Deafness as a Culture

These past couple of weeks, I have been thinking about deafness in its cultural context and in its biomedical context. I know that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 provides special services such as interpreters. However, I recently started thinking that the fact that the act itself is named a “disabilities” act requires that the individuals receiving these services acknowledge either a physical or an emotional disability. This, to me, seems to cause a tension between a disabled identity and a cultural identity for a deaf individual. In particular, I feel like there is a tension between an identification of deafness as a disability and an identification of deafness merely a difference.

From what I have been learning so far in the class, the deaf community is moving away from the identification of deafness as a disability towards encouraging an affirmation of a rich deaf culture complete with its own language, tradition, and pride. However, the social services provided by the ADA require that at some level, the deaf acknowledge that deafness is a disability. I do not see deaf individuals as having a severe handicap or disability but I do see that we need to make certain accommodations in order for the hearing and the deaf to reside together effectively. I believe that the services offered to provide deaf individuals with a greater access to the hearing world should not be done in such a way that it creates an affront to deaf culture. Specifically, having access to an interpreter should not require a disabled classification. After all, interpreters are required for world leaders