DISABILITIES

By Daniel J. Vance

Gary Frazier and I have corresponded regularly over the last ten months. He's Deaf, and he often writes me about the “Deaf culture” and how it significantly differs from the “hearing” culture.

In 1971, Gary at age 10 nearly died of spinal meningitis. Besides acquiring lasting difficulties with short-term memory and walking, he lost his hearing. He is one of an estimated 6.1 million Americans who, according to the National Center for Statistics, have “a lot of trouble hearing” or are “deaf.”

In past correspondences, he's explained that “Deaf” should be spelled with a capital “D” because the Deaf have such a unique culture. He said the Deaf have their own leaders, such as at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., and their own language, which is American Sign Language.

He's even explained that Deaf and hearing people have different senses of humor. “I've seen Deaf people howling in laughter at a Deaf humorist,” he said, “but 'hearing' people at the same event, even with the help of a reverse interpreter, couldn't understand what was going on. Deaf humor is dramatized and hearing people don't understand drama unless it has sound."

Recently, he shared more examples of how being Deaf makes him different.

“Before, during and after the recent Gulf hurricanes, I was concerned,” he wrote in an email from Georgia. “When churches began opening their doors for refugees, I wondered whether they had availabilities for the Deaf. I've heard that in an evacuation, people going to shelters will huddle in small groups. They may be talking, but if you're the only Deaf person, you're really alone.”

Then he talked of high school. “Beginning my junior year, I soon realized I was being used to prove that mainstreaming was a good way to educate the Deaf. I told my teachers not to compare other Deaf students to me. First of all, my first language was English, while with most other Deaf students it wasn't. Secondly, contrary to what the teachers thought, I was just squeaking by. When the board finally hired its first interpreter, they acted like that was all we needed. The truth is, even with an interpreter, only 75 percent of a message makes it through. That makes education difficult.”

Finally, he said that some hearing people know nothing about deafness. “Someone asked my wife once if I read Braille,” he added.

For more, see www.danieljvance.com or www.nih.gov