(V/Blogger’s Note: This rebuttal was made last year to counteract the allegation that Deafhood is a tool for discriminatory profiling against fellow members of the Deaf community. This year, certain people continue to spread the myth that the Deafhood concept requires group-think. They also say that people who accept the Deafhood concept reject diversity. Read the English version below and/or view the ASL vlog above, and decide for yourself whether that myth is true or false. )
DEAFHOOD. What is it? It IS the Deaf experience… that’s it. However, this concept needs some elaborating upon. You might have noticed the clash between two camps…those who agree with the term Deafhood, which is defined as the Deaf experience, and those who view Deafhood as a worthless and discriminatory concept. I will discuss the latter view later on, but for now, we shall examine whether Deafhood is discriminatory against those who are not culturally ASL Deaf members of Deaf families.
Let’s take a look at those (of us) who agree with the term, Deafhood:
• I’m from a Hearing family, but grew up in a Deaf school.
• Ella is a member of a Deaf family, and an alumnus of a Deaf school.
• Don G grew up oral (in a mainstreamed setting) and later discovered ASL.
• Ridor is from a Deaf family and attended a Deaf school.
• InsaneMisha? She was raised oral, but now uses ASL.
• DeafChip was the only Deaf member in a Hearing family and attended a Deaf school.
• The DeafJeff: Jeff had an oral upbringing and later on started using ASL
• Mike Schmidt is from a Deaf family, but he is hard-of hearing, and progressively losing more of his hearing.
• Barb DiGi, like Mike, is hard of hearing and from a Deaf family.
• Patti Durr isn’t from a Deaf family, nor did she grow up in a Deaf school. She is hard of hearing.
• And many others like Carl, Aidan and others whose backgrounds with which you are familiar.
We are all from diverse backgrounds, yet we share the Deaf experience, which includes the struggle against audism and the second-class citizenship treatment.
Even Barry, Kelsey (HonBrit), Russell and others of like minds do go through the Deaf experience. They actually have struggles against audism, whether they deny it or not. Regardless, they do go through Deafhood.
To further assist in understanding Deafhood, I’d like to refer to Star’s vlog, which explains womanhood. In that vlog, she says all women go through that experience as mothers, daughters etc. Some women enjoy being women, while others don’t. Some would rather be men due to the enviable “status” of men. Experiences vary. Some women have positive experiences while others have negative experiences being women.
Likewise, some Deaf people may have positive experiences being Deaf, while others have negative ones. The experiences may vary, but we, the Deaf , ALL share the same general experience… the Deaf experience. In a nutshell, it’s Deafhood. That’s all. Nothing more. Nothing less.
I’ll tell you what Deafhood is NOT. It’s NOT discriminatory profiling against those that are not culturally Deaf, ASL using, members of Deaf families. In other words, the argument that the Deafhood term discriminates against oral, the deafened, and those who are non-signers is implausible.
Examine those who walked out of DVTV, the very same ones who agree with the use of Deafhood term to describe the Deaf experience (Ella, Don G, Mike S, and all others that I just told you about in this post). What are our backgrounds? Then examine this individual’s allegation about Deafhood being the tool for discriminatory profiling against fellow members of the Deaf community. You will find that this profiling allegation is now rendered null and void.
That’s MY view on Deafhood. To reiterate, this term means the Deaf Experience… with a heavy emphasis on POSSIBILITY THINKING!
To view comments by people of different backgrounds under my youtube vlog, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgjcYjH8UtI
The truth will always trump myth every time!
(This is an updated version from Shel: A Deaf Canadian’s Thoughts)
