Thursday, December 12, 2013




Melissa Pursell
Joshua Cochran
Honors 101
November 11, 2013
Society Swap: A Reversal of Roles
            In a normal everyday hearing society, it's hard to imagine the struggle of going through it as a deaf person. Such as having to pick up a pen and paper just to ask for a cup of coffee. It's those everyday tasks that are incomprehensible to a hearing individual. What would happen if the roles were switched? What if vocal speech is not the main source of communication?
            "About 2 to 4 of every 1,000 people in the United States are "functionally deaf," though more than half became deaf relatively late in life; fewer than 1 out of every 1,000 people in the United States became deaf before 18 years of age."(How Many) These numbers would make you believe that there is more acceptance and accommodations for the deaf. Unfortunately this is not the case. It is sad to know that we accommodate people from an entirely different country better than we do our own citizens. Although it has drastically improved over the years, they are still far from being treated equal to hearing individuals.   The U.S. is the melting pot of people, but fail to see that they need to accept all of their own people before they say that they will help and accept people of a different country.
            Hearing people do not understand the pain that deaf people go through. Hearing people end up taunting the Deaf people and ignore them because the lack of understanding what is going on, or it makes for an uncomfortable environment. When the hearing do try to accommodate the Deaf, they end up yelling at them or moving their mouths extremely slow because they assume the Deaf will be able to lip read. Deaf people need to explain over and over that they do not understand, and tend to start using pen and paper as their main source of communicating. Deaf people will admit, as technology improves, it has gotten easier to get by in the hearing world. They no longer need an interpreter everywhere they go, and they also are becoming more independent. That is, if they will work with the technology. Technology is becoming stronger and stronger so that anyone can comunicate with a deaf person if they have the technology or something to take with.
            When using the Video Relay System (VRS) which is a way to communicate via phone, you sign to a screen which is sent to the interpreter and then finally the interpreter tells the hearing person what the Deaf person wants to say. Usually the hearing people get fed up waiting for a response because everything goes through the interpreter making it take longer than a one on one discussion.            
            " A lot of modern technology is ideally suited for deaf culture. Text and instant                             messaging, for example, are beneficial to deaf people because they allow                                        conversation between people regardless of whether or not they are deaf and they                           do not require the use       of sign language. However, within the deaf community not                         everyone is accepting or open to technology bridging the gap between the hearing                    and the non-hearing. There are two groups within the community with differing                                     opinions on the matter. There are people who refer to themselves as deaf with a                                   lower case 'd,' and there are the Deaf with a capital 'D.' The Deaf group is one that                     takes pride in traditional forms of communication amongst deaf people and limits                                  the use of technology as a way of communicating."(Technology for the Deaf)
Many Deaf people view technology as a threat mainly because the way of living will change and that makes them feel extremely uncomfortable.
            However in a hearing community, technology is welcomed with open arms. Hearing people tend to do things that are generally not appropriate for the Deaf community, such as texting while eating with a friend or stopping mid conversation to answer the phone. These major technological barriers will be a stepping stone to see whether or not hearing people will be able to make it in the Deaf world.
            This is where I came up with the idea of changing roles. There are so many factors of entering a community that is not your own. Although the Deaf are accustom to joining the hearing community, it will be interesting to see how a hearing individual will act when entering a Deaf community. The volunteer will be a friendly and outgoing individual, in the hopes they will carry over their personality into the new community.
            In the reversal process it is believed that the hearing person will make no initiative in communicating and will be like a fly on the wall. They will most likely not know how to cope with the new environment and will be flocking to the other hearing people (if any) in an effort to not be awkward. Another possibility is that they will try to leave the event early by maybe even coming up with an excuse. For the Deaf people, they are extremely blunt and this might create a weird vibe with the hearing people. The Deaf ask things that are somewhat inappropriate for a "typical" conversation, if they believe you might be pregnant, they will ask you if you are pregnant. In the Deaf society that is how they avoid awkward situations down the road.
            In the reversal process the hearing person will be given no prior knowledge of the etiquette and will have to go based on instincts of right and wrong. Deaf people are a part of the hearing community even if they do not wish to be, so of course they know how to get by day to day in the society. This makes one fault in the experiment, because hearing people are almost never a part of the Deaf community and would not have the same knowledge of getting by in that system.  Which makes it unfair because hearing people are not automatically accustom to the Deaf rules and will be using whatever background knowledge that they have on this subject. For the Deaf they are always a part of the hearing world and they know the rules of how to interact with others.
            This will give a better understanding into the what hearing people think it is like living as a Deaf person and vice versa. There are many myths about the Deaf in the hearing community and those myths can make communication between the two very uncomfortable. For example, Deaf people do not automatically know how to read lips and they have to be willing to take the time to watch carefully to your mouth if they do know. " It’s estimated that lip-readers can understand only 30% of the conversation taking place.  That’s like missing two of every three words being spoken!” (Myths about Deaf People) As you might imagine, lip-reading is not the most efficient means of communication.
            Although there are many ways to create the communicational bridge between Deaf and hearing, there are certain preferred ways. Such as taking the time to communicate through pen and paper, that is if you do not know American Sign Language. It is the most courteous option. Also if you do know a little ASL you should be aware that some deaf individuals do not know sign language and get by with other means of communication. If going to a new place with a different language, one would not yell at the other person in the hopes that they will understand better. If that were the case, the native would most likely have some select words to yell right back. Just because the Deaf cannot hear the yelling, they will notice your exasperation in talking and will view it just as rude.
             "If you start to show frustration they will know.
             ”Since Deaf people live everyday in a visual world, they are expert at detecting human     emotion by understanding people´s expressions and body language. They will be able   very quickly to tell if someone is tired, or upset, or anxious or angry. If you are impatient       or annoyed by the fact that the Deaf person does not understand everything straight away,      they will know it immediately. Be aware of your facial expression and your body       language'" (A Website Devoted)
            Will there still be these precautionary measures if the roles are reversed? Of course, there will be no escaping the uncomfortable vibe the Deaf feel when communicating with hearing that has been there since the beginning of deaf and hearing interactions. Also you can never fully prepare for what the hearing people already know about different communities. People of many different cultures react to new surroundings very differently. We will see if someone who thrives in a hearing world will take their energetic and positive attitude and bring it to the new community.
            In my experiment, I had a volunteer named Catherine, with no background knowledge of Deaf community and how to interact. I took the volunteer (Catherine) to a barbeque hosted by the Arizona Deaf and Blind school (ASDB) alumni, it might not have been the most ideal situation for this experiment, but it had to suffice. It was not the most energetic crowd, and of an older generation. However, it was a small group so it was easier to observe the interactions. The Deaf individuals accepted her as well as any new comer, they asked many questions in ASL until realizing she did not understand, she did not even notice they were making the initiative to interact. So she did not make an attempt to talk to them, because she did not understand."They kept staring at me, I didn't understand sign language so they only communicated with me if I used a pen and paper."(Catherine’s Experience)
            As two different communities come together time and time again, there are unexpected events that happen. No one can fully prepare for any social interaction that occurs, because it will vary, day to day, person to person. There is no way that one can predict every single detail that happens. All that you can do is prepare yourself for what could happen and maybe have a little background knowledge of the community you are about to step foot into. Besides that just try to make the best of the situation.


Works Cited
"A Website Devoted to Those People Who Want to Learn More about British Sign Language       and Deaf People." Ten Things to Know If You Have Deaf Customers. N.p., n.d. Web. 05       Dec. 2013.
"Catherine’s Experience." Interview by Melissa Pursell.
"How Many Deaf People Are There in the United States." How Many Deaf People Are There in   the United States. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.
"Myths about Deaf People (and The truth)." If My Hands Could Speak. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov.   2013.
"Technology for the Deaf." Technology for the Deaf. N.p., 2005. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.       


Monday, December 9, 2013


This is what happens when a hearing person goes into a Deaf community. She is not a part of the community, so do not feel disrespected in any way. This is just her opinion.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Something to consider when approaching someone that is Deaf/ hard of hearing

There are many misconceptions about how to communicate with Deaf/ hard of hearing. This is just common courtesy on how to communicate with someone that cannot hear and/or understand you.

Basic Communication Strategies