Deafness In Society

Today’s society consists of numerous individuals who are diagnosed with disabilities that prevent them from partaking in their everyday tasks. Not everyone gets the chance to live a normal life because they might have a problem or sickness that they have to overcome. Deafness is a disability that enables people to hear. All deafness is not alike; it can range in many different forms. Some people like Gauvin, can be helped with a hearing aid, but some can’t because of their situation and health reasons. In society, hearing individuals consider deafness a disability, while the deaf themselves see it as a cultural significance. In the article “Victims from Birth”, appearing in ifemnists.com, Founding Editor Wendy McElroy, provides the story of

In the article “Deafness, culture, and choice” Neil Levy says, “The deaf will always be cut off from the buzz of conversation . . . [and] always slightly alienated from the mainstream of political, social, and cultural life.” Being deaf can have a negative impact on Gauvin’s social life. A scenario can occur when Gauvin is in the playground by himself playing. While a group of kids approach him and start a conversation. The kids are trying to ask Gauvin if he is interested in playing with them. As they are talking, he is staring at the kids not knowing what is going on. As a couple of minutes pass, the kids start to walk away from Gauvin. The kids got furious because he wasn’t communicating with them. This shows how Gauvin might face difficulties like this in his childhood where he will be different from others and can’t fully understand the situation. Another issue might occur at a birthday party where there are a bunch of people and music everywhere. As everyone is enjoying the event, Gauvin sees a little girl fall into the swimming pool. Since everyone is eating food and dancing, no one can see or hear the little girl’s voice. Gauvin tries to go and get help but as he’s trying to communicate with people they aren’t understanding him. By the time he makes people realize what has happened, it is too late and the little girl is taken to the hospital. A lot of complications can

Levy says deaf activists “Cannot deny that on average, the deaf do much worse than the hearing on... education levels.” Education is a significant factor in Gauvin’s life but, since his disabled, it’s hard for him to get the perfect education as others would. Deaf education might bring challenges like access, interpreting, and lip reading in some cases. The disabled individual has full access to the educational system because of Americans with Disability Act, which provides equal opportunities for the disabled. People like Gauvin sometimes have geographic challenges such as living in small towns and not having access to a lot of deaf schools. Some communities do not have a lot of deaf individuals so a deaf school will not likely be in that neighborhood. Population matters the most because if a lot of deaf people are in a specific town, a deaf school will be a part of it too. In some rural areas, the classes for deaf children are very small compared to hearing students who have the whole school to themselves. There aren’t a lot deaf instructors in some schools because they can’t always be available due to weather conditions and difficulty in transportation between towns. People like Gauvin who are deaf, need interpreters most of the time. Due to small town, it’s hard to find an interpreter in some schools for the disabled students, so they can miss an entire day of learning if an interpreter doesn’t arrive.