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- Path: sparky!uunet!olivea!isc-br!bunker!hcap!hnews!124!2120!Ann.Stalnaker
- From: Ann.Stalnaker@f2120.n124.z1.fidonet.org (Ann Stalnaker)
- Newsgroups: misc.handicap
- Subject: DEAF CULTURE
- Message-ID: <23432@handicap.news>
- Date: 28 Jul 92 17:15:51 GMT
- Sender: wtm@bunker.shel.isc-br.com
- Reply-To: Ann.Stalnaker@f2120.n124.z1.fidonet.org
- Organization: FidoNet node 1:124/2120 - Fingers Talk, Irving TX
- Lines: 55
- Approved: wtm@hnews.fidonet.org
- X-Fidonet: Silent Talk Conference
-
- Index Number: 23432
-
- [This is from the Silent Talk Conference]
-
- LG> Betty, this message is really for James Womack, but I
- LG> don't want to upset Ann, so I am addressing it to you.
-
- There is really no need to address this message to Betty - it
- would have been just as appropriate to address it to ALL.
-
- LG> I have read the book "Disavblingg of the Deaf Community", and I
- LG> can see that ASL and Deaf Culture are really the most
- LG> appropriate cultural formss for the born-deaf or pre-
- LG> lingually deafened.
-
- Why do you feel ASL and Deaf Culture are really the most appropriate
- cultural forms for the born-deaf or pre-lingually deafened? I don't
- agree with this because there are many born-deaf folks who are not
- a part of the Deaf Culture nor do they use ASL. I'm one of them...
- and so are many who belong to SHHH as well as the AG Bell organization.
- I actually believe it depends on the home environment of the above
- parties and how their families raise them. I think all born-deaf
- should have at least a shot at oralism. Many of us who are oral
- and depend on speechreading function quite well, some better than
- others where there is never a need for ASL.
-
- LG> Infants with all their senses do not sometimes babble and
- LG> sometimes make finger motions. Infants with all their senses
- LG> ALWAYS babble.
-
- All infants babble whether they are deaf or not - they may not
- speak clearly but they do make noises. The only exception may
- be they have a brain damage disability or are born without vocal
- cords, but deafness has nothing to do with the fact an infant
- cannot babble.
-
- I have to agree with you in your statement about deafness being
- a disability (I hate the word handicapped because I feel one is
- only handicapped if they allow themselves to be so) - Deaf Culture
- in my opinion is something the Deaf created among themselves simply
- because they choose to be recognized as Deaf persons and thus want
- to be a group of such. We are all individuals first, not a deaf
- person. IMHO, just because we are deaf/Deaf/HoH doesn't mean we
- have to belong to one group or the other - we should be able to
- fit in any group (personally, I don't see the need for such
- sterotyping as a group) and if one is limiting themselves into
- such groups, they are missing out on what is out in the BIG wide
- world.
-
- This is just my opinion which is based on what I've experienced
- and from what I've been exposed to.
-
- --
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