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Using Identity-First Language

We all have an identity, male or female, mother or father, brother or sister, non-binary, pet owner or animal despiser (I can’t imagine), aunt or uncle. We can identify as homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, gay, lesbian, or asexual. We all have an identity. I wouldn’t tell someone who doesn’t know me all about myself, but they can see that I am a female and that has certain expectations from that individual. If I don’t meet those expectations, then I am considered weird or abnormal. By having certain expectations when we meet new people, and they don’t meet those expectations then we are met with having something wrong with them and not our expectations. This is the problem with having a society having an identity-first language. When people don’t meet the expectations of what that person’s identity means for society they are considered weird or abnormal. By having a person-first language we have expectations diminished. Every person is different. We all identify differently. For myself, I have many facets to my identity. I may have a disability that is not seen by the public. Having these invisible disabilities may cause someone to think that I’m weird or abnormal. Having a person-first identity gives the person as a whole of being human first. We are all flesh and blood. I wouldn’t meet a new person in my life and expect them to be like me. We are all unique. Our differences are what make everyone not be a cookie-cutter society, but when we have an identity-first society and expect them to fit into our expectations of what that identity means we are not treating them like individuals. This is why we need to retrain society to treat individuals as individuals and not cookie-cutter expectations of what they feel is normal. Person-first identity will create a society that accepts everyone as they are not something that may be societal norms. Labeling someone as weird or abnormal gives that individual an identity crisis when they don’t fit into a societal norm.

Disability Rights! Are they enough?

First, I’d like to say that I appreciate what the disability laws have achieved for those who are differently abled or as it has been stated to me, differabled.

I have recently graduated from an accredited university with a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Services with a concentration in addiction studies and exceptional persons studies. I had the concentration stated this way because I did not like the ‘disability’ label on my degree plan. I had a deep desire to assist those with hearing loss. I have taken 3 courses in American Sign Language (ASL) and 1 course in Deaf culture, plus the Deaf culture I had learned in my ASL classes. I have also learned ASL on and off since the age of nine. I loved to help others who were accepted less than I was because I knew what it was like. I was not accepted in elementary school because I was attending a Catholic school and not Catholic, was hyperactive, and was easily influenced. I had no friends in school until I was in high school, and the school was accepting those with disabilities. My first true friend was in a wheelchair, and we met because she was trying to get to her class, and the kids wouldn’t help her with her backpack and calling her names. I went up to her and asked if there was anything I could do to help and got her to her next class since I knew my teacher would understand why I was late. We were friends for five years, three of which were after I had graduated. The fact that she was in our school was a great success story for those with disabilities in the late 1980s and early 1990s. So much was happening all at once in those days, but I only saw that there was someone I could relate to.

Yet, what has changed for those with differabilities? I still see people going out of their way to be rude and obnoxious to those with differabilities. I had a class project on my first ASL course. We had to go to the store and buy at least five different items from five different departments and had to ask for help at least once and check out all while ‘Deaf.’ While most of the representatives from each department were very respectful, when I was checking out in the check-out line, I heard customers saying they wished I’d taken the self-check-out and asked why I had to hold them up with these hand gestures. I was angry with these ignorant customers and tried hard not to say something to them while in the store. I put the packages in my car once I was out of the store, then I went to the door and waited for the customer who was particularly abusive and said to him that he needs to be educated on what it means to be Deaf. His jaw dropped to the ground in shock that I had heard his comments, and while most Deaf individuals wouldn’t have heard what was happening, I told him that his comments were heard by at least three other customers and could influence them to disrespect the next Deaf individual. Also, during the same class, the professor was out of town during the class and asked a Deaf individual to substitute the class. I was mortified when students would laugh at her accent when she spoke. Yes, she spoke, and I informed the regular instructor what had happened. (I wasn’t the only student to let them know) The professor spoke to the class the following week (it was a once-a-week class), and those who were hurtful to the substitute hung their heads during the professor’s speech.

While it is shameful when people are caught disrespectful towards those with differabilities, the perception is still the same: those who are differabled are less than normal and, therefore, are not worth the time to learn about. I find this disgusting and feel frustrated and angry with this reality. And, yes, it IS reality! I have either seen it, heard it, or experienced it!

The Deaf community, what it means to the Deaf and me.

The Deaf community is a proud community of people with significant hearing loss or who are completely deaf. They also include hearing family members or people who interpret for the Deaf. Like the general population, there are several subgroups in the Deaf community. Those who are completely deaf, those who are hard of hearing, CODAs, interpreters, and those who desire to learn American Sign Language (ASL), as well as men, women, children, and those of various backgrounds, including race and religious backgrounds. Then there are those in the Deaf community who may desire to hear about cochlear implants but those who are entirely against them and are very adamant. This topic is a “hot” topic in the Deaf community. However, those who are capital “D” Deaf have so much more than hearing loss or are so immersed in the Deaf community that the cochlear implants are very often too much of a shock to the person’s system that they don’t comply with the routine of wearing the implants or have absolutely NO desire to talk about them because they feel very comfortable within their own community and deal with others who do hear as little as possible (HBO, 2021). Deaf is a way of life, like being male or female, Republican or Democrat, Christian or Jewish. The Deaf community has a culture all its own. I have been blessed to be a part of their community for over eight years. I was quite surprised to be welcomed into their community because I was not deaf or hard of hearing. I only offered a great desire to learn ASL and about their culture.

So much has changed since I tried in 1988. I had a desire then, but without a parental agreement, this deterred the Deaf community. