Deaf community, would I have the same thoughts? I would hope not. So, because of that very reason, I am trying to step into other people's shoes, so to speak, before I open my mouth.
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I have no connection to the deaf community and I didn't have an education on Deaf culture until I started this class. Deaf isn't something I associate with retardation. I am not sure what you meant by the hearing population thinking that. Everyone has their own opinions I guess but even without knowing anything about deaf culture I don't assume it is
ReplyDeleteI can relate to this post, but I think Cheyenne's point is that knowledge is taken in at different levels. For example, instead of saying the "hearing" community, I think Cheyenne pointing to her own experience with a single hearing person. I too would hope that if I was not unaware I would be able to be educated with enough information about the Deaf community, at least to the point I could understand someone else's view of the Deaf community and culture. However, I do relate with trying to educate others about the Deaf community because it is not yet common knowledge what that means, in any degree. I hope that our class of interpreters becomes good allies of the Deaf community and I hope that as we educate others, we stay closely tied to the Deaf people we so cherish right now.
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