Society Journal

In the Deaf community, the capitalized “d” in the word Deaf means that Deaf people are extremely proud of their culture. Deafness is a culture all to its own just as African Americans have a culture, Italian Americans have a culture or Chinese Americans have a culture.  Every culture is unique and special to the person growing up in that culture.

In the Deaf society or community, when deaf is spelled with a small “d” it means difficulty with hearing or hearing impaired which usually means the person still has a clear enough voice to be understandable and acceptable to society.  Deaf people and hearing impaired or people, who have difficulty with their hearing and usually wear a hearing aid, are from two different cultures although they may be seen in the same communities by the hearing world.

The Deaf society is very accepting of one another as long as the other Deaf person is completely Deaf and not partially deaf or hard of hearing.  People who are hard of hearing and wear hearing aids walk a fine line between two worlds, neither one very accepting of them. These people, the ones who are hard of hearing, often wear hearing aids, read lips and use American sign language, but can also communicate through spoken word and this is what makes the Deaf community apathetic toward them.

Many hard of hearing or hearing impaired people turn to a hearing aid forum in order to communicate with like-minded individuals and to find a place where they are excepted and will fit in even if it is in cyberspace.

Countless hearing impaired or hard of hearing people turn to the cochlear implant in order to hear better than by simply using a hearing aid alone.  A cochlear implant is a type of hearing aid that is implanted directly under the skin and through the ear canal in order to enable the hearing impaired person to hear clear and crisper the difference between noises and voices.  Many young children who do not have a profound hearing loss but only some hearing loss opt for the cochlear implants and then work with a voice coach to help modulate their own voices, which they had never heard before.

A cochlear implant would also allow a hearing impaired person to distinguish the difference between static, white noise and music which is something else a lot of young people with hearing impairments have never experienced.  The first thing many young people do after they receive their cochlear implant is receive free music downloads so they can experience what normal teenagers are experiencing.

It’s difficult to say just how many hearing impaired or hard of hearing children, teens and adults choose the deaf community over the hearing community.  Many parents of children and teens who have been deaf since birth work with a social worker in order to figure out the best plan of action for their children, whether they are in the deaf culture or continuing with voice lessons and placing them in a regular school.