User:Briannariv/sandbox

Social Model
The social model of deafness stems from the social model of disability. The concept of social disability arose in large part from deaf and disabled people themselves, their families, friends, and associated social and political networks. Invoked here are professionals in the human services fields and the social sciences instead of physicians and the physical sciences. This model describes a person’s disability on the basis of two factors:


 * 1) the physical or mental traits that cause this disability
 * 2) their environment, as it is influenced by the perception of others

Through this lens individuals who are deaf are considered disabled due to their inability to hear, which hearing counterparts in their surroundings have historically viewed as a disadvantage. People with disabilities affirm that the design of the environment often disables them. In more accessible environments where those that are deaf have access to language that is not only spoken they are disabled less, or not at all. The history of Martha's Vineyard, when looking specifically at Martha's Vineyard Sign Language, supports this notion. At one point in time, the deaf population on the island was so great that it was commonplace for hearing residents to use both signed and spoken language to communicate with their neighbors. In this environmental design, it was not "bad" or "disabling" if one was not able to hear in order to communicate.

With certain disabilities, medical intervention can improve subsequent health issues. This is true to parts of the deaf population, as in some cases hearing can be gained with the assistance of medical technologies. The social model acknowledges the hard truth that medical intervention does not address societal issues that prevail - regardless of its extent or success. In addition to changing environments from disabling to enabling atmospheres, advocates of the social model support the de-institutionalization of persons with disabilities. They encourage maximum integration with peers who are not disabled by their environment, especially, but not exclusively, in the school setting. Ultimately, the goal of proponents of the social model is to ensure all people are fully able to enjoy "all human rights and fundamental freedoms".

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Cultural deafness and the Social model
Deaf culture is distinct in that the inability to hear is not seen as a "loss" or something that negatively impacts an individuals quality of life. Members of the Deaf community have jobs, dreams, and aspirations not unlike those of their hearing counterparts, and define deafness as a cultural term rather than a medical one. Residential schools for deaf children serve as a vital link in the transmission of the rich Deaf culture and language. The transmission of Deaf culture relies in part on residential schools, as they are ideal environments for children to acquire and master sign language and pass on Deaf cultural values. Like all educational settings, these environments are key to providing deaf children valuable life lessons and skills that will help them prosper in any environment they may find themselves in.

The Social Model of Disability's ideology of "all-inclusive" school environments is not adhered to in the deaf social model. Residential schools separate deaf and hard of hearing children from their hearing counterparts. The Deaf cultural model points out that the existence of these schools demonstrate an example of respecting and embracing the totality of the deaf experience rather than dismissing it. While the Social Model's promotion of inclusion at every level is a great principle, it may not always be the best environment in practice. In the case of deafness, there is a lot a child can miss in a mainstreamed schooling environment. In a poorly constructed mainstreamed environment, fostering relationships with classmates may be difficult and auditory important material shared verbally by teachers may be missed. As a result, the child may fall behind both academically and socially. In residential school settings, these challenges may not be experienced to the same degree, and would allow for deaf children's social and academic lives to instead flourish.

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Summary on cultural deafness
As there is a deaf community with its own language and culture, so there is a cultural frame in which to be deaf is not to be disabled. To the contrary, it is an asset of and for the deaf community to be deaf in behavior, values, knowledge and fluency in sign language.

It is within this community bonded by shared culture and language that lives defined by diagnosis, disadvantages imposed by majority beliefs and practices, and disabilities tied to inappropriate models of language and social enrichment, that, according to the cultural model of deafness, deaf people find themselves both enabled and socially advantaged.

The experience of a language minority such as the deaf thus seen, amounts to a social disadvantage no more or less troubling than it would be for any language minority.

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