| comment |
Given the dominance of the medical-pathological model of deafness, what process must Deaf people undergo in order to understand themselves not as disabled people, but as people who are culturally different? What are the elements of a culturally Deaf identity and how might it develop? Because I am not deaf, and certainly not culturally Deaf, I have tried to answer these questions in two ways: firstly, by developing a broad understanding of how self-affirming cultural identities develop in other oppressed minority communities, including those I belong tOj and secondly, by paying close attention to what culturally Deaf people themselves say about their identity. As a hearing person, my perspective is that of a sympathetic observer of Deaf culture.
|
