Deaf culture......how does it differ from hearing culture?

If the difference is significant, I will be surprised. I will try to follow along, though.

Interesting topic. I don't have any first-hand expertise to contribute, and I trust you've already given a shout-out to the one A2K member who obviously does. So I'll just sit back, listen, and wait for her to chime in.

Hi there,

Well first, deaf cultures around the world are different from each other. They have some commonalities but they aren't really monolithic.

In terms of American deaf culture though, there is some of that -- deaf culture (from now on that will mean "American Deaf culture") is known for being very "blunt." There isn't the same sort of squeamishness around bodily functions in general. I remember when I was first becoming involved in the deaf community and a woman excused herself to go to the bathroom and when she came back made a rather long, detailed comment about how full her bladder had been and how delightful it had been to pee and how much better she felt after peeing. To me it was all a bit TMI, but the other people I was with didn't blink (just laughed).

So there's that. Also, 90% of deaf children have hearing parents. That impacts communication (especially because many hearing parents don't learn sign language or even if they do, either take a long time to become fluent or never do). A lot of the sex/ boundaries communication between children and parents can be pretty subtle. It would make sense that some deaf kids would miss some of that communication, though to my knowledge it's not a general thing.

At any rate, I think that some "blunt" talk could be considered culturally deaf (American anyway). But I don't really think a lack of knowledge of sexual boundaries per se would be due to deaf culture, more just lack of adequate communication between the child and his/ her parents or guardians (or other, unrelated issues).

Yay! Soz is here.

I figured things would be different in different countries.....but I can't find anything useful re Oz culture.

I have been told some stuff re Oz:

Deaf kids are extremely over represented in sexual abuse stats....I know disability generally is a major risk factor, but I'd not heard that specifically re deaf kids before.

In Oz, at least, deaf adults may not demonstrate the same boundaries as similar socio economic matches in hearing culture....eg may use extremely graphic signs in front of kids and in public.

Deaf kids may not have the same access to sex ed and discussion about rights and responsibilities etc as hearing kids.

(I have to say this matches my experience a bit...eg when I worked in obstetrics, I saw a disproportionate, I felt, deaf women being exploited by very abusive men, who had no ideas re their rights and what was acceptable relationship behaviour......given that they had been raided in Oz in seemingly functional families.)

That's raised, not raided....iPad won't allow me to change it.

The "graphic signs" part is interesting, that's part of the "blunt" thing I think. I'm reminded of a video that was making the rounds a bit ago that was a Mormon instructional tape, in ASL and geared towards deaf people, about the evils of masturbation. The signing and facial expressions were much mocked. I watched it expecting to dislike it and the guy presenting it but honestly, he did a great job. Very skilled in ASL. It was an interesting cultural shift -- I started out watching it from a hearing perspective and seeing why it was so mocked, but then after a few minutes shifted to deaf/ ASL perspective, and it seemed perfectly normal. I had to consciously shift out of that mode to remember why anyone would possibly have a problem with it.

Deaf people think that hearing people are needlessly uptight about this sort of thing. Deaf people are NOT big on euphemisms.

However, that's just the signs, not actually crossing boundaries.

Your comment about the deaf women brings to mind that I seem to know of a lot of organizations devoted to offering help to deaf domestic violence victims. So could be that it's proportionately higher in the deaf community, dunno.

Just did a little Googling, this isn't conclusive but has some interesting info:

http://psychiatry.emory.edu/niaproject/Resources/Deaf.html



(I've met Julie Rems-Smario, she's very cool.) (I could probably put you in touch with her for a more authoritative answer?)

Actually it was a Jehovah's Witnesses video. Found it back (you can guess who I am). My comments aren't that different from what I say here but might flesh things out a bit (er, no pun intended, but will leave it):

http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2012/09/12/no-room-for-euphemism/

Thanks Soz.