jenny & sue

mainstream

Jenny also claimed she did not live in Deaf culture, but rather on the edges of hearing culture. As a cosmetology student at the local community college, she feels she is gaining an entree into mainstream American hearing culture. She refuses to use an interpreter in class and will not announce herself as hearing impaired until it is necessary in conversation (after dinner she misunderstood a question posed to her and only then did she let the person know she could not understand because she was hearing impaired). Deaf culture is not a clearly identifiable structure that one is either in or out of, but there are levels and ways ones becomes embroiled in Deaf culture. One is deaf or hearing impaired. One has a loved one who is deaf or hearing impaired. One is the child or sibling or grandchild of a deaf or hearing impaired individual. Or one is concerned and gets involved. All these are mechanisms for inclusion in the Deaf world, each of which will be valid or invalid markers according to different members with different interests in the Deaf community.

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