jenny & sue

edge

Sue offered a possible answer to my quandary over Jenny and her family. Sue herself is only now learning to sign. She says that she feels herself on the edge of deaf culture, neither a full participant in hearing culture (Audist culture) or in Deaf culture. But Jenny has said the same thing and so too has John. Sue is perhaps the most outside of profound Deaf culture. She has not, until recently, used sign language. Jenny constantly advised, counseled, and corrected Sue's signing while I was interviewing them. Sue asserted her "normalcy" and claims she is a full participant in hearing culture ... or at least seeks to be. And yet, she confessed an affinity for her deaf and hearing impaired friends, claiming that deaf and hard-of-hearing friends possessed an "understanding" others didn't. Interestingly, members of Deaf culture don't see themselves as full participants in their culture - or I see Deaf culture as something different (and perhaps more inclusive) because I live so far outside it.

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deaf:audist | hearing pedagogy | enfi | techno-teaching
city on the hill | "othered" outside
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