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4. The Deaf as a Minority Group
- Gallaudet University Press
- Chapter
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41The Deaf as a Minority Group The minority group status of the deaf is producing more numerous and greater problems for them than the handicap itself. This statement becomes more credible when comparing deaf people with other disadvantaged minorities: the Blacks, the Chicanos, the American Indians, etc. Deaf people can identify with many of the same problems encountered by these minority groups. Sue Mitchell in her doctoral dissertation gave an interesting explanation for the current situation of deaf adults: The deaf individual has commonly found himself the victim of a self-defeating cycle. In our society, pressures exist to influence minority group members to be the kinds of persons the stereotypes say they are. If, on the grounds of perceived inferiority, a segment of the population is provided with a restricted education, poor jobs, and little opportunity for advancement, the conditions have been created for the reinforcement of the belief in inferiority. The pattern of restrictive attitudes, shown directed toward deaf people in the nineteenth century, had its origin in selective perception and stereotypy to rationalize the actions of the hearing population. The restrictive attitudes in turn created a continuing justification for the economic inequities experienced by the deaf. As an illustration of the self-fulfilling prophecy, such a cycle is an important part of minority-majority relations. Negative expectations are reinforced, providing a basis for further inequities. (1971, p. 130) 23 24 IA DEAF ADULT SPEAKS OUT McCay Vernon and Bernard Makowsky (1969) also delineated the dynamics of the deaf as a minority group fully and forcefully in an article in The Deaf American magazine. The majority demands that a minority group conform to its expectations, and at the same time ignores the peculiar problems and needs of that minority group. Thus, in our own case we can say that the great hearing majority is indeed "deaf" to the needs of the deaf! These problems are compounded by the very nature of deafness. It is so invisible to the casual beholder that the outward behavior of a deaf person resembles that of any ordinary person. It comes as a very great shock when the hearing person discovers a person is deaf. Deafness becomes apparent only when the deaf person begins to converse with someone manually or by notewriting or otherwise indicates deafness when the hearing person attempts to start a conversation. This same shock is what the parents of a deaf child experience when they finally find out what is really wrong. This shock, together with the apparent normalcy of their child, creates a very strong desire on the part of the parents, sometimes approaching an unreasoning obsession, that their deaf child should also act normally-that is, behave like a hearing child. They frequently disregard the deepseated problems and needs of deafness in order to achieve a "pale imitation of a hearing person," at the cost of a happy and fulfilled deaf adult. Michael Goodman enlarged on this prevailing attitude on the part of the parents of deaf children in a handbook for college instructors as follows: The fact that "the deaf child makes his appearance on this mortal scene to all outward appearances as the equal of a hearing child" has caused many deaf children to experience unnecessary suffering and retardation in early life. It is ironic that the problem of adjustment to a child's deafness is often greater in the parents and his family than in the child himself. The people around the deaf child often find it hard to adjust to the situation of having a case of deafness in the family. It makes the parents feel a sense of guilt which they cannot explain. lt frustrates them that they cannot communicate with their child. There is a feeling of isolation on both sides, yet an irrational feeling continues to exist that the child can adjust to the hearing world normally in time. In this way many deaf young children are neglected during the [44.204.65.189] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 12:44 GMT) The Deaf as a Minority Group I25 most formative years of their lives. When the deaf child does not exhibit his deafness, the parents are not embarrassed by him, and the shame or guilt feelings which have afflicted them lie low for the time being. As he follows his parents around, from the supermarket to the dry cleaners, he has the outward appearance of any "normal" child. And this is the picture which his parents would like to...