I stumbled into the deaf community about five years ago, when I shamefully knew next to no British Sign Language (BSL) and I didn’t know many other deaf people in my isolated county of Bedfordshire.
Fast forward half a decade and I’ve been fortunate enough to meet so many individuals through my work, as well as write the odd post on here from time to time.
While I’ve spent a few years building up my knowledge of BSL and my understanding of deaf issues, there’s no denying that I’ve still had a bit of a deaf identity crisis in recent months.
As someone who is only mildly deaf, I’ve realised that I don’t have nearly as many experiences to draw upon as someone who may be severely or profoundly deaf.
Not only that, but I wonder whether I identify as deaf or Deaf.
To my understanding, the former (little ‘d’) simply refers to the medical condition and hearing loss. If used to describe an individual, then it would be someone with some loss of hearing, but no involvement in Deaf culture.
I believe the latter – someone who is Deaf – would be involved in the Deaf community, most likely severely or profoundly deaf and would use British Sign Language as their first language.
Although of course, these are my interpretations of the definitions – other websites and bloggers out there have their own takes on the two words.
Yet, my confusion comes with knowing where exactly I sit. When I’m not using the phrase ‘hard of hearing’ (sometimes that’s easier than just saying ‘mildly deaf’), then I’m deaf.
I know a fair amount of sign language – communicating through Sign Supported English – and am heavily involved in local deaf clubs and deaf current affairs.
I like to think I’m a member of the Deaf community, and heavily involved in its culture, but who decides that? Am I Deaf even though my hearing loss isn’t severe or profound?
What we have is a middle ground with some individuals involved with deafness in some way. After all, we also have to consider children of Deaf adults (often abbreviated as CODAs), who are heavily involved in Deaf culture and the Deaf community through their parents but aren’t ‘medically deaf’ themselves. Where do they sit on this binary?
It raises questions around whether we need to redefine these two phrases, but also, how much are we in control of our deaf identities, and how much of this is authored by other people in the community?
If we are to reconsider d/Deaf identities, which I suggest we do, then we must of course be careful not to gatekeep, for our community continues to be an open and diverse place for D/deaf people to connect.
Photo by Ollie Cole.
Liam is a mildly deaf freelance journalist and blogger from Bedfordshire. He wears bilateral hearing aids and makes the occasional video about deaf awareness on his YouTube channel. He can also be found talking about disability, politics, theatre, books and music on his Twitter, or on his website.
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Andrew Niklaus
February 20, 2019
Over in Australia, we simply use ‘deaf’, and for those with strong deaf identify, we can refer to them as ‘culturally deaf’.
Liam O'Dell
February 21, 2019
Interesting! Thanks for sharing.
John Walker
February 20, 2019
I think it is worth going back to Woodward 1975 and reminding ourselves how it was originally defined.
But, most academics are in agreement that the duality of ‘D/deaf’ is not helpful, because most dualities are not helpful anyway (e.g. man/woman, gay/straight, etc). Woodward never intended for a duality to be created – it is a later connotation.
For me it is clear, ‘deaf’ refers to the ‘hearing loss’ of any kind. It talks about the ear.
‘Deaf’ refers to the way of life for a group of people who share a common language, community space(s) and cultural rules/customs. It doesn’t focus on the individual.
So, an example:
It is estimated that there are 156k people who are members of the Deaf community because they expressed a preference for British Sign Language as their first or preferred means of communication. This is an extrapolation from data in Scotland and following criticism on how the data was collected in England and Wales. Although, 156k people could include non-deaf people who were raised in the Deaf community and participated in Deaf cultural norms, so CODA and sign language interpreters could have selected BSL as their language. Therefore, the Deaf community could include both deaf and hearing people in that statistic.
E.
February 21, 2019
Precisely! That is akin to how I use it in academic writing, e.g., deaf=individual vs. Deaf=institutional
Liam O'Dell
February 21, 2019
I hadn’t heard of Woodward and his comments on this. I’ll have to look this up – thank you!
Tim
February 20, 2019
The last two paragraphs here are absolutely spot on.
When people ‘gatekeep’ in this way, they are encroaching on other people’s self-determination. They’re interfering with the individual’s right to identify as they see fit.
They like to think it’s about accuracy and standards, but it’s really about othering other deaf people. Who appointed them as the arbiters of who is and is not a member of the deaf community?
Jo Dennison Drake
February 20, 2019
Your mind frame of whether one should be part of the deaf culture & or deaf community is interesting. I am classified as severely deaf to profoundly deaf as I’m lucky enough to have two measurable frequencies in my best ear to reach 80dB at its best in my ‘good’ ear. The rest of my hearing falls below & disappears on other frequencies.
I was brought up to use speech only & indeed at my school at secondary level in the 1970’s we were punished if caught using speech. My parents only ever used speech by voice only to me too believing as the teachers told them that it was the best way for me to learn.
Now society’s opinions are divided with those who believe both methods should be used or just go for the one method depending upon hearing loss.
Having learned BSL up to level 2 I know without a doubt what my preferred option would be. Had I been given a multi approach of speech with sign language early on I would have developed language earlier at a younger age had I been accepted as being deaf.
I apparently did use some sign language but my parents were horrified & didn’t embrace it. Fortunately my grandfather was more embracing & did use the BSL for spelling me words I didn’t understand verbally.
Unfortunately at the age of barely 6 yrs old I moved house with my family & started at a partially heating unit attached to the school & was flung into hearing classes so until I went to Mary Hare my life at school was mostly jolly hard work & I couldn’t understand what was going on. My maths in particular slipped enormously to affect me for the rest of my life. The rest I got by as became a prolific reader from the age of five & six yrs old as a form of escapism from orally speaking people.
Having now picked up enough basic BSL I realise I’m way happier having the option of using both BSL & verbal communication has given me what I consider 3 dimensional understanding communication wise. I think it matters not if how deaf one is as to what method makes one feel most comfortable. Likewise the same with those who choose to immerse oneself in deaf culture or not or remain enjoying both sides of the coin. Even those who are not deaf but choose to be involved with the deaf world/culture because they are friends, siblings/ parents/children of the deaf or teachers of the deaf or interpreters etc… often can be embraced by the deaf as gratitude for keeping the deaf feeling normalised within the community at large.
However some deaf people, often those who are primary BSL users perhaps view others who are not deaf as intruders within the deaf culture & deaf community & treat them somewhat rudely much to my dismay. They forgetbtgat it is those people who will often come to our rescue when we need them!
I feel as a deaf person myself that we can all feel the benefits of being able to immerse ourselves in the deaf culture & community to a level that best suits us as individuals and should not be judged by how deaf we are.
There are always those who manage more ably in a hearing world regardless of the severity of their deafness & think it’s largely to their experience & expectations of people around them who support them really effectively.
No doubt many will find elements of what I think & feel as objectionable but shouldn’t we all be entitled to our own opinions as a result of each of our personal experiences in life?
Chris
February 20, 2019
I am always intrigued by the label Deaf Culture. After almost 4 decades of attending deaf clubs ( before most of them shut down) it was almost exclusively elderly people playing bingo.
Where is the culture?
John Walker
February 21, 2019
Try reading ‘Understanding Deaf Culture’ by Paddy Ladd. It is a heavy read but informative.
Liam O'Dell
February 21, 2019
I definitely sense deaf culture on social media. I think the wider disability community is very prominent on there.
atlalipreading
February 26, 2019
I have been told in very strong terms, that I can never be part of the Deaf community, because I wasn’t BORN deaf. I understand it to be a closed community, and it really doesn’t matter how deaf you are, I am profoundly deaf, or how good your Sign language, if you were born hearing, i was, you can’t join and that is that! I have also heard of deaf people being shunned by
the Deaf community, because their spoken language is good. I find all this quite upsetting. I know that there are good and bad in any community, and some may be welcoming, but I have had bad experiances with the Deaf community.