Chapter 70

See now I think this is another one of those odd questions. It’s just like being short or tall. There is nothing special about their eyes. I think that people who are Deaf are probably more in tune with people’s facial expressions and their body language but it’s not that they would be able to see further than other people. People who are not Deaf can also acquire skills in ASL because they watch and learn to read body language and peoples facial expressions. I love that it says, “this doesn’t make them visually smarter or eagle-eyed.” I thought this was a funny thing to say.

Chapter 69

Again, never would have thought about this. If someone is Deaf during the day or when it is light they would need to be on alert for someone talking. I just can’t imagine never being able to look away when someone is talking. You could never take your attention off that person because you have to be watching. I mean in situations I would be able to focus on that person signing, like in class, but when I’m talking to my friends sometimes I’m off doing something else. Or we are cooking or something and talking to one another across the room.

I thought that part about the kids who are Deaf going to that school and them being forced to sleep in the dark was terrible. How horrible of those people! I mean I understand that children need to get used to being in the dark but there are other ways around that! You could get a diming light that goes out a little more each night or something. It doesn’t have to be an immediate thing where they are forced to start out in the dark. Of course they aren’t going to be able to sleep. Sorry, I was a big chicken when I was younger and couldn’t imagine my parents, or teachers, doing this to me. 

Chapter 68

When I first read the question of this chapter, I was like oh my gosh, come on! But then I read further to see that they are talking about interpreters wearing dark or plain colors. Since we have already talked about this in class I really could read though this chapter and understand more of why. You don’t want any colors or anything to take away from your signing. I really like how at the end they talked about ski masks, sunglasses, hats, etc. I laughed because the first thing they started with was the ski mask, like people usually go around wearing ski masks on a daily basis. I never would have thought about sunglasses and hats and such as being something that you wouldn’t really be able to wear. It makes sense though because you wouldn’t be able to see the eyebrows to know if someone is asking a question or not. 

Chapter 67

I thought this was a fascinating question as well. The chapter is talking about people who are Deaf having different facial anatomy. I have never noticed anything different about people who are Deaf having different facial features. I think everyone looks different anyway.

I went to this thing for the Academic Team the other day and the school we were at had a big rug of all kinds of different children. There was a child in a wheelchair, all different races, blind, and then one girl was holding up her fingers in the “ILY” sign. I laughed a little because it just threw me off seeing that. I never realized that you really wouldn’t be able to tell that she was different unless she had a hearing aid or something like that. I just thought it was an interesting way to show that she was Deaf.

Other than a hearing aid or something else like that I don’t see how you would be able to tell that someone was deaf. Even if you see two people signing, you wouldn’t be able to say exactly that they were deaf. Look at you, you can sign and probably hang out with your friends who are Deaf outside of your own home. I’m sure people probably think you are deaf when you’re not. 

Chapter 66

Singsong is really interesting. Once I read this chapter, I started thinking about other songs and how you could sign sing them. It would be really complicated! There are so many words that you wouldn’t use in ASL in those songs. I just think that it would get really complicated to sign all these songs that at modern. I think it would be really fun to create a song or be a singer or singsongs. The book talks about a lady named, Sherry Hicks. She is a hearing person who performs ASL songs! I think that this would be really hard to do but it would also be really fun.

My nieces teacher would have the students do sign songs while they sing during Christmas performances. I always thought this was kind of fun for the students. Now that I read this chapter I realize that maybe it isn’t the best idea for students. It is a really great way to keep their hands busy during performances but I could see where it could be hurtful to people who are Deaf. I think that it is nice that students are learning some ASL through these songs but they should probably learn the whole songs, not just a few words. 

Chapter 65

I thought this was an understandable question to ask. ‘Can Deaf people appreciate music at all?’ was the question at the beginning of this chapter. I thought it was interesting to hear about some people who are Deaf love music and others could care less about it. I love music and couldn’t imagine being without it. If you think about it, music is in everything you watch. It is on every show you would watch, every movie, music videos, cars, shops, etc. I think it would be really hard to watch a movie without music. Think about watching a scary movie without the dark tones to let you know something bad is going to happen. Like in the movie, Jaws, the music that happens when the shark is about to attack. In this book they said that, “most Deaf people don’t enjoy music, as they don’t understand it; music appreciation is a foreign concept.” I didn’t really like this sentence in the chapter but I guess since I’m not part of the Deaf community I wouldn’t have much insight on whether this is true or not. I think that growing up without music would be very difficult. 

