Bridging the Gap Between the Hearing & Deaf Worlds
For some people, the concept of asking whether being deaf is a disability is weird question to ask or it’s complicated. For others, it’s very straightforward.
It will really depends on how you want to look at it. But in this episode, I talk about it from MY own perspectives rather than treat it as a one answer that suits everyone.
The ‘curb-cut effect’ is a phenomenon that is not talked about enough, even though it has been around for decades.
But what is curb-cut effect? And how does it affect (in a positive way) almost every single person in society? Hopefully, if more people understand it, it will allow all of us to open our minds about certain features that we see in society today that, although are not primarily for us, we ended up benefiting from it too.
Since face masks is currently part of the everyday norm and it’s common to see it in our daily routines now, this has raised the issue of how it can make it difficult for deaf people to lip read and to communicate.
Even there are so many different types of face masks out there, I have yet to see those wearing the see-through clear face masks where you can see the other person’s lips. This makes it easier to lip read, see their emotions and facial expressions, and generally make it easier to communicate.
And this applies, not just to deaf people, but to everyone too.
I’ve been having such a hard time on working out the definition of “deaf” because of its complexity and the number of sub-categories or labels it has under it.
One of the biggest reason for my confusion is because of how it can (and has) caused rifts, segregation and even abuse within the communities, which is not something that I would ever encourage. So I wanted to share my personal thoughts on the definition of “deaf”.
What is hearing privilege, why it’s important for all hearing people to be aware of it and what are some of the examples that exists today?
The word ‘privilege’ has become somewhat of an uncomfortable word lately. It seems to have a stigma that you have an easy life if you have privileges or it’s fiercely denied that it gives you an advantage over others.
But parts of having privileges is about having a head start in your life (be it personal, career, business, etc.) over others who are in marginalised groups. There’s no shame in that, but it’s important to acknowledge that, appreciate what you have, be grateful for it and then understand how you can help others.
Is there such a thing as a ‘deaf privilege’?
The word ‘privilege’ has some kind of stigma attaches to it. But it doesn’t and should’t have to be.
But even for someone like me, I would say that I have “deaf privilege”; where even though I am deaf/hard of hearing, I still have some privileges linked to it so that I can acknowledge what I have, appreciate what I have and be aware of what I have, despite my deafness.
I still get surprised on how I get asked both of these questions that are related to each other but completely contrasting at the same time by different people.
Most people assume that deaf people can’t speak (yes we can). If we do, we “speak well for a deaf person (yeah, don’t say that) or you don’t speak very well (yeah, don’t say that either).
So I share my own experiences of how come for one group of people, I do speak clearly, and for others, I don’t speak clearly.
It’s hard enough to make the world around us more deaf aware during a normal day-to-day life. It’s a bigger challenge when it’s during a global pandemic.
Even though there have been calls for interpreters and captions when important information are shared, it seems that these are somewhat neglected when attempting to relay the message to as many people as possible.
Only, for those who are d/Deaf, they are ignored.
There are so many barriers that we could focus on when it comes to deaf awareness.
But since it’s Deaf Awareness Week in the UK (as of 4th-10th May 2020), there is one particular topic that I wanted to focus in light of it being a popular trend.
