The Deaf Culture

Hello all!

I didn't quite make the deadline of posting my blog on Tuesday. It's 12:58 am Wednesday morning... That shows one aspect of the Deaf culture where we all always don't think of time. Today, I went up night skiing at Brighton with a couple of my buddies and after that, we went to Pizza Pi Pizzeria in Draper and left that place 11 pm. Boy, we as Deaf people LOVE to chat and we literally forget about the time most of the time. That's one quip of the Deaf culture and that's why this post is a little delayed because I'm deaf and I love to talk, haha.

Enough of that. Let's recap on my week from the MTC. This week the missionaries have improved a LOT in areas that we've worked on in the past two weeks such as language and teaching skills. The other problem is that they're getting lazy about the rules and such, but that'll be taken care of. I can see the missionaries having issues with accepting the Deaf culture and the Deaf missionaries dealing with the Hearing culture. When two worlds collide, things don't get pretty if one or two of them aren't humble and willing to work it out together. Missionaries often show up at the MTC with a "know it all" attitude. As we face a different culture, it is not a simple task adjusting to it, and it requires humility and patience. There are several companionships who do not appreciate the Deaf culture, YET. I had a companion on my mission who fell in love with the Deaf culture but he couldn't give up his music, and stuff like that. We all have to remember that once we appreciate the other culture, we also need to know where we are from as well. They are going to teach Deaf people and since their language is different, their culture will be different as well. This week's topic is about the Deaf culture, as you already see (not heard, wink), and I'm going to start off with a video. This video is a comedic sort where we will discuss why Deaf people are like that, and I'll explain about the differences between the Hearing and the Deaf culture.




Keith Wann describes that technology ruins the precious culture of the Deaf people. We all understand that from my story after skiing at Brighton, me and my buddies gathered and chatted all night. With the advancement of technology in the past several years, Deaf people have been able to keep in touch with people all over the country and the world. A lot of Deaf people don't have many Deaf friends who live nearby which leads to the increased reliance of communicating through technology. Yes, this is a fact and don't expect to see that everywhere because there are also Deaf people like us who definitely put down their iPhones and Blackberries for a while to chat with the Deaf people around us.

We, as a Deaf community, are a very tight knit group where we all basically know who's who. We all operate on networks of friends, like Facebook for example. That was invented waaaaaay before MySpace or Facebook even came out by the Deaf community. We all become tight knit because of our differences and struggles in the world, and we're able to recuperate with our own kind. Imagine yourself doing something really difficult such as Calculus (for the most of us!), or Art (for the rest of you!), we have to work really hard to master it. It is human nature for us to choose the most convenient way instead of the challenging one to unwind and redeem ourselves. The Deaf community does that by meeting with other Deaf people and hang out, have long conversations, go to parties, and so on...

We are not outsiders, we are still in the world, it's just that we're not trying to be a part of the world because we know it's better off being with the people with similar struggles and differences. It's the same with everyone as demonstrated by cliques in high school, groups of similar interest such as clubs and many other classifications. The Deaf community is one of them, and we're no different.

There are a lot of big and small differences between the Hearing culture and the Deaf culture. Let me explain what we mean by "Hearing" culture... We mean the people who speak and hear in general regardless of language. The "Deaf" culture is the group of people who use sign language regardless of hearing loss. Here are some examples that I've adjusted for correction (there were some mistakes) from a sweetly written article I found online.

Deaf humor

Since much of hearing humor is based on word play, the Deaf do not “get it” most of the time. Many times Deaf humor is just as “interesting” to our hearing minds. The Deaf humor mainly consists jokes about oppression, liberation, and using facial expressions along with body language. The jokes the Deaf mainly use either has a visual or cultural value within.

Deaf language

The language of the Deaf is a visual/gesture based language. Deaf have their own idiomatic expressions. American Sign Language is a recognized foreign language in many states and schools. It is based on hand shapes, movements, sign placement and location, facial expressions and their intensity as well as gestures. Hearing language depends mostly on tone, volume and the formation as well as timing of sounds. It also uses expressions and body language.

Deaf are naturally frank

They tell you what they think. Deaf people are notoriously straightforward in their conversations and expressions. If you ask their opinion (and even if you don’t), be prepared to get it! Understand, they DO NOT mean to intentionally hurt or harm with their words. The Deaf are straightforward because they don't "beat around the bush" like Hearing people do.

Deaf are visually stimulated

This is for obvious reasons. Hearing folks are visually AND aurally stimulated.

Deaf music is rhythm or beat-based

Deaf music has three elements – timing, flow and coordination. Hearing music has three elements as well – melody, harmony and rhythm.

Deaf are very cliquish

They tend to be wary of new people entering their culture. Once in, hearing people are generally well accepted as long as they maintain their respect for the culture of the Deaf.

Deaf tend to have difficultly with forgetting wrongs or offenses even after forgiveness

This is a strong difficulty to overcome. Confidence is easy to gain, but once lost, it is very difficult to regain. It is very common among the Deaf culture, just as any other culture out there in the world.

Deaf think differently

The average deaf person generally does not think in words or sentences but in visual concepts. Highly educated Deaf however, can and do think much like hearing people mainly because of their bilingual ability.

In the MTC, most of the companionships have one deaf missionary paired with a hearing missionary. That creates a lot of struggles and problems! There's one companionship which makes me laugh every time I realize that the Deaf elder is SO Deaf. He's blunt with his companion and that elder does not appreciate it. The Hearing elder likes giving hints to his Deaf companion and the Deaf companion usually don't get it. Last Saturday, they had a huge argument in the classroom. We had to take them out and speak with them. Apparently we had to teach them how to maintain balance between two completely different cultures.

For me, I grew up bilingually in a Hearing family who can sign ASL. I am very fortunate to understand the differences of both cultures when I was very young. I am able to behave properly for either culture, but there are times where I do things naturally and that might offend the Hearing people sometimes, or cause some confusion. It is essential for both sides to understand each other. There are thousands of factors causing the differences between both worlds and cultures, but once we keep an open mind about it, we can understand each other better. The Deaf culture is unique because of the amazing language, American Sign Language.

click on cartoon to see it enlarged

That's all folks!