Acceptance

In year eleven and twelve, my senior years of high school english for the HSC (High School Certificate) we studied the subject of belonging, the dense meaning of it and its importance to individuals. The subject I found was a heavy one to understand as throughout the schooling years we uncovered many different interpretations, perceptions and judgements surrounding the matter. Over the past three years since leaving high school this subject of belonging, attachment, inclusion, association, affinity has really become evident to myself as I embarked on the next phase in my life. And yes as you can see above my teacher made sure that we knew many synonyms for the word belonging for our essays on the subject. Out of the many different expressions that I learnt in those years, I think that the most prominent word that has stood out to myself in my time in school and since then is the simple idiom, acceptance. 

I want to give you all a very brief overlook of us deaf people today and depending on who you are, you will have different interpretations and perspectives of who we are, why we are and how. Once again, I remind you this is a blog and it is subjective on myself, my upbringing, experience, knowledge and understanding. Before you go on, I have to warn you that this is a very touchy subject and sometimes can be taken the wrong way so I will hold back my opinions for the next few paragraphs and present my thoughts. Again I remind you, I am deaf and for people who have no association with being deaf, don’t worry, we don’t bite.

Let me start with acknowledging Auslan. Auslan is an acronym for Australian sign language and is the communication form for those who are deaf here in Australia. Auslan is a language in itself and is not English where it is universal in America, England and other english speaking countries. Here in Australia we have developed slight variations through different states  and communities. For non-deaf people I suppose you could relate it to as different meanings for words such as Jam for the sandwich spread or jelly as they call it in America. So the way someone from Victoria expresses the word train in Auslan may be different from the way another person expresses it in Perth. However the bulk of the language for Auslan is consistent, again subject to interpretation. For Deaf people who do not communicate orally, this is how they communicate between fellow Deaf people in the community and also those who are oral and have learnt or picked up Auslan. 

You may notice that sometimes I have spelt the word deaf with a capital D and this because it is the way used to refer to people who are considered as in the Deaf community. What this means is Deaf people like to be referred to as this way because of their passion of their background and the deaf history behind it. The distinction may seem minor to people who don’t know the difference however it holds huge importance and identity for those that are part of the Deaf community. 

Along with this there is the hard of hearing, which refers to people who have little hearing ability left in their ears or only hear certain frequencies or sound. Most of these people use various technologies such as hearing aids, cochlear implants and other various aids. This group usually pick up speech and can communicate depending on their upbringing, orally with others. They usually develop the skill of lipreading which helps them track what is being said in conversations along with their technological aids. Hard of hearing also caters for people who slowly lose their hearing as they get older which is getting increasingly common. It must be stressed that sometimes people who are hard of hearing also learn sign language and communicate with the Deaf community as well. There is no fine line between the two groups. Despite all of this, there is a slight conflict with Deaf people who reject technological advancements of cochlear implants and other accessories as they believe that Deaf children should grow up deaf, not orally through the help of technology. This is most evident in Deaf families as they are proud of their culture and of course, want it to continue and they tend to view cochlear implants negatively, mainly as they are devices that are implanted to bring some hearing senses back to the ear to people who are profoundly deaf. This means that the baby will most likely grow up in a hearing world and not learn sign language. It is said that due to the rise of deaf babies being implanted that the Deaf community is suffering as more people are growing up orally and not learning to sign as they probably would had this technology not been available. This has been alluded to as the main reason for the slow decline in sign language all over the world.

Cochlear implants for deaf children are most effective when implanted at a young age where the developing brain has plasticity and is learning to interpret sound. As a result the decision needs to be made before the infant can decide for themselves if they wish to be implanted. This largely comes down to the parents who ultimately make the decision.

That was a brief rundown and not too much detail of but what needs to be understood is that there is no right or wrong decision and in most cases, it is hard to even make one in the first place. As a deaf individual who has been implanted and grown up in a hearing world, I still consider myself deaf. I hate the term hard of hearing and even though I have never fully learnt sign language due to being raised orally, I have massive respect for its culture and place in the world today. In my time growing up, I have had the privilege of meeting so many amazing people whose life has been touched through their experiences of being deaf and I merely wish to help bring the acceptance of Deaf people who use either signed language, oral language or both together as a community and to the fore of the general population today.

I think that we should all accept people for who they are regardless of what community that they feel close to regardless of other peoples opinions and beliefs. We are all born differently and are blessed with many different God given gifts and talents so we should solider on with what decisions are made for us whether we feel that they are right or not. I am of course referring to the much debated implantation decision for babies made by the parents. I will touch on this further in the next post and offer my personal opinions that I have refrained from doing as to inform you more simply for your understanding.