It gives you breadth of information, but not depth of information.

Read it again, and observe that it said basically nothing about what makes up a culture (language, mores, values, etc…the list I’ve given here in previous posts).

That’s the depth you need in order to analyze a group objectively.

I emailed a few links (this site, Paotie’s website, and a few other websites to my parents (who are hearing… nope, they do not know sign language and yes, we are very close and we communicate easily.)

My father’s response:

“The discussion of what constitutes a “culture” was strange to me. If there are indeed 900,000 deaf people in the US then why not mobilize the group, discuss the legitimate needs of the deaf community and look for assistance from government agencies, private foundations or universities in addressing the needs. It frustrates me when the leaders of the Black community argue about their demands for reparations or entitlements etc while not seeking to get help to provide real jobs and economic opportunities in the inner cities. Seems to me that is the same type of thing the first two web sites were doing. The first two blogs seemed to be dominated by a small group of people who got very excited at times about their points of view. I doubt anyone changed their minds about anything. I did enjoy your posts and you show by the way you are educating your children that there is more than one way to accomplish a goal.”

I agree that deaf people expect more from each other and I certainly agree that it doesn’t hurt for culturally Deaf people to talk with new signers or community members.

In fact, when I was giving birth to my Deaf son in upstate New York in 2005, I had two interpreters who happened to be close friends of mine. So close that they actually PARTICIPATED in the birthing process (i.e., they rubbed my back, held me, etc.), which generally other interpreters don’t do. And the hospital personnel noticed that. And we’ve maintained close contact…they visited us often while we were in New York and my son definitely regarded them as his “aunts”.

These two interpreters became my close friends BECAUSE we had a lot in common, and they also understood Deaf culture and believed in it. Their respect for Deaf culture was very clear from the beginning, and that’s what I expect from people.

Just as I am sure other cultures expect people to respect their culture as well. After all, it’s tough to spend time and/or become friends with a person or people who clearly don’t respect your culture.

I only talked about it because I was reacting to your article. If it wasn’t yours, it could have been somebody else’s article (i.e., Teresa B. Burke’s article on use of cell phones, for example).

I certainly wasn’t suggesting that you take responsibility for people’s comments. My basic point to Ben was, if he wants people to not talk about Deaf culture, it begins with the writers. I think it’s a simple fact. If writers don’t talk about Deaf culture or related issues arising from that, then certainly it would be very difficult for commentators to bring up the subject of Deaf culture.

And yes, I’m well aware that you were talking about the possible existence of oral deaf culture. But I trust that you realize that by suggesting such a thing, the only way I can respond to such a suggestion is to draw comparisions between the supposed existence of oral deaf culture and the actual existence of Deaf culture to get my points across.

Darn…you’re moving to Oregon…damn. But I’ve visited YLC in Oregon and Oregon is beautiful.

Good luck with the move! :-)

Yep, I live in Chicago area, Lyons. But I am moving on Nov. 3 to OR with my older brother. But yeah I saw his jokes and few vlog posts at YouTube before it closed him down or whatever happened. Also I saw his comments someplace too. I would like to meet you two someday, that is for sure!

I like the idea of ripple effects :). Thanks for that gem of wisdom :-D.

Now the comments are a different story, and I take responsibility for mine, but I don’t and won’t take responsibility for anybody else’s. What people think and feel is their issue, and not mine.

Thank you for that video…I’m truly flattered that you took the time to make a video just for me. haha. :-)

No transcript needed….heh. I understood every word you said without any problems at all. You were very clear.

Thanks for everything you said in your video…and I totally agree with you and am behind you 100%.

It’s just that it’s HARD for me to stay silent. I HAVE to say something, even though I know that certain people won’t get it. Who knows, maybe someday they will “get it”. That’s been known to happen, ya know.

I’m a believer in the ripple effect…I believe that for every pro-Deaf culture (and/or pro-ASL) comment I leave, if it doesn’t sink in somebody’s head today, it will sink in somebody else’s head elsewhere at another time. And then that person will repeat my comments to another person and the ripple effect continues.

I used to write for Deaf Life magazine and I used to write for NAD (their website content, brochures, PR releases, etc)…and even though my writings were over 10-15 years ago, I find them turning up in the most unlikely places, like a book there or a website there. That’s the power of ripple effect.

But anyway, thanks and many hugs for your kind and sweet comments/advice! :-)

By the way, you’re in Chicago, right? I’m in Indy! Maybe we should meet up sometime…I know my husband would love to meet you as well (he’s Erick Ketcham and I’m sure you must have come across his postings elsewhere, because he says he has come across yours elsewhere). :-)

Because I’m Deaf, naturally it is MY culture that I speak about.

If I was Latino, I’d add that to my posts, as well. Or if I was Asian, I’d add that to my posts too.

But I’m white and a female. Deaf culture is really the only culture I have, since my biological family has been in America for more than five generations and we’re actually mutts (we’re part Irish, part German, part English and a dab of Italian) and we’ve more or less forgotten where we originally came from.

I will not suppress my Deaf culture just to make you or others feel better.

Do Asians suppress their culture? No.
Do Latinos suppress their culture? No.
Do African Americans suppress their culture? No.

It goes on and on.

The only way people will become COMFORTABLE with Deaf culture is if they learn about it and understand it…and learn to respect it AND to treat it with the same respect they would show any other culture.

And to remind you, Ben…I wasn’t the one who wrote the friggin’ article. If you have a problem with people talking about Deaf culture, take it up with the WRITERS of the ARTICLES.

I’m only guilty of commenting and reacting to THEIR articles.

So sue me.

I think it springs partially from the fact that deaf people from mainstreaming, oral or whatever background are lonely and looking for a community that they can fit in and call a home. It’s easy to see how hurt they get if some “strong ASL” people don’t readily accept them, at least at first. It isn’t the case with, say, white people wanting to join a black community- obviously because they already have one of their own.

That’s why I think it’s not a bad idea to stop talking about deaf culture so much. It creates an illusion that you must be extremely fluent in ASL in order to be a part of the deaf community. There’s a place for all kinds of deaf people within it. It’s probably not realistic for a new signer to fit into a group of ASL purists (unless he/she shares many interests with them), but they sure can make friends with fellow new signers or community members who have the same backgrounds as them.

In this sense, the deaf community is like America- it’s diverse and full of immigrants (speaking figuratively here). That’s why how you talk about deaf culture makes me uneasy- it’s like saying America has only one culture.