While reading
this book I have come to realize that the authors are very opinionated. It
seems to be their way or the high way. This chapter really rubbed me the wrong
way. I disagreed with just about everything I read. It seems that these authors
became so caught up in their opinions, that it caused them to overstep their
boundaries, especially when they bashed many different religions. Not everyone
who is affiliated with a religious group hates deaf people or looks at them as defective.
I thought that their statements were very rude, inaccurate and ironic. They stereotyped
different groups of people, which is exactly what they say we shouldn’t do in
the book. I do believe that deaf people have been stereotyped against and still
face that prejudice today but the authors need to realize that they too were
judging and being hypocritical.
I do
not believe in karma. I hate to read that it “has led to the tragic belief that
a deaf or disabled person must have done something bad in a previous life to
deserve the punishment of being born ‘defective’” (pg. 303). I do not think
that is the case at all. I agree that “God created deaf people as part of a
divine plan” (pg. 303). God created us each as individuals and all of us are
different. I do not believe that God created deaf people in order to punish
their parents or to have them reincarnated into something better in another
life. I do not believe in reincarnation, I believe in rebirth. I believe that
when you give your life to Christ you are rebirthed in the since that you are
forgiven and have been made new with him, not that you later become something
else in another life.
Overall, this wasn’t my favorite chapter,
I realized how different my views were from the authors but that is okay.
Chapter 51:
This
chapter was pretty informative and the additional information seemed to connect
well with Chapter 49. I learned about tinnitus. It is a “disorder causing
unnatural noises-buzzing, ringing, clicking, roaring-in the ears” (pg. 309). It
also discussed Ménière’s disease. This is when one experiences “attacks of
tinnitus and vertigo” (pg.309). People with have tinnitus or Ménière’s disease
are considered to be hearing impaired (pg.309). This goes along well with the
different types of deafness discussed in Chapter 49.
I find
it really interesting that “the Deaf community includes a number of hearing
people” (pg. 309). I was glad to read this because I feel that many hearing
people become involved with the Deaf community because of friends or family
members who are deaf. These hearing people have grown to “respect Deaf people
and have earned the respect of the Deaf community” (pg. 309).
I found
the acronyms used in this chapter helpful. They can help a hearing people see the
different relationships within the Deaf Community. All these different relationships
affect our ways and means of communication with an individual.
Such Relationships include (pg.310):
CODA (a hearing child of deaf adults)
DODA (deaf child of deaf adults)
DOHA (deaf child of hearing adults)
HOHA (hearing child of hearing adults)
I also had never heard of The
Americans with Disabilities Act. The act was “signed into law by President
George Bush on July 26, 1990” (pg. 311). “The ADA includes deaf and
hard-of-hearing persons. It is too soon to tell what sort of long-range impact
it is having on the Deaf community” (pg. 311). This act sounds like it will be
beneficial but I don’t know anything about it really so I am going to have to look
into it more.
I agree that, “All members of the
Deaf community, as U.S. citizens, have specific needs, and our democratic
society is obligated to ensure that those needs are met” (pg. 311). After being
exposed to the Deaf community through DCE’s, I would like to continue to learn more
the Deaf community and culture.
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