Monday, February 4, 2008

Can Label Deaf?

Here, I discuss the question of whatever a hard-of-hearing person can label himself deaf or hearing or just hard-of-hearing based on their interaction with both cultures.

I tend to sign too fast sometimes as I think you can clearly see in the video. If that made it unable for you to understand me, please tell me so I can improve next time.



2 comments:

Dena Reiter said...

I've discussed this on my blog too, and to be quite honest, I'm still on both sides of the fence on the issue. I still feel very hearing, I've grown up hearing with a hearing husband, my friends are all mostly hearing and parents too. When I entered high school, they had a pilot program for ASL so I was eager to try it (i didnt' want to take Spanish or French), but even then I knew my hearing wasn't quite right. in College I was tested and said I had moderate loss. But my connection to ASL and the deaf community in seattle is something i won't forget. I felt at home, almost like a Coda. My uneasyness is beecause I function just like a hearing person in the world, and yet can function well in the deaf community. I like to think I sign well *laughs* So I'm still not sure what I'm calling myself. people say that I can call myself deaf, but I still see that as being culturally deaf, and I wasn't raised in the culture, so I'm not sure that I belong to that spectrum of things. I'm a mutt I guess *laughs* For now, I say I'm hard of hearing because I have a hearing loss, I am not fully hearing, and I'm not profoundly deaf.

Phillip Easterling said...

Hey, my viewpoint ever since I was in Deaf School, whoever said they are "hard of hearing" I will always said they are deaf. We can't find anywhere "hard of hearing" term in the Bible. So.