African American Parents' Perceptions of an American Deaf Community:Where's the Poetic Justice?

Poetic prose, a creative qualitative technique, is used to present the findings (emerging themes) of in-depth, thematic interviews with 14 African American parents with deaf children. This is presented in a multi-vocal, interactive, and interwoven style. This style of interweaving voices of participants in a creative poetic prose is indicative of African American cultural and oral traditions. It also permits and deepens the reader's ability to emotionally and spiritually connect with experiences and emotions of African American parents and their perceptions of an American deaf community. This research was conducted using a modified grounded theory approach where theory (grand narrative) and communal-personal-based narratives interact. Afrocentricsm offers a powerful conceptual frame for organizing these experiences of parents of deaf children within the deaf community and schools for deaf children. Key Words: Deaf Children, Deaf Schools, Deaf Community, African American Families, Racism, Afrocentricity, Poetic Prose, and Multi-Vocal Text Introduction The purpose of the present study was to examine African American parents of deaf children's views and perceptions of an American deaf community. There is a dearth of information in this area of exploration, particularly from the perspective of African Americans. As Rubin and Babbie (1993) indicate if an area is relatively new or has not been researched, the exploratory approach is an appropriate vehicle for empirical study. Previous studies of families of deaf children have revealed a range of sample sizes, from as few as one to more than ten (Beazley & Moore, 1995; Gerner de Garcia, 1993; Meadow-Orlans, 1996). Parenting a young child with hearing loss tends to entail simultaneous interaction with several communities. For example, among deaf people a cultural definition as it pertains to deafness has evolved in the United States during the past decade (Holcomb, 1993; Steinberg, 1997; Steinberg & Davila, 1997). Deaf children within this cultural framework are viewed as belonging to a distinct cultural group in which a shared, common language (American Sign Language) and a common "Deaf" culture are evidence of a Deaf community (Carney & Moeller, 1998; Padden & Humphries, 1988). Thus, the use of a capitalized, separate term "Deaf" is used to describe their common feature (Carney & Moeller, 1998; Meadow, 1978; Meadow-Orlans, 1996; Padden & Humphries). With the addition of "Deaf" culture, African American children would be classified as multicultural (Carney & Moeller, 1998; Cohen, 1993; Cohen, Redding & Fischgrund, 1990; Lane, 1996; Stewart & Benson, 1991). Their behavior may then be a reflection of very distinct cultural orientations that are uniquely tied to each one's life, stemming from very different cultural experiences. For example, African American children are immersed in an African American culture, the dominant Euro-White American culture, and Deaf culture, which "unfortunately often refers to white Deaf culture, a phenomenon that has created a form of apartheid within the Deaf community itself" (Cohen, 1993, p. 54). The focus on the dominant group's culture within the Deaf community as it relates specifically to deaf children, the social identity, or identity politics become a predicament for African American families with deaf children, whose life experiences, culture, and history in the U.S. are significantly different. The construction of a Deaf culture emanating from a Deaf community poses challenges to African American parents who must negotiate with American Deaf communities, particularly when their deaf children attend schools for deaf children. For example, Atkin, Ahmad, and Jones (2002) as well as Ahmad, Darr, Jones, and Nisar (1998) found perceptions within the British Deaf community among interviewed South Asian families with deaf children. Similarly, Cohen (1993) states that African American and Hispanic/Latino families perceive schools for deaf children and the Deaf community as engaging in observable racist behavior, and lacking awareness of cultural and ethnic differences among families and their deaf children. …