What Is It About Diversity in Deaf World?

I analyze what the diversity is in the Deaf world. I show that the experiences of Deaf people are very diverse. I argue that most of us Deaf people already recognize this and respect it. There is no problem with the diversity from our viewpoint. Then I explain where the real problem come from using a short story of how we study the diversity itself. We recognize that there had been Deaf people who speak well because they had a good experience with hearing voices sometime in their lives. We respect that. So we continue studying and found that frequently if we give Deaf people good access to sign languages early in their lives, they tend to do well later on in their lives. So we see the diversity from that and value that and respect. Then I moved on to "turning the table" and I explain that the real problem is that some people subscribe to the idea that ASL is not critical to Deaf education and development. I argue why that viewpoint is in error. Firstly, the spoken languages work well when a person can hear. Simple like that. So Deaf people can not hear to varying levels. Therefore, they are better off with signed languages. So I ask what is wrong with a strong emphasis on signed languages early in Deaf people's lives. I finally persuade that we should consider signed languages (ASL in Canada and USA) should be highly regarded by support agencies for Deaf people. That would respect the diversity the most!

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People & Blogs

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• deaf
• asl