Rant Redux
I thought I would repost an essay that I wrote before I began blogging. This essay also happens to be one of my very first blog posts. I thought it would be worthwhile to repost it, due to the controversies going on DeafRead. I am hoping it will give an insight to the hearing readers into the mind of a culturally Deaf person.
Without further ado, my infamous rant.
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I am stone-cold Deaf. I do not consider myself to be disabled. I can read and write far better than the average person at my age. I can do anything just as well as any average hearing person. The difficulties I have with being Deaf is how people judge and treat me.
I have been asked if I could read and write. My hearing friends have been questioned about my mental capacity from strangers who have never met me. My friends and I receive dirty looks when we use ASL to converse in public. People have approached me, only to blanch and leave when they realize I am Deaf. One woman, jealous of my writing skills, submitted me to public humiliation by standing up in class and accusing me of turning in a paper written by my mother in order to receive an “A”.
My Deaf friends have been abused sexually, physically, emotionally, and mentally, simply because they were Deaf. Furthermore, they cannot get justice for these inhumane acts, because just by being Deaf, their credibility is in question.
Hearing educators, arrogant in their assumptions, have integrated Deaf people into hearing classes. Most Deaf students go through school without a bilingual education, therefore forcing them into a system about which they are unaware. Through social promotion, they are advanced without learning anything. The highest level that my Deaf classmates ever attained was a sixth grade education.
People keep decrying, “How do the Deaf know when they are in danger?”
Being Deaf is not dangerous. We have ample warning if we are in danger through pagers, phones, television, strobe lights, and our own eyes.
People then ask, “How can the Deaf really experience music?”
One need only experience a small portion of the songs and poetry in ASL to realize that they are some of the most beautiful works ever composed. Our hands are our voice. Our faces convey our emotions. Some things expressed in ASL can never be properly translated.
One needs only stand still and feel the rhythm, to feel the vibrations course through one’s body, to realize how we hear music that hearing people create.
To hear the rain drops patter down, we simply just have to place our hands on the windows. To hear the thunderous applause from an audience, we just have to look at the hands applauding.
We hold a baby, and see it’s laughter on it’s face. A toothless grin. To hear how people feel, a simple glance is only needed.
I can sit in the middle of a forest, and enjoy it. I see the birds and squirrels flit from tree to tree. I smell the freshness of the earth. I feel the gentle, warm breeze that carries wafts of various scents.
I can see a rainbow. I can see the pure white snow. I can see the beauty that is here on the earth. I can feel, smell, and taste it.
With a swish and twist of my fingers and hands, I can tell a joke that will cause a room full of people to burst out in laughter. With my hands, and my eyes, and my body, I can tell a story that will move people to tears. I don’t need a voice or ears to do it.
I can even sit anywhere, with people or alone, and simply enjoy the so-called silent world I am in.
I cannot properly convey the full beauty and depth of Deaf culture with words, because there are no words to describe it. As Deaf people, we cannot fully grasp hearing culture, and hearing people cannot fully grasp Deaf culture, even when one is immersed in the other. Therefore, all we can do is wonder how the other side truly experiences life and try to accept each other.
©Jeannette Johnson/A Deaf Pundit
18 Comments
Comments are closed.
Grace said,
February 17, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Beautifully put…
J.J. Puorro said,
February 17, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Nice one…
I agree that the things that annoy me the most are:
1.) When folks question our mental capacity…
and
2.) When folks thinking being deaf is VERY dangerous…heck I even think being hearing is dangerous as well…
Jean Boutcher said,
February 17, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Beautiful! Save that for your autobiography and, when you reach the highest point of something in your life, publish it, Jeannette!
Jennifer said,
February 17, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Jeanette, that was beautiful. You have a talent for writing…and I always enjoy my visits here
!
deb ann said,
February 18, 2008 at 12:01 am
Amen! Beautifully written!
Misha said,
February 18, 2008 at 12:58 am
Beautiful! Just simply beautiful! I love it!
Misha
Bill said,
February 18, 2008 at 6:23 am
Nice Writing!
I especially enjoyed the descriptions of you enjoying the rain, and the forest.
Karen Mayes said,
February 18, 2008 at 6:57 am
Beautifully written, voicing the common feelings that we the deaf people have in the face of some hearing people’s ignorance.
mishkazena said,
February 18, 2008 at 7:53 am
Very true about being hampered by the hearing people, not because we cannot hear.
I love the description of Nature.
Kelly said,
February 18, 2008 at 9:32 am
Wow! You took my breath away! I will have to share this link with some of my friends and my husband (who is Deaf). Thanks!
White Ghost said,
February 18, 2008 at 10:16 am
Judging from the hearing people on deaf identity are not easy, whereas, we have justified the nature.
Shelley Potma said,
February 18, 2008 at 10:43 am
Quite well-written!
I wouldn’t add anything to your essay, except for one:
The questioning of whether deaf people are fit parents; and the heavier scrutiny by hearing people on how you parent your hearing children…. and picking on little details.
Shelley
Divided said,
February 18, 2008 at 10:51 am
So, who is really the dumb and ignorant?? It is sad to see that there are other people who are blind to our abilities and don’t fully realize that visual cues and sensation to noise through vibration replaces our hearing loss. We “hear” everything that the hearing people can hear….and more!
Belle said,
February 18, 2008 at 1:34 pm
As a Deaf person, you described just how I feel and experience the world.
Robyn said,
February 19, 2008 at 6:50 am
This is wonderful. Thank you for sharing.
cheers
Robyn
Mr. Sandman said,
February 23, 2008 at 12:45 am
Finally catching up with my RSS feed and blogs/vlogs in general!
Excellent post– you may want to check the Deaf Way II Anthology– there’s a good entry in there called “A Letter to C.F.” by Pamela Wright-Meinhardt that talks about perceptions about deaf people and English, including poetry and music.
Gielen said,
March 25, 2008 at 9:29 am
I am touched. I am hearing and I love a deaf. You have wonderfully written the words I want to say. As they all said, beautiful! I know I cannot fully grasp deaf culture, but at least, I will try my best to be able to understand the person I love.
rainingcats said,
May 1, 2008 at 5:20 pm
This is so beautiful!
I loved the way you described how you experience the world. I wish every hearing person could read this.