Sunday, September 30, 2012

Hearing Culture v. Deaf Culture

Here's a couple of more things about me:

11. I have a horse named Tommy.
12. I have one brother and one sister- both hearing.
13. They do not know what caused my hearing loss.
14. My favorite time is Fall ( well as Fall-y it can get in Texas..)
15. Even with my hearing loss, I still love music. (I'll write about this soon)

Anyway on to today's topic.

 Being a teen with Hearing Loss is hard. The teenage years are when everyone is discovering who they are.  Well, I'm neither Hearing or Deaf. I'm in No Man's Land. I'm sure there may be a Hard Of Hearing community, but it's not really a 'culture'.  Wikipedia defines culture as "A distinction is current between the physical artifacts created by a society, its so-called material culture and everything else,[3] the intangibles such as language, customs, etc. that are the main referent of the term "culture"." 

Deaf and Hearing both have these distinctions. Language, history, and customs. I exhibit both of the cultures in one way or another. For  example: I talk mainly in English, and I am learning ASL. But I also fallow some Deaf etiquette as on how i get people's attention by tapping on one's shoulder. I also use a lot of technology for the Deaf, like Closed Captions. I consider it rude to brake eye contact so I can read lips and body language. I am not ashamed of my deafness. Not one bit. 

But sometimes, a lot more lately, I feel I am being pushed more than I would like to be of Hearing Culture. Don't tell my mom, but twice this last week, I taken out my one Hearing Aid at school. ( The other one is broken and has been sent off for repairs.) I've blamed it on my ear being sore from a scratch, and wearing the aid made it more sore. And to be honest, I liked it. A lot. Probably more than i should. Mom would really dislike the fact that I would be OK with going without a Hearing Aid.  

 I'm going to have to pick someday,  just not today. And and right now, I'm leaning more towards Deaf culture, because, even with a Hearing Aid, I will never fully be apart of Hearing Culture. 

So what do you guys think? Leave a comment below!

3 comments:

  1. The cool thing is you blessed to have both cultures to experience where the hearing world has no clue sometimes what it is like to have silence and not hear a thing. Culture is defined differently with each person so don't be surprised if you meet someone who thinks "deaf" means this and it is not that way in your mind. So, I would say learn and keep an open-mind.

    Good story.

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  2. Just to clear any confusion i love my HA's very much. But there are days that just want to go unaided. I have nothing against HA's.

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  3. I would have to say this is a great story also! I have a brother who is deaf but lives in a house that is otherwise completely hearing. I could always tell that my brother struggled and was disliked the culture shift that he experienced going from WSD (Wisconsin School of the Deaf) to our home. I have talked to him a few times about it and he also agreed that at some point he will have to decided.

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