Deaf activist, actress and Youtuber Amanda McDonough discussion and conversation questions about "What "Deaf" Means to Me" she wanted to talk about something she have been thinking a lot about recently and that is the word "DEAF." Now she grew up in hearing culture in the United States.
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I grew up with hearing family, hearing friends, going to a mainstream school and I didn't have access to signing. I didn't have access to Deaf people and... So, growing up for me that word "DEAF" scared me, because for me, before, that meant that I was going to lose my hearing. That meant that I was going to lose access to oral communication. That meant I might lose my family and my friends. That was scary for me. It was really scary. And it wasn't until after I became physically Deaf that I started searching for people like me and I started searching for a better way to communicate. And I found that in Deaf Culture, in sign language, in the Deaf community.
Now that i am a proud Deaf woman that word death means something so different to me. So, I wanted to share with you what word "DEAF" means to me now.
Now the word "DEAF" means strength. It means having the strength to accept yourself for who you really are. It also means support; having the support of the Deaf community. Having people around me that understand what i go through every single day, all of my struggles. They understand me, they really understand. It also means communication, because now I have this beautiful language that I can always understand I don't have have to struggle with and I have access to communication through new technology like VoIP and oh captioned phones. Different things that help me communicate better. It also, lastly, means intelligence. Why? Because deaf people; we have to be able to think creatively. We have to be able to think outside the box so that we can create new solutions to problems that we have, that don't depend on hearing, and that takes intelligence. So, this is what my new meaning of the word "DEAF" is.
What does "DEAF" mean to you?
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