User:Lilgilly19

The difference between the hearing and deaf communities is larger than one might initially think. You could liken the difference to the gaps between races, religions and genders. The people in the deaf community have their own culture, language and way of life and this is something that is overlooked or not even known by the hearing community. As hearing people we often view deaf people as just people that cannot hear and nothing more. The majority of hearing people are ignorant to the facts of deaf culture. The deaf community, like other groups with similar interests, are a close group of people because of the shared experience they have with overcoming the difficulties of growing up or becoming deaf in a hearing society. Those of the hearing community historically have tried to make being deaf seem like it is a disease and that the deaf person must go through any means necessary to be cured of that disease. The hearing world romanticizes the idea of a cure to being deaf and the ability to hear. When in all reality deaf people are extremely proud of being deaf and would not want to give up something that defines so many aspects of their lives. Deaf is not just an inability to hear but it is a part of the people who are deaf, it is a culture with its own customs and beliefs, it a language that is just as beautiful as any other and it is a close-knit and supportive community. There are many different languages spoken throughout different countries, and although many people think of verbally spoken ones, a non-verbal language is sign language. Through Deaf Eyes talks about the diversity of the language between whites and blacks, and it was interesting to see the different slang, dialect, and signs between the two races. If there are variations in sign language between those who speak the same language, then there must be variations between countries. The movie doesn’t go into depth about the diversity of the language throughout different countries, but there is a myth that sign language is universal. America has American Sign Language. France has French Sign Language, and Japanese has Japanese Sign Language ect. All of these countries have different signs for the alphabet, grammatical structures and rules. People are not able to understand sign languages of other countries because each sign language dialect is unique, just as spoken languages are, but when the diverse languages come together the barrier will not exist very long after an adjustment period. As previously stated in the paragraph above segregation did not only affect the verbal community but the non-verbal as well. The deaf society held a banned, for 40 years starting in 1925, not allowing black people to attend any NAD meetings. Through Deaf Eyes illustrates how deaf black children were also separated in school and due to this segregation both black and white children were taught different variations of how to sign the same words. Professor Carolyn McCaskill explained how at her all black school they would have dances and basketball games, describing the environment as lively and fun. But when she moved to a white school it was boring and she felt inferior hiding the way she signed and conforming to the white children and how they did things. After the civil rights movement and the desegregation of schools the variations may have stopped slightly but there in different nationalities there will always be an accent to the way people sign. Many people who are deaf have different views on what they should use. Some believe they should use hearing aids to help assist their hearing loss. Many people like this because they can take it out and it is not permanent. Others believe that they want to use a cochlear implant. The cochlear implant is more permanent than the hearing aids. The implant consists of a magnet implanted into the back of someones head and the sound is coming from that and not through the ears. Some deaf people prefer this because it aids them in hearing. Others look at it as a bad thing because it is permanent and could be dangerous to put in. As for the rest of the deaf community, they don't want to have neither hearing aids nor the cochlear implant. They would prefer to embrace their deafness and not be ashamed of it.