Chapter 47

         When reading the question, "Do deaf parents breed deaf children?", I realized that I also did not know the answer to this question.  It would seem only natural to believe that deaf parents would pass that trait down to their children, however, this is not the case.  It was completely shocking and disturbing to learn about how drastically people resented the idea of having deaf people in society, calling them "undesirables" and "defectives".  The term eugenics was introduced in this chapter as "a philosophy which deals with inherited characteristics and the possibility of improving those of succeeding generations by choosing 'suitable' parents" (pg 289).  It is horrible to think about the extremes people would go to prevent deaf people from being born into society.
        After all of these previous beliefs that deaf people breed deaf children, it is crazy to learn that in reality, "90% of all deaf people have hearing parents and 90% of all deaf parents have hearing children" (pg 290).   There are many different factors that can cause deafness, including hereditary deafness/hearing loss, prenatally deafened, and early deafened.  "Hereditary deafness can be autosomal-dominant (only one parent needs to be a carrier) or autosomal-recessive (both parents must be carriers)" (pg 290).  What some people do not considered when they think of people being deaf is that it is not always hereditary.  Some people can be prenatally or early deafened as a result of viruses, illness, or accidents.
        Although it is more uncommon for deaf parents to have deaf children, it seems that for many deaf people, it would be a blessing.  This makes perfect sense to me because for the new family, there is never a language barrier between the parents and child.  It is interesting that deaf children with deaf parents "tend to grow up with a sense of independence, self-confidence, and pride that many deaf children of hearing parents initially lack" (pg 292).