May 27, 2014

Can’t Hear But…

After reflecting on this poem, it has really come to my attention, from a Deaf person’s perspective, how they really feel in their day to day lives. From the pathologic point of view, the focus is on the amount of hearing loss and how to correct it. This is in an effort to make Deaf people as “normal” as possible. People who have this point of view make it seem as if Deaf people are not normal. They also think that these ones have mental and/ or psychological problems when this is very far from the case. As the poem says, a Deaf person may not be able to hear but they can feel, they can see, and they can smell. Deafness is more of a difference in human experience rather than a disability.
I think this author definitely embraces his Deaf identity, and he does so not with a feeling of being a lesser, hopeless or incapable person. He approaches his identity with pride and confidence not only in himself but in the Deaf world in general. Though the sense of hearing may be limited or not present at all, this is not stopping him from being aware of his surroundings. He expresses things such as not being able to hear his daughter play the piano and sing, but he can feel the happiness and peace, or not hearing the speaker, but seeing the interpreter. This just goes to show that people in the Deaf world are indeed capable of being aware of their surroundings. They are enjoying their day to day lives, engaging and socializing with each other and they are “normal” people too. As my favorite line from the poem exclaims, they can’t hear, but so what? Deaf people are doing just fine!