Deaf Culture In The Movie: Signs Of Respect

After viewing the movie, “Signs of Respect,” I could recall some of my first-hand experiences in Deaf Culture. It doesn’t matter whether a person has grown up in Deaf Culture, or just beginning to learn about it, if they are from the hearing population, they must decipher between the hearing population and Deaf Culture in order to maintain respectful relationships with the two. While I was growing up, I found that most hearing people have trouble respecting Deaf Culture because they lack common knowledge of the “change in culture.” Consistently, I have found this to be the issue as Deaf Culture is not being taught in the public-school setting like other cultures. In an uneducated, hearing person’s eyes, a “deaf” person should speak and understand things as they would. Even though both cultures technically live in America and speak American languages, it is most important to understand that they are entirely different.

I noticed in the movie, “Signs of Respect,” an example was given where the watcher had to decide which option was the best for confidently involving herself in a conversation with a Deaf group of people. When Amy, the actor, went out to a Silent Dinner, she did not know whether it would be appropriate to say, “Excuse me, may I sit with you?” or to sit across from them and wait for them to notice her signing. Obviously, the correct answer would involve Amy being assertive and simply asking the Deaf people, that she has an interest in joining, if she could join their conversation. I, too, have been guilty of understanding that assertiveness is everything when one wants to fit into Deaf Culture. As I grew up in the mixture of both worlds, I have occasionally stood back and waited for someone to talk to me. I am hearing, so it is important that I initiate conversation in their culture and not the other way