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Date:         Wed, 30 Sep 1992 19:43:14 -0500
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From:         "Keith Watt - Gallaudet Dept. of Education"
              <11CWATT@GALLUA.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: John Tracy Clinic

Hello Bill -

>     Chris, thanks for the info.  But why do you say my son's culture is Deaf?
>It's
>     like saying his culture is Cute or Brown-Hair.  Yes, my son is profoundly
>deaf,
>     and cute, and has brown hair, but to define him completely by his hearing
>(or
>     lack of same) is as silly as defining him by his brown hair.


Well, in some sense you're right - your son won't be part of the Deaf
Culture unless he chooses to be so.  Audiological status is only a part,
and a very very small part at that.  Allow me to present this definition of
culture:

"Culture may be defined as learned and shared behaviors and perceptions
transmitted from generation to generation through a shared symbol system"

("Intercultural Communication", Pennington, 1985, P.31)

From this you can see that indeed, "cute" people and "people with brown
hair" do not make up a culture.  While cute people may display a set of
learned and shared behaviors, they do not transmit these behaviors using a
unique shared symbol system [a language - this is from my linguistics
class].  Similarly, blind people may have a unique set of perceptions, but
they fail the test of a unique symbol system as well and thus do not have a
seperate culture.

Deaf people, on the other hand, meet all of the requirements above -
including the unique language.  So Deaf people can be said to have a
definable culture of their own.  However, if your son does not learn ASL
(and that is certainly your choice, as his parent), it is highly unlikely
that he will become a member of Deaf Culture - he is unable to use the
symbol system of the culture.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?  Depends on your perspective.  Certain
members of this list will tell you that being a part of Deaf Culture will
mean limited opportunity in the primarily hearing work world.  This isn't
the case at all.  My perspective is that I cannot fully experience the
hearing culture (and by that term I mean the mainstream American Culture -
I am fully aware that there are probably more people in various subcultures
than are probably in the "mainstream").  No matter how hard I try (should I
be so inclined) one thing I can never be is hearing.  I can, however, fully
experience the Deaf Culture.  This, for me, gives me a fuller sense of
self.  One can never underestimate the influence of culture on how we
define ourselves.

So for me, I'm happy the way I am.  The Deaf Culture is a precious thing.
And, while few people outside the various fields of deafness have heard of
it, it is a fully-developed culture - complete with stories, folklore,
everything you might expect from a culture.


Now, let me clarify one more thing.  There is a Deaf Culture in every
country.  My comments really are about the American Deaf Culture (whose
language is ASL).  There is a British Deaf Culture, Isreali Deaf Culture,
etc.  You are quite correct that a Deaf Isreali and a Deaf Texan are in
COMPLETELY different cultures.  Many of us (including myself, as you can
see from this post) forget that this list is not limited to the United
States.

I hope this helps, and if there are any questions I can answer, please let
me know.  I'm afraid I can only provide the American Deaf perspective, but
maybe I can help in a general way.

All for now..
Keith

P.S. I was an Engineering Physics major, what is your specialization?

===============================================================================
Keith Watt                              |
Gallaudet University                    | "Exit, pursued by a bear."
Department of Education                 |     Stage direction in Shakespeare's
                                        |     _The Winter's Tale_ (1611)
BITNET:                                 |
11CWATT@GALLUA.BITNET                   |
===============================================================================