Chapter 64

I thought this chapter was really fascinating to read about. I didn’t realize that people who were deaf could be amazing dancers. I mean, I knew they could dance but I didn’t realize that they could actually go to school and become dancers. It was really awesome to read that it doesn’t matter if you are deaf or not, you can still do everything a hearing person can. It was also interesting to hear about how people who are deaf hear the music. They can hear through vibrations and the bass. I loved this line, “some hearing people are terrific dancers and some are incredible klutzes, the same applies to deaf people (p. 377).” I feel like finally, the author says something along those lines!! He should have said it about that stupid, ‘why do some deaf people not like to read?’ question. I’m sorry but I still find that question a little dumb. Some people are just different and it doesn’t matter if they are deaf or hearing. I think it would be really fun to go to a concert or something that people who are deaf go so I can hear how loud they really do make their music. The book says that it is super loud. 

Chapter 63

I’m still a little surprised by this question. I guess I never really thought about people who are Deaf going to the movie theater. It just seems strange to me but I guess I am the one being stereotypical with that statement. I think it is really fascinating that action movies are more entertaining to people who are Deaf but it does make a lot of sense. Action movies don’t have a lot of dialog while “talky” movies do. People who are Deaf wouldn’t have to try and figure out what the people are saying as much and would be able to enjoy the action parts of the movie. I had never really thought about it that way before but it’s really neat actually. I really wish that there could be more cinemas that had movies for Deaf audiences. That would be the coolest thing to create, theaters with subtitled movies. And not just old movies! Movies that are in other theaters as well.

Chapter 62

Deaf literature. I thought this chapter was interesting. I didn’t know if there would be like ASL literature or something like that. I think that people who are Deaf would enjoy any types of literature if that is something they are interested in. There are types of literature that I am interested in and others that I am not interested in. It’s not because they are written in a different form of English, although I’m not a fan of Shakespeare but that’s because I don’t understand it. I guess that would be a good example though. Some people LOVE Shakespeare and totally get it and I do LOVE to read, I don’t like Shakespeare. I think that goes along with people who are Deaf and ASL literature. Some people who are Deaf may only like ASL literature, while others may like all kinds of different literature. I don’t really know if this makes any sense but I think it just depends on the person when it comes to likes and dislikes. 

Chapter 61

I found this chapter slightly…boring. I know I shouldn’t have because it should be a really interesting chapter to read but all it talked about was different books and TV shows that are negative towards people who are Deaf. Now I was very surprised and thought this was horrible but since it just gave a lot of examples and told what the stories were about, it didn’t capture my attention for very long. I think after reading most of this book , I understand how ignorant people can be about others. With the United States history in every race or every “disability” you could think of, I don’t think anything would surprise me. Look at what the US did to the Native Americans, African Americans, Gays, etc. I mean, I think that more people need to just mind their own business and stay out of other people’s lives. 

Chapter 60

I think the internet would help Deaf culture, not destroy it. If you look at all the things people who are Deaf can do with technology now, it is amazing. There is facetime, skype, etc. All these different ways that people who are Deaf can communicate with parents and friends openly. As the book talks about TVs now will have subtitles. I think that more movies should have options for this because it would be nice to go to a movie at the theater and be able to understand what they are talking about. It’s great for ASL learners to have all this technology and access to different internet sites that can help us with ASL. But I could see where this type of technology could hurt as well; you never know if you are getting the right information. I think you have to be very careful when using the internet to look up information about ASL because of those sites that are not accurate. Also, when looking up certain signed words, sometimes it depends on the context of what you are saying on how you use that word. 

Chapter 59

I found this chapter really hard to follow. I didn’t really understand where they were going with the ghetto and Deaf culture. After reading through it a couple of times, I understand it a little better but it is still odd. I guess they are trying to talk about how segregation is and that the Deaf culture may be like that? I don’t feel this way because Deaf culture enjoys having their own world, at least I think they do. I think they like to have their own piece of the world that no one can really touch. It would be difficult though, if people tried to step into that world and started trying to take control. Like Alexander Graham Bell tried to do with sign language. In my opinion, the “ghetto” is not the best place to be. It has that stereotype that is poor and run down type of feel. I don’t feel that the Deaf community is like that, at least not in most. There are, of course, exceptions to every statement but for the most part I think that ghetto is not something that should be associated with the Deaf community. 

