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    The Deaf Experience

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    Kevin Castro
    This document discusses the Deaf culture. It begins by defining culture and explaining that Deaf culture emerged as deaf individuals asserted their rights and identity. Deaf culture is a legitimate culture as it is based on shared experiences, values, traditions and use of sign language. While Deaf cultures may vary between countries, they are united by the common experience of members who are deaf. Key aspects of Deaf culture include the use of sign language, value of collectivism, visual learning styles, and finding identity as deaf individuals rather than being defined by their hearing loss. The document advocates for respect and acceptance of Deaf culture.

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    The Deaf Experience

    Uploaded by

    Kevin Castro
    188 views2 pages
    This document discusses the Deaf culture. It begins by defining culture and explaining that Deaf culture emerged as deaf individuals asserted their rights and identity. Deaf culture is a legitimate culture as it is based on shared experiences, values, traditions and use of sign language. While Deaf cultures may vary between countries, they are united by the common experience of members who are deaf. Key aspects of Deaf culture include the use of sign language, value of collectivism, visual learning styles, and finding identity as deaf individuals rather than being defined by their hearing loss. The document advocates for respect and acceptance of Deaf culture.

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    A look at the cultural implications and intricacies of Deaf Culture in the Philippines.

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    The Deaf Experience.docx

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    This document discusses the Deaf culture. It begins by defining culture and explaining that Deaf culture emerged as deaf individuals asserted their rights and identity. Deaf culture is a legitimate culture as it is based on shared experiences, values, traditions and use of sign language. While Deaf cultures may vary between countries, they are united by the common experience of members who are deaf. Key aspects of Deaf culture include the use of sign language, value of collectivism, visual learning styles, and finding identity as deaf individuals rather than being defined by their hearing loss. The document advocates for respect and acceptance of Deaf culture.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    188 views2 pages

    The Deaf Experience

    Uploaded by

    Kevin Castro
    This document discusses the Deaf culture. It begins by defining culture and explaining that Deaf culture emerged as deaf individuals asserted their rights and identity. Deaf culture is a legitimate culture as it is based on shared experiences, values, traditions and use of sign language. While Deaf cultures may vary between countries, they are united by the common experience of members who are deaf. Key aspects of Deaf culture include the use of sign language, value of collectivism, visual learning styles, and finding identity as deaf individuals rather than being defined by their hearing loss. The document advocates for respect and acceptance of Deaf culture.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    CASTRO, Kevin Cedrick R.

    Bachelor of Secondary Education (CA-English and SPED)

    2010-06974

    The Deaf Experience


    Culture, in its basic sense, is the existence of a shared beliefs and traditions among a group of people called community. Amidst the individualities posed by each member of the community, it is culture that connects them to become a greater entity of unified minds and voices. The emergence of so many cultures around the globe marks the beginning of a new phase in human development: a period in which diversity is being accepted as part of the intricacies offered by human evolution and development. With this brief introduction, let me talk about a culture that has been around for nearly decades now as effect of the determined assertion of people with hearing impairment of their rights to be given significance to a world dominated by the hearing individuals the Deaf culture. This paper will have two components: first, a brief definition of what culture is and what qualifies for a culture to become one. The second component will comprise a discussion on what Deaf culture is and how it is eligible to be called a specific culture. Sharing similar set of values, norms, history, and tradition, coupled with common language constitute a culture. Talking of the concept of culture is delving on the intricacies and complexities brought about by a communitys historical background, ongoing traditions, shared beliefs and values, and other things that has been part of how a member of that particular society lives his/her daily life. Culture cuts across time and space. Someone from the West might share the same culture as that from a man in the East. However, in this case, the specific practices of this culture may vary, depending on the locale in which that culture must be adapted. Both the United States of America and the Philippines have a Deaf culture in general. Both countries share the same experiences of having a Deaf culture, but they surely differ with their practices and the use of language (ASL for USA, FSL for the Philippines), thus creating an American Deaf culture and a Filipino Deaf culture, respectively. Culture works on the premise provided by the prior experiences of the people who shared these beliefs, at the same time, on the parameters provided by the local traditions in which the culture must based the common practices among its members. Deaf culture is an existing culture. It is not a made-up thing made by deaf just because they wanted to isolate themselves to the hearing individuals. It is beyond that kind of reasoning. Deaf culture is a product of the prior experiences, shared beliefs and values, ongoing traditions and norms prized by the Deaf community. Most people with hearing impairments decided to classify themselves as Deaf, not just deaf. By doing this, they are acknowledging the fact that they have their own identity that is beyond the parameters of them having sensorial difficulties.

    Being one with the Deaf culture has nothing to do with the severity of deafness or hearing loss. It is a choice made by an individual with hearing impairment. No one forces him to be part of it. It is his/her own wilful choice to be classified as member of the Deaf community. What are the components of Deaf culture? Aside from having the same individual and collective experiences, they share the same language, traditions, and values. In the case of the Filipino Deaf culture, the Filipino Sign Language (FSL) is being used by the Deaf community. FSL, as a big component of Deaf culture, reflects the culture and beliefs of the Deaf. For example, a church is signed by putting the right hand over the left fist; the latter symbolizes the rock or an elevated place in which the Church, the former, stood. This just reflects how Catholic Deaf perceived the Church, an important institution that is superior to them. Aside from that, the Deaf community values, as what is shown in the documentary Deaf President Now!, collectivism. They are still individuals, but being unified by one culture in promoting their advocacy is much more significant for them. Deaf individuals believe that they are interconnected with each other because of this culture. When it comes to behaviors, manners, and other standard conducts, there are some differences between the Deaf and the hearing individual. This is due to the differences between the two parties sensorial functioning. An example of this is bidding goodbye. Since hearing individuals have a good verbal command, just by saying bye! to a group of friends indicate that that person needs to leave. For a Deaf individual, s/he must approach all people in the group to bid a personal goodbye. This is rooted to the interconnectedness valued by the Deaf individuals. Another notable feature of the Deaf culture is the importance of physical feature in remembering people and visual semiotics in learning. Since they lack the use of auditory and verbal language, they take note of distinct physical features to identify a person they are talking with. I personally experienced this when Jasmine and her husband assigned a different sign name for me. The former noted my pimples as a distinct physical feature while the latter noticed the mole on my left eyebrow as my unique features. Of course, I love the latter than the former, but what it shows is that they think visually. Hearing individuals think through language, but Deaf people will definitely think in pictures. The Deaf culture, just like any other culture, rooted from the notion of finding ones identity. Deaf individuals have their own identities and we must learn to accept that. They do not think like hearing individuals. Hearing individuals can only understand so little from the Deaf culture. Using the tip of the iceberg, though it is a clich, might sufficiently describe how hearing individuals might comprehend the culture of the Deaf. A gap between the hearing individuals and the Deaf community can be diminished, or be abolished, only if both parties learn to respect and accept the differences of each culture, a significant element to gradually create a much open and accepting Philippines.

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