At the end of this chapter, I read "Is deafness a disability or is it a culture? Does it have to be one or the other? Can it be both? If you want to give the most accurate answer, taking into account the complexities of being medically deaf and culturally Deaf, you'll have to be annoyingly vague. You'll have to say, 'In some way, yes; in some ways, no'" (pg 345). After reading this chapter, I completely agree with this statement.
From a certain point of view, deafness can definitely be seen as a disability. Physically speaking, deafness is a "sensory impairment", lacking the auditory equipment needed in able to hear. Being deaf is part of the Americans with Disabilities Act, based on similar concerns that deaf people share with the rest of the disability community. Some include "access to public facilities, quality education, fair opportunities, good jobs, and stereotypical images and invisibility in the media" (pg 345). Even though most people in the Deaf community are able to function without the disabilities act, it has the ability to help the community with communication aspects of their lifestyle, including telecommunications access and captioning.
However, deafness can also be seen as a culture. Based on a unique language, some see Deaf culture like any other linguistic minority, where "just like those who rely on foreign languages need the services of interpreters, so do ASL-Deaf people" (pg 344). Like it was stated in previous chapters, Deaf culture includes its own language, literature, art, folklore, and social customs. Honestly, the only argument that I can see about whether or not Deaf culture is real is based on its lack of religion, cuisine, or costume. However, I do not think these factors determine the culture...especially for Deaf culture.
Like it was stated in the book, it is extremely hard to determine whether deafness is a disability or culture. I truly believe it depends on the specific person's point of view, and how much they know about the Deaf community.
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