Chapter 58

Physically, deafness is a disability. In school, that would be listed under their physical disabilities. I feel like the word disability is thrown around so easily now that saying I have a disability could be a numerous of things. I like that they talk about how people who are deaf can cope with their disability. It does feel weird saying disability, doesn’t it? Can I say though, wow, about the “please do not call us the hearing impaired community”. I don’t remember it saying anything about that in the book and feel like the author kind of just threw that comment out there. It was a little surprising. I like that the book says that people who are deaf still want their schools and their education opportunities for children who are deaf. I don’t feel like those should be taken away from people but I do feel that other students should be welcome to join. It sounds silly, I know, but still. It shouldn’t be only allowed for a certain type of people. I think that children whose parents are deaf should be able to go to these schools if they wish or children who have siblings that are deaf should be able to go to these schools as well. 

Chapter 56 & 57

Chapter 56

I feel like this chapter was basically the same as the last chapter. I think it depends on your knowledge of the culture. I’m not going to sit here and write articles about the ocean because I don’t know enough information about it. It would be a very basic article and not very well informed. If you are going to start writing pieces about things then I believe that you need to be well informed and be able to write information that is accurate. Again, I feel like this chapter was the same as the last. 

Chapter 57

Finally we hear about Alexander Graham Bell! Apparently he almost succeeded in wiping out Deaf Culture. He basically sounds like a really crappy guy. Bell was an oralist and he wanted to get rid of Sign Language. I don’t really understand why you would want to get rid of a language but he seems like a jerk so that might be why. He was a phonetics teacher and was very good at sign language. When I read about this part I was even more surprised. If I became fluent at sign language I don’t think I would want to get rid of the language. It is such a pretty and expressive language. It’s a means of communication and would be completely wrong to get rid of that. Yes speech is important but so it communication. If you can’t hear what someone is telling you, how are you able to have that key communication skill. I really hate oralists (bad to say, I know) but goodness! Communication is huge in how we live in society! 

Chapter 55

Studying Deaf culture would be really fun, I think. I’m afraid that sometimes I don’t get the right information from these chapters. Or maybe I read into them differently than most people. I would love to get more involved with the Deaf community and become fluent in the language. This being said, I know that it is important to get information from inside the Deaf community and people that are on the outside looking in. Before making an statement, I think you need to be able to look and understand both sides of the argument. Now, it doesn’t mean that you have to agree or even see their WHOLE side but at least know where they are coming from. Not everyone lives in the same world as you do, some people are raised completely different than you. Everyone should be able to understand that most people will have a different opinion.

I don’t think that it would be right for people to criticize one another but it is going to happen whether we like it or not. I think that sometimes we’re just going to have to take it in stride. Now, disrespecting someone’s entire culture is not acceptable by any means. I just think that sometimes people are going to say things that you don’t like to hear and those things shouldn’t be said but people are ignorant. 

Chapter 54

Being born deaf would be a very difficult thing. It would be hard on the parents of the child and the child as they grow up. It is not impossible and it should not be considered a burden or something looked down upon. I believe that you should make the most of the situations you are in. it is important to know that you are loved by many and that you have the ability to love many. It would be difficult to be a person who is deaf but it would also be difficult to be blind, or in a wheelchair, or have a mental illness. I think that you have to make the most of your situation.

Becoming deaf later in life would be very very difficult. I think that it would be more difficult, as I’ve said before, to become deaf later in life. I think this because you have lived your whole life without having this difficulty and then you have it.  The thing I know I would struggle with most is talking with my parents. I think that it would be really hard for them to learn how to communicate but I know that they would do it in a heartbeat. It would be difficult because you are already established in your life and you already have this foundation built for yourself, then you have to change it around. 

Chapter 53

In previous chapters, it discusses who is part of the Deaf community and says that if you associate with them and are respectful that you are part of the Deaf community. I like the response though, Do they want to be? It should be simple like that, do you want to be? I believe now, that I could be part of the Deaf community if I choose to be and if I would show the Deaf community respect. All cultures are difficult and stubborn so I don’t believe that it is fair to say that hard of hearing people are stubborn individuals. Most people are! In my opinion, based on what the chapters have told me, the Deaf community would accept you if you want to be accepted. 

Chapter 52

The chapter is about the difference between being hard of hearing and being deaf. I think that this was a good chapter to have in this book. I’ve found myself wondering about this sometimes but always thought that if a person is deaf they would not be able to hear at all and if they are hard of hearing then they can hear a little bit. The book states that a man named, Alexander Graham Bell said that if you lose your hearing after the age of 8, you are “hard of hearing,” no matter how deaf you are. I don’t entirely agree with this statement. Based on some previous statements in the chapter, Alexander Graham Bell is not the greatest guy in the Deaf Community.

The chapter says that, “the traditional criterion is the ability to use a voice telephone. If you have a hearing loss and can still use the telephone (even with amplification), you are hard-of-hearing. If you can’t, you’re deaf. Simple as that (pg. 315).” I think that this is a great cut and dry answer. I love answers that have these types of responses. It may not be the best answer to go by but it is still acceptable, I believe. Why not have a answer that is simple? 

Chapter 51

Now this chapter is interesting! It is about the different types of people that the deaf community accepts. The deaf community does not just accept people who are deaf or hard of hearing, they accept all people if they are respectful of the culture. I think this is only fair. Why would you accept people who do not like you? The deaf community will welcome anyone who is curious and is eager to learn about the culture. I think that this chapter was a breath of fresh air. Some of these chapters have made me nervous to go to events because of the negativity towards people who can hear. I found that this chapter seems to be okay as long as people do not go into the deaf community with a bad attitude.

I really found the thing called, tinnitus, really interesting to learn about. I did not know that this was something that existed but apparently it is a buzzing, ringing ,clicking, roaring, in the ears. This would suck! To hear something buzzing or a noise of some kind inside your ear all the time! Ahh! I think I would go crazy if something like this was going on in my ears! 

Chapter 50

Is deafness “bad karma”?

Umm…what??? Who would ask this bizarre question? Why would being deaf be “bad karma”? And who would know if it is? Karma is a matter of opinion. Not everyone believes in destiny or fate so they may not believe in karma.  The book goes onto talk about different religions and what they believe and all that jazz. I am just not interested in this chapter really. I found the question to be absurd and the response to be even more absurd. It is a silly questions, there are no such thing as stupid ones, but this one was pretty silly. Not everyone will believe that karma exists so how can one really give a straight answer about this? There is no right or wrong answer to this question so I found that it was kind of boring to read about. Sorry.

Chapter 49

How do people become deaf?

The book says that congenitally deaf is when you are born deaf and adventitiously deaf is when you become deaf later. I feel like becoming deaf later in life would be more difficult than to be born deaf. I, clearly, don’t know what it is like either way but I think that it would be harder to adapt if you become deaf. If you are a person that is born deaf then you have no prior knowledge of what it was like to hear so essentially, you don’t know what you are missing out. It sounds horrible to say outloud or in a blog but I think that it would be harder. Your family would have to learn how to communicate with you in a completely new way. I know that they would have to learn how to either way but it would be difficult to go from being able to communicate freely, then to have to learn how to communicate in a new way.

The book talks about different ways that people who are not born deaf become deaf. They said that viruses can cause people to lose their hearing. Deafness can also be caused by accidents, car accidents, motorcycle accidents, etc. I thought this one was really strange, conductive deafness. The book says that it is a, “buildup of earwax that blocks the canal, fluid in the middle of the ear, inflammation, a perforated eardrum, or ossification or fusing of the bones (pg. 300-301).” Wow! That all just sounds gross! 

Chapter 48

Wow! What a crazy story! The grandmother fell down during her pregnancy and she had a boy and girl who were deaf, the grandma became deaf in one ear, the girls aunt has a daughter who is deaf in one ear, and her uncle's daughter has hearing loss, and she has Meniere's Disease. That book says that she must carry some genetic tendency towards being deaf. The book also states that is not uncommon for hearing loss to run in families. 

Honestly, I think it would be kind of nice to have something like that run in the family instead of one person being deaf. It would be easier to communicate and understand one another's frustrations. I also didn't realize that you could go to a genetic counselor to test about what you may have in your genes. I guess that makes sense but I didn't think they would be able to tell you anything about that type of gene. I guess I always assumed that it was random, not something in your genes that caused someone to become deaf. That is really interesting though.