There are two main prevailing styles. Models for disability. The first, known as the medical model, considers disability to be a fault for the body. The second, known as the social model, sees disability as a result of the environment. I believe that deafness, and the Deaf community, is caused by a society built around hearing bodies. Deaf people would also be disabled if the society was only for them.
It is especially important after a month dedicated. honoring Deaf heritageAllies need to understand that, although certain variations in the human condition like deafness may cause functional limitations, these limitations don’t necessarily result in disability unless the society surrounding an impacted individual does not strive to fully include all people regardless of their differences.
Many people with hearing loss experience a significant reduction in their disability when they find themselves able to navigate an environment that isn’t hindering their functional abilities. These barriers include interior design that restricts the reception of visual information and communication methods that rely upon the reception of auditory data. Individuals with hearing loss may not experience any impairment in their ability for function if they don’t have these external barriers.
Society pressures hearing impaired people to modify their physiology and undergo surgery to adapt to their environment. Particularly Deaf people who have lost their hearing from learning a spoken language feel they need to adapt to their environment. Many people feel alienated from both the hearing and Deaf communities. They often feel torn between trying to navigate a hearing world and immersing themselves into a culture. Accepts their natural variation.
Allies have to do their research. One thought exercise for readers who can’t hear or are deaf is to imagine. A world built around Deafness. To Take part in this exerciseLet’s take a look at a hypothetical reader in this world.
You are less sensitive to vibrations than your Deaf peers as a hearing person. Your doctor recommended earplugs to compensate for your hearing loss. They can help you earn some of the compensatory sensory benefits of hearing loss. Strange stares in publicIt is not a cure all, but it can be done.
Friends are easy to make, due to their initial curiosity about your life. But they are difficult to keep. Their signs are too fast for you to understand and they make too many errant noises that it is difficult to keep up with the conversation. You may have moved away from your hometown. Local hearing communitiesIt was difficult to find. Particularly since the pandemic.
As a child Multi-generational hearing familiesPerhaps you have heard of your relatives being beaten for speaking English. Or that their mouths were taped shut in school because they wanted to learn American Sign Language (ASL), which is the de facto national language. All signs and posters are displayed everywhere. SignWritingYou have difficulty understanding the conventions of how words are displayed, rather than the way that you acquired language, which was through sounding out. To survive, your family must be part of small English-speaking groups. This allows you to access interpretive services at work, school, and entertainment.
But, accessing these services is difficult for you. Chances are being deniedBecause of that. Your interviewer, who conducts the process exclusively in ASL, determines that you are not grammatically correct after you apply for your first job post-university. Use facial expressionsReliance on English sentence structureWhile signing is not ideal, it makes you a good candidate for the job.
While you may have the senses to hear in this Deaf-centered universe, it is your environment and the inability to see the value in your hearing experience which make you a disabled minority.
It is important to remember that this was not an intellectual exercise for hearing individuals, but a lived reality for many in Deaf communities. When trying to make the world more inclusive, keep this in mind.
