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L A R Rye 0 L E MAN AND KAT H Y JAN K 0 W 5 K I t is important to explain at the outset of this paper the differences we perceive between the terms "deaf community" and "Deaf culture." As we see it, the deaf community includes a wide range of people, including not only people who grow up deaf, but also late deafened people, hard of hearing people, hearing children of deaf parents, and other groups. When defined in this broad way, the deaf community includes many people who do not share the characteristics of the small cultural group we are focusing on in this paper. We are looking primarily at Deaf people who grow up using sign language, who identify themselves as members of the Deaf culture, who are seen by other members of the Deaf culture as Deaf, and who have been oppressed by hearing cultures because they are Deaf. Some Deaf people have no difficulty seeing themselves as an oppressed minority, but others may not have thought about it on a conscious level, so before we begin our exploration of the role played by storytelling and folklore in combating oppression we will briefly suggest who oppresses Deaf people, how the oppression of Deaf people manifests itself, and how Deaf people can-at least theoretically-liberate themselves from this oppression. Historically, Deaf people have been oppressed by various groups of people, including hearing teachers and administrators who playa major role in their education, hearing family members, deaf leaders who do not identify with and support sign language and Deaf culture, deaf people who talk, deaf people who THINK-UKEHEARING and demonstrate a negative attitude toward Deaf culture and other deaf people, and both deaf and hearing people who have paternalistic attitudes toward members of the Deaf culture. The notion of empowerment-of central importance in this paper-is critical to the well-being and continued prosperity of both individual people and society. It refers to a process by which we gain greater control over our life experiences, our social and intellectual development, our career paths, and our social relations. In addition, for Deaf people, empowerment means liberating ourselves from ideas and behaviors that have oppressed us in the past in areas such as education, careers, and social relations. One way oppression happens is that Deaf people are encouraged to stay dependent on hearing people throughout their lives. The obvious solution for Deaf people fed up with this form of oppression is to stop always depending on hearing people and to look inside themselves for the strength and resources needed to be self-reliant. 56 THE DEAF WAY ~ Deaf Cultures Around the World Some of the worst forms of oppression have to do with attitudes transmitted from hearing to Deaf people concerning who Deaf people are and what they can be expected to do. One subtle form of this sort of oppression is the assumption that Deaf people can't compete with hearing people for jobs or in other arenas without extensive help from hearing people. To combat this, Deaf people must insist on working relations with hearing people characterized by a spirit of cooperation on an equal footing. On a more damaging level, hearing people who always regard Deaf people with pity and condescension -as if Deaf people were completely helpless-are in fact inflicting a terrible form of oppression on Deaf people. Most of us who are Deaf share a feeling of anger toward this attitude, which shows up in one way or another in practically every country. One certain indication that the hearing people running institutions intended to serve Deaf people have this pitying, condescending attitude is that they assume it to be their right to make critical decisions concerning Deaf people's lives without even consulting Deaf people to see what their opinion is. To liberate ourselves from such oppression, it is necessary for Deaf people to insist on either making those decisions for ourselves or at least being properly consulted before such decisions are made. Deaf people must make it clear that although hearing people with positive attitudes are welcome to cooperate with us on an equal basis in planning the future of Deaf people's institutions, they are emphatically not invited to plan and decide Deaf people's futures for them. Although it is possible to describe what needs to be done to change oppressive conditions for Deaf people, such change does not come easily. Much of the time...

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