Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

You are here

Reflection on Deaf Culture

Hasibe's picture

I've found deaf culture bery interesting, because they have their own language, behaviors. and history. Which is really interesting, because I don't think I've ever thought of disability and culture as something that could possibly be tied together. However when reading about other disabilities it didn't seem nearly as evident that a culture existed within them as much as disability culture a whole exisiting for the individuals. This makes me wonder if deaf culture is a branch of disability culture, and it makes me wonder how/why deaf culture developed so well while other disabled individuals seem to only have the umbrella of disability culture? A part of me feels like the language is what sets them apart since in many cases it disconnected deaf from the rest of the world forcing an intimate circle amongst themselves. These questions are mostly a result from reading designer deaf babies since I hadn't heard of someone requesting a donor with a disability in any other case, and I wonder if the argument would change according to disability.