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SummaryThe main thrust of the response to the hearing centric approach which has been described so far in the Unit is clearly specified in what Bahan has to say about the deaf and hearing worlds. "She looked a bit irritated, and said, "Why don't you speak?" while pointing to her lips. I thought "she must be one of those wackos," and proceeded to squirm my slimy tongue around its oral cavity and uttered, "Un hs..hagmerbersugar uth kees." She suddenly looked bewildered, and turned to look at the menu. She took my order and left. Fifteen minutes later she came back with my cheeseburger and a note. I read the note and it said: "I have a deaf brother who went to a wonderful school up north. Now he speeks wel, you know you shoold lern to speek. Its nevar to lat. Aftar al you lif in a hearing wurld." I read her note and wondered where she learned to write. But as I read on I thought, "what right does she have to claim, without asking me, that I did not receive speech training. After all, I went to a school that incorporates this method in its School Philosophy..... I pondered on that issue. What right do hearing people have to impose on us the dominance of their world? What is even worse, there are deaf people who strongly uphold hearing world values on us deaf people. They go around saying you have to learn to speak because it is a hearing world. It's strange because while they use that phrase, they are denying their own existence as a deaf person. If the world is not theirs, then who are they? I am proposing for us all to go out and say, "Hell, it's our world, too! Of course, I cannot deny the fact that there are more many more hearing people than there are deaf. But I can and will deny them the right to claim the world." Bahan(1989, p. 45-47) |
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