I have followed this lady for almost as long as I have been on X/Twitter, and I really value what she has to say. I have been aware of “Dead Culture” for a lot longer, and Rush Limbaugh definitely encountered it when he went profoundly deaf in adulthood. He got some pushback from the Deaf Lobby when he declined to learn American Sign Language (ASL), but someone whose voice is his life is not likely to want to learn ASL (no one else in his life was deaf, and he had no children). There is a “Deaf Community”, they are somewhat insular, and have a powerful lobby in DC to advocate for deaf people. Let’s hear what she has to say.
Deaf culture is not “woke.” It isn’t something someone invented recently, and it isn’t a political identity. Deaf culture is real. It is a way of living that developed naturally from sharing a language, experiences, and ways of navigating a world that is largely built around hearing.
When we hear the word culture, we often think about a country’s food, traditions, customs, language, and way of life. Deaf culture is similar, but a big part of it revolves around access to communication and information.
Take something as simple as a large floral arrangement in the middle of a dining table. To many hearing people, it’s just decoration. In deaf culture, it can be incredibly annoying because it blocks the visual line of communication. If you’re signing or watching someone’s face, you need to be able to see them. A beautiful centerpiece can literally get in the way of conversation.
There are also culturally appropriate ways to get someone’s attention. Calling someone’s name doesn’t work if they can’t hear you, so deaf communities have developed natural visual and physical ways of getting attention, like waving, tapping someone appropriately, flicking a light, or using vibration. These aren’t random habits. They’re adaptations to a visual way of communicating.
For a long time, I assumed deaf culture was something deaf people learned primarily from other deaf people. And certainly, deaf communities play a huge role in passing culture from one generation to another. But through my newer work with deaf children who have had little or no exposure to deaf adults or deaf culture in action, I’ve noticed something fascinating: many of these children already demonstrate behaviors and preferences that fit deaf cultural norms.
And when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. When you have limited or no access to one of your senses, you naturally rely more heavily on the information available through your other senses. Your environment shapes how you communicate and how you organize your social world. For example, round tables can be much better for deaf conversations because everyone can see everyone else. A long rectangular table can put people at opposite ends where visual communication becomes difficult.
I own a beautifying dining table that seats 8. My deaf friends jokingly call it a hearing table. Yes, it’s rectangle. And yes, I like my tall candlesticks in the middle. When my deaf friends visit, the candlesticks are move out of the way. Lighting matters. A dark room can make communication much harder when you rely on vision.
Kitchens are often among the brightest rooms in a home, so it isn’t surprising that deaf people frequently end up gathering and talking in the kitchen. It’s not necessarily because kitchens are magically more social, it’s because they’re often good visual environments. As for me, it’s where the tacos are anyway.
And then there’s something hearing people may find surprising: oversharing. In a hearing environment, people pick up enormous amounts of incidental information without realizing it. You overhear conversations in the next room. You hear someone mention that they’re sick. You hear coworkers talking about money, appointments, family problems, or what happened yesterday. Deaf people may miss a lot of that incidental information simply because it isn’t visually accessible. That can create a strong desire to keep each other in the loop.
As a result, conversations in deaf communities can sometimes be much more open about things that hearing people consider private like money, medical issues, relationships, bodily functions, and other personal subjects. You might hear someone casually discussing their bank account or hemorrhoids and think, Whoa, that’s personal!
Within a deaf cultural context, though, sharing information is important. That’s one of the things I find fascinating about deaf culture: so many of these behaviors make sense when you understand the reason behind them. I’m experiencing this personally in my relationship with a hearing man who had never really experienced deaf culture before me. Over time, without anyone formally teaching him, he has adapted to my way of communicating. He’ll stomp his foot on the floor to create a vibration and get my attention. At night, he’ll turn on the phone light as a visual way of saying, I’m here.
And that’s what I love about culture in general. Culture is adaptation. It’s people figuring out how to live, communicate, connect, and make sense of the world together. Deaf culture isn’t “woke.” It isn’t something to be dismissed as a trend or a political idea. It’s a real culture with its own language, norms, values, humor, traditions, social rules, and ways of interacting with the world. Open your mind. Learn something new.
You might be surprised by how much of deaf culture makes sense in the framework of adaptation and accessing information with the other senses.
Deaf culture is not “woke.” It isn't something someone invented recently, and it isn't a political identity. Deaf culture is real. It is a way of living that developed naturally from sharing a language, experiences, and ways of navigating a world that is largely built around…
She also has something to say about deaf children. I find myself agreeing with her. She is a teacher of deaf children, so she speaks from personal and professional experience.
Depriving a deaf child of sign language is a civil rights issue. Every child has the right to language, communication, education, and full participation in society.
We also need to dispel the harmful myth that a cochlear implant automatically gives a deaf child access to spoken language. It does not. It never has. Hearing is not the same as understanding. A cochlear implant can provide access to sound, but it does not restore typical hearing, and it cannot guarantee that a child will understand spoken language or develop speech at the same rate, or at all.
Outcomes vary widely. Some children may develop strong spoken language skills, while others will not. You cannot wear it 24/7. When it’s not on, you are fully DEAF. A strong, fully accessible language foundation supports communication and can support speech development; without access to language, there is no language foundation from which spoken language can develop.
This is why ALL deaf children should learn American Sign Language from the start. They cannot hear. But they CAN SEE. This does not mean spoken language has to be on hold or put aside. Children still can learn those skills, too. Using ASL does NOT HINDER speech development.
That is why it is deeply unethical when parents are pressured by some cochlear implant professionals to agree not to use sign language in order for their child to receive or be supported for implantation.
A medical device should never be used as leverage to deny a child an accessible language. Sign language does not prevent speech; language deprivation does real harm. A deaf child should not have to gamble their access to language on the hope that an implant will give them spoken language understanding.
Give deaf children a fully accessible language from the very beginning, while also giving them every opportunity to develop spoken language if it is accessible to them. A cochlear implant should be an option, not a condition for giving a child the right to communicate. Language is a human right, and deaf children deserve access to it at ALL TIMES.
AND:
When you’ve worked with children who are deaf and victims of sexual assault and they cannot express what happened and there is not a way to offer comfort because they don’t have language… it changes you. In a deep, scarring way. I’ll never stop fighting for them to have a right to communicate. But I need help. I can’t do this alone.
This is VERY important! Rush Limbaugh got a cochlear implant, but he told us it did not allow him to hear like he did before. He still needed every caller’s words transcribed for him to reply to them.
Depriving a deaf child of sign language is a civil rights issue.
Every child has the right to language, communication, education, and full participation in society. We also need to dispel the harmful myth that a cochlear implant automatically gives a deaf child access to spoken…
Calling-all-RushBabes 