3、Deaf Culture｜Propaganda and Education of Deaf Culture

"Deaf culture, like other cultures, is an integral part of human social culture and a cultural phenomenon formed by deaf groups in long-term social activities. According to the basic viewpoint of sociology on culture, deaf culture also has a broad sense. In a broad sense, deaf culture refers to the sum of material wealth and spiritual wealth created by deaf people. This is because deaf people, like hearing people, are the creators of social material civilization and spiritual civilization. The wealth created constitutes a part of all the wealth of human beings. In a narrow sense, deaf culture refers to the behavior patterns, cultural mentality, interaction and activities of the deaf group in their unique social life." - Shen Yulin, "On Deaf Culture" and Deaf Education"

Because of their hearing impairment, deaf people use sign language to communicate and rely on vision for cognition, forming a society that is different from the world of sound language. Sign language, the language of the deaf, as a tool for communication and thinking among the deaf, is not only a language with form, vocabulary and grammar, but also the cornerstone and core of a profound deaf culture. Language is the carrier of culture, and the deaf people have formed a unique deaf culture because of the common language.

Deaf culture is not only manifested in language, but also in the unique cognitive style, behavioral habits, and lifestyle of the deaf society. For example, listeners often focus strangely on phenomena such as "deaf people exaggerate their expressions and actions when they sign language", "deaf people travel in groups of three or five", and "deaf people chat and communicate with more video than text" and other phenomena. These phenomena are different from the listening culture. It can be said that the deaf group forms a typical and symbolic cultural phenomenon on the basis of common needs and common psychology.

In addition, the deaf community has created a rich variety of deaf cultural arts that contain elements of deaf culture. Such as sign language poetry, sign language dance, visual vernacular, deaf drama, etc., amplify the artistry of sign language expression; deaf painting, deaf photography, deaf handicraft, etc., reflect the visual and spatial creative style of deaf characteristics; People's newspapers, deaf writings, deaf cultural exchange activities, etc., so that the rich cultural achievements of the deaf can be recorded, passed on and continued.

Sign Language and Deaf Misunderstandings

The deaf culture is produced along with the deaf society, and the deaf are a member of the deaf culture. But in the context of mainstream society, deaf people should also be members of the mainstream culture. If there is a deaf child in a family, the parents of the deaf child will give care to the social environment of the family. After stepping out of this caring environment, facing the cultural torrent of mainstream society, sign language and the deaf community are burdened with many misunderstandings and prejudices from the outside world. But if the existence of deaf culture is recognized, it will make sign language and deaf people more inclusive and understandable in society from a cultural perspective.

misunderstanding of sign language

In the world of audio language, the source of misunderstandings about deaf people more or less starts from the language that produces communication barriers, such as "sign language cannot express abstract concepts", "sign language makes the mind simple", "sign language does not The same linguistic status as spoken languages” and so on. The misunderstanding of sign language makes many parents of deaf children and deaf schools conduct unilateral oral language rehabilitation training and oral language-based teaching for deaf children, which is not only detrimental to the healthy growth of deaf children, but also curbs the development of sign language and deaf culture.

Misunderstandings about "deafness"

From a pathological point of view, it is believed that "deafness is a disability" and "hearing is abnormal", so deafness needs to be corrected and treated, and deaf people must master the language of hearing people and communicate with the mainstream society in spoken language. However, due to different reasons for deafness and different hearing conditions, not every deaf person can successfully acquire spoken language. Even if the spoken language is acquired and a certain level of hearing is restored, the situation of "difficulty in hearing" and "difficulty in speaking" still makes the deaf people attract strange attention in the environment of entering the mainstream society. Perhaps in the family environment, deaf people are lucky for the parents of deaf children to have a certain oral language ability, and the emotional relationship between family members can be maintained by repeated "listening" and "speaking". However, in the process of integrating the deaf people into the mainstream society, the mainstream society is mostly ruthless towards the deaf people.

“The unique cultural and linguistic identities of persons with disabilities, including sign language and deaf cultures, shall have the right to be recognized and supported on an equal basis with others.” — Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

From a cultural point of view, then, the difference between the deaf and the hearing person is only a cultural and linguistic difference. Culturally deaf people in the deaf society will downplay their "disability" and "defect" identities, and view their own "deafness" in a correct way. A famous sentence shows the affirmation of deaf people's own identity: "A deaf person can do anything except listen." Deaf people's self-awareness of values ​​and psychological self-awareness is the essence and soul of deaf culture. . Deaf people and their mainstream society can only form a social environment in which sign language and deaf people are accepted by more people if they recognize deaf people more from a cultural perspective and do not view them as pathology and disability.

But we don't need to stress the difference between deaf and hearing people. The clear identity of deaf people gradually fades the tinted glasses of the hearing society. The social trajectories of deaf people are definitely not limited to the deaf group. In the process of actively adapting to social life, deaf people are being seen more and more. For example, in industries such as catering, e-commerce, and self-media, those deaf people who actively participate in society are praised and affirmed by more and more listeners. Of course, there are more deaf people who shine in different fields and are not well known by everyone. I think this is all based on the affirmation of deaf people in their own identity, and they are willing to think more about their own value to contribute to the society and prove their identity. On the contrary, deaf people are closed and locked in their own environment to generate marginalization. danger of transformation.

So how to make oneself have a clear position is very vague for deaf children, and most parents of deaf children have no concept of deaf culture. What many parents of deaf children want to solve is to change the identity of "deaf". However, "deafness" is an established fact, and "Iron Tree Blossom" changes "abnormal" into "normal", which will also leave a shadow of transformation. The starting point of helping children overcome deficiencies is good, but with the help that is sometimes not understood by children, deaf children often have adverse psychological reactions. Parents of deaf children should pay attention to the advantages and disadvantages of rehabilitation. When it is impossible to fully recover deaf children, they should use education to guide the healthy growth of deaf children's psychology and values, and view deaf children correctly from the perspective of deaf culture.