Deaf awareness

WHAT IS DEAF AWARENESS WEEK?
Deaf Awareness Week is dedicated to the disability of being deaf. We want to spread awareness to give the world a more positive perspective towards disabilities instead of perceiving them as negatives. Spreading awareness helps people worldwide understand what deafness is and who is affected. They also offer help towards anyone who struggles with deafness in their daily life so keep on reading to find out more information!


AN INTERVIEW WITH A DEAF PERSON
I thought I’d do a little something different with this article and actually interview one of my deaf friends, she was very comfortable with me interviewing her and she wanted to just let other people know that being deaf isn’t all bad and how she is proud to be deaf!
“People say how can you be proud of a ‘disability’ because the term disability invokes the thought that people are dis-able to do something, in my case the ability to hear. So why am I proud to be deaf? My deafness has given me strength, and without my pride in my deaf identity I wouldn’t be where I am today. It has been a long difficult journey to my own acceptance. When I was a kid I hated, I mean really hated being deaf, and because of this I hated myself because I was broken, different to everyone else. You could of asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up, I would tell you I wanted to be hearing. As a child we were bombarded with the message we can be anything we wanted to be, we just had to work hard! I can never be hearing, and for me as a child/teenager was a hard thing to really deal with. I then believed that I would be nothing, having no confidence in myself. I never loved myself nor believe that someone else could, so I never let other people be there for me emotionally. I became withdrawn into myself. This then all changed smile emoticon I met other deaf people, learn sign language and alongside this I learned to love myself and because of this I became strong. I currently face the prospect of losing all of my residual hearing one day….. and you know what!? Its okay! I am going to be okay! Being deaf is a big part of my life and who I am.
I may not be able to hear with my ears but I can hear with my eyes!” -DeafGirl88

So, what was my opinion on this interview I gave my friend? Well, first of all I’ve been friends with Sara for sometime so it’s normal to me to use sign language around her and others. But to actually hear her opinion on how the world views not just deafness as a disability but all disabilities as negative. But why shall we have to live in a world where disabilities are seen as negative? Just reading back at what Sara said really made me realise that life should be taken as a gift of freedom and no matter how hard it hits you, you got to keep on fighting to get out on the other side! If you have a disability make it into a positive, you could even help other people who are affected by the same disability as you. Spreading awareness is a beautiful way of showing that you are a caring person who is willing to go the extra mile to see someone smile.

AN IDEA FOR DISNEY ANIMATORS
There is no reason why the next Disney movie can’t have a Deaf person in it. They could animate it better now then they could’ve when animation first came out.  When watching Big Hero Six I watched Hiro’s hands. They were just like human hands. It wasn’t that I expected them to look different it was just that they were so similar it shocked me. Then it hit me…why hasn’t Disney done a Deaf character yet? Yes, they did Ariel’s friend but that was the only time. Why? I would love to see a full-length movie with a Deaf character in it using ASL.
​

20 Reasons On Why It’s Important To Learn The Deaf Language

1. Sign language is a LANGUAGE, so it has its own vocabulary, its own grammar…
2. It’s a beautiful language. And addictive too.
3. You help deaf people fit in the society
4. They have their own culture, and I tell you that it’s awesome
5. You’ll discover a new way to see the world
6. It’s a way to empathize with all they’ve suffered throughout history
7. It’s a language spoken (signed) by few people
8. In your CV, it’d have more value than an oral language
9. Learning it is funny
10. It’s not universal, each region has their own sign language, so it’s a way to know other deaf cultures
11. The first words are easy
12. It’s a way to feel secure.
13. You can use it to speak about someone you don’t want him/her to realize
14. If you want to connect with deaf people from other countries, there’s an international sign language, and you’ll see it’s simpler than that you’re learning.
15. If you teach some easy signs to a baby (not necessarily deaf), it’s more likely to communicate with them in sign language than in an oral language. It is also used with autistic people.
16. This is more dramatic, but deafness can come up in some situations like getting sick (and that illness affects their hearing), explosions, accidental bangs in the head, etc. The probability is very low, but there are people who lose friends or gets discriminated by their families because of the lack of communication or non acceptance of their deafness.
17. Sign language helps you to improve your memory and visual perception
18. Who knows? You’ll find your love and that person is deaf or has hearing loss
19. You can become bilingual, multilingual or polyglot (because of reason 1, it’s one more language)
20. Deaf people appreciate so much that you’re learning their language.

Mel x