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Who are the members?When Kyle and Allsop(1982) asked 175 Deaf people about what constituted community membership, there was strong evidence that Deaf people saw membership in terms of making a commitment and displaying the desire to associate with other Deaf people. All the statements relating to the inabilities of Deaf people were rejected firmly. Although the Deaf Club was not absolutely vital to community membership, it was absolutely vital to community life. Of the population interviewed, 58%
attended the Deaf Club once a week or more, Those who did go were reckoned to be "proud to be deaf"(81%), because they liked other Deaf people's company(97%) or because they were treated as normal there(97%). When asked about who could be members of the community it was possible for those who became deaf to join(74% agreed), and even for those who did not sign (70%) but there was no place for those whose identification was with hearing people or those who had been to hearing school. What is clear is that primary identification with the Deaf Community is the key. These results were obtained over 15 years ago. There have been some changes in that time to our society and in the way that deaf clubs have been funded. In a sample of 421 Deaf people, Jackson(1986) reported similar findings with attitudes being most important. In addition, he confirmed the multi-faceted side of the Community when very few respondents suggested that they attended the Deaf Club for single specific activities. The nature of the Deaf Community is therefore very different from the single-purpose worlds which hearing people join. In terms of the question of how to join the Community, it begins to be clear that the main factor is the desire to associate with other deaf people; this in turn, is related to the sharing of experiences in childhood and adolescence and is centred on Deafness itself and on the use of sign language. |
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