Hello!
My recently vlog was on Deafhood.
People asked me about different words: Deaf Deafhood and Deafness.
I will explain the different words.
Deaf is obviously that we (deaf people) all are deaf.
Obviously!
It is what means.
Nothing I can explain about Deaf.
It doesn't need to add more explain.
It is point we are deaf that we can't hear.
Notice there are two different words.
Big D and small d.
I have been studying what it means.
Big D means Deaf, Deaf world, Deaf culture and everything within Deaf categories only and alone.
It is main in Deaf ways.
Such as American Sign Language, hanging out with Deaf people,
Deaf school, Deaf classes in mainstream school, Deaf community,
only Deaf people, Deaf church and participate only Deaf group.
It is what big D is.
Small d means persons are not hanging out with Deaf people, not participating Deaf community, and tend to participating hearing people.
Hanging out only with hearing people.
Using speech/oral & Hard of hearing people are involved in hearing world.
It also mainstream within hearing classes only.
It is what big D and small d means
Interesting to know big D and small d!
Deafness is a medical word.
People look at us as Deaf people; they realized we are the problem.
It is pathology, means, look only at ears.
It is serious problem and we were "flawed babies."
Wow!
There are more problems on our ears.
They labeled us such as problem.
They wanted to fix it and figure what they need to do with us.
It is deafness.
It is their medical word.
But to us deafness is broad means.
There is vary how we became deaf from born and became Deaf.
It is varying situation.
We had born normal to type of disease that caused deaf.
It is positive deafness.
But to hearing it is negative.
It is what deafness means.
Deafhood means broad definition.
It means all Deaf people are the same and no different.
It applied to oral, persons with cochlear implanted, signers,
American Sign Language, sign English, and vary type of
Deaf people and use different language.
They all experienced oppression, looked down on us, and accomplish in many ways.
We feel more positive in many ways in hearing world that
many things such as Deaf history, everything in Deaf things such
as Deaf church, Deaf lawyer, Deaf doctor, late deafness, hard of hearing, and oralists, etc.
It is so rich information of Deafhood group.
It is same idea as boyhood means boy group, fatherhood means
father group that they have experience as father raised children all their life.
It is same as Deafhood.
It is like to have a Deaf study.
To study what Deaf is to help people to understand our Deaf culture.
That is all.
So long!