The Infirmity and Cultural Models

Having taken American Sign Language for 5 years, the article Representations of Deaf people impacted me. I had already learned about the stereotypes and judgements that people make about the deaf community, and i had learned about the cochlear implant. The article made me notice how many people dont think about the daef community. The author talks about the "silent treatment" and how its a punishment for children, but the "silent treatment" is an everyday expericne for the deaf community. Also, the deaf community is never looked at as "successful, and career orentated" because the hearing community makes it so diffiuclt to accept the deaf into their business world. When you do hear about a sucessful deaf parent its usually marked as a huge acheivement because their looked at as "disabled" in a way to the hearing community. I think that the hearing community needs to judge the deaf less, give them more chances in the business world, and most of all accept them for who they are. Weather they were born deaf or became deaf; its their way of life(and its what makes them different).