Study on the Culture of the Deaf Korean Community

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Unlike many other persons with physical disabilities, people with deafness have the abilities to use their own language and hence create their own culture. The deaf communities have perceived themselves as a minority, rather than disabled, in their society. I will explore on the deaf community of Korea. I will look at their language, interaction, education, and accommodations.

Before you read on further, I want note that the word that I will use mostly is Deaf rather than deaf. The difference between the two words is the capitalization. The non-capitalized “deaf” is to refer the physical disability as in the inability to hear. The capitalized “Deaf” refers to the culture as an identity (Deaf or Deaf?, 2006).

I was asked if I wanted to spend the week with a group of Deaf students from Korea that were coming to visit NTID. I accepted and was looking forward to meet with them. As time had come, I became both excited and nervous. It was on Sunday morning. A few of my friends and I walked to the Radisson hotel to meet them. When we got to the Radisson hotel, we saw them. You could tell it’s them because they were signing, but I have no idea what they were talking about. Their sign language is completely different. I noticed that they use their fingers more to communicate rather than gesture and facial expression. They could not recognize that my friends and I are Deaf American students because we were not signing yet. We were nervous to how to address to them. We would just wait for the right time. We noticed that many of the Korean students left back to their rooms. There were a few female Korean students in the lobby. I was comfortable enough to go up and introduce myself. I was told that they were le...

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