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Identity
and Deafness: Who Am I?
By Roger Carver, M.Ed.
Contributed to DWW by Roger Carver
October 1996; Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
For
many deaf and hard of hearing children, it is often not deafness
itself that causes most of their problems. Rather, it is the
impact on their identity caused by parental and professional
reaction to their deafness. I explained in an earlier column
that the typical hearing person handicaps the development
of the deaf or hard of hearing child, leading to a confused
identity and poor self-concept. In general child development
studies, there is no question at all about the direct relationship
between healthy identity development and good academic functioning.
The less worthy a child feels about oneself, the more likely
the child will do poorly in school.
We
need to re-explore the topic of the deficit model vs. difference
model to put this column into perspective. The deficit model
of deafness assumes the problem lies within the deaf child
and that the child must be "rehabilitated" in order
to reduce the effects of deafness, while rendering the child
powerless. Powerlessness is a killer of self-esteem. In the
case of aboriginal children, their language and culture were
considered "defective," and they were packed off
to residential schools in order to assimilate them, or make
them "white." The disastrous consequences of this
approach require no further description. In contrast, the
difference model, while acknowledging the existence of deafness,
considers it secondary to everything else and allows the child
to exercise some control. It assumes the problem lies outside
of the child in his/her immediate social environment and that
the environment must be modified in order to accommodate the
child without "fixing" the child.
"Fixing"
sends a powerful subliminal message to the child in the sense
that there is something "wrong" with him. He is
constantly reminded of it by professionals and parents, creating
a cumulative negative effect on his self-concept. I remember
my mother telling me often that if I didn't do well as a mainstreamed
student, I'd end up in a school for the deaf, while at the
same time, she would make grotesque motions with her hands,
as if signing was some kind of a contagious disease. Gradually
I became ashamed to be seen in the public with other deaf
children and to use my hands to communicate. I even went so
far as to remove and hide my hearing aid in my pocket while
attending regular schools, thereby defeating its purpose.
This charade of passing off as a "hearing" person
in order to look "acceptable" reached a point where
I couldn't handle it anymore and told my counsellor that I
was leading a phony life. I was trying to be someone else
I really wasn't. The counsellor wisely suggested that I should
follow my heart. As a result, I made a 180-degree turn, and,
against my parents' wishes, took the plunge into the Deaf
world, where I completed my higher education and my identity
transformation into a happy and fulfilled Deaf person. This
story is no different from that of thousands of other Deaf
and hard of hearing persons.
Yet,
there are still many deaf and hard of hearing persons who
were not as fortunate as I was or who made a similar transition
too late in life. I keep coming across young deaf or hard
of hearing adults who have vague identities, lack direction
in their life, are inept communicators, and feel powerless
about their own lives. Every time I meet any one of these,
I feel an overwhelming sense of sadness and frustration in
seeing such promising young people being "wasted"
in this fashion all because of the ongoing ignorance about
what deafness is really like.
I
recall a situation at the Alberta School for the Deaf back
in the early 1980's in which, in a misguided effort, a small
group of parents of deaf students tried to get most Deaf teachers
there fired, because they wrongly believed that these teachers
were the reason for their children's poor literacy. Fortunately,
this effort failed, but its effects on the students, especially
those whose parents were behind this effort, were negative.
It told them: "Deaf teachers make lousy teachers,"
"Think twice about becoming teachers of the deaf,"
and "you can't count on your parents for support if you
want to become teachers of the deaf." Even to this day,
there are people who influence parents into believing that
American Sign Language and Deaf culture are not good for their
deaf or hard of hearing children and they would be better
off in trying to avoid them as much as possible. They encourage
the parents to opt for either the oral approach or sign-supported
speech. When parents and professionals are "confronted"
by ASL or Deaf culture, they tend to lash out against them
without fully understanding or appreciating that their own
children, like most deaf persons and many hard of hearing
persons, would likely become ASL users and part of Deaf culture
one day. They also do not realize that their opposition could
harm or impair these children's identity development. These
children are very sensitive to and pick up easily on such
negative "vibes" and views, internalizing them throughout
their childhood. As a result, many develop identity problems
from trying to reconcile these negative perceptions with their
experiences with ASL and Deaf culture. The high rate of mental
health problems among the Deaf and the hard of hearing is
not surprising.
What
can be done to ensure that Deaf and hard of hearing children
develop positive self-concepts and strong identities? Professionals
need to be educated about taking a more ethical and positive
view of sign language and the Deaf community. We need to clearly
convey the message that Deaf culture adds to, rather than
detracts from, the child's development and to instill in parents
and professionals the realistic expectation that their deaf
and hard of hearing children may likely become ASL users and
a part of the Deaf community without being negative about
it. Parents need to understand that all the options are not
necessarily bad ones and that each child is unique. Above
all, these children should be allowed to take the lead in
making communication choices in order to reduce their powerlessness.
Parents, professionals and children need to meet and interact
with Deaf and hard of hearing adults in order to learn from
them. There is a need for more Deaf and hard of hearing persons
employed in significant roles, far beyond tokenism, to work
with such families. Both professionals and parents need to
make these children feel good about their deafness without
hiding or denying it and to be proud of their difference as
are aboriginal children about their own differences from the
white people. They will always be deaf or hard of hearing
and different, no matter how "hearing" they become.
I once said in an earlier column: "..it is far better
and easier to prepare them for a life as strong confident,
Deaf persons who can succeed in a hearing world rather than
as weak imitations of hearing persons, who for the most part,
have a good chance of becoming misfits in a hearing world."
I still stand by this.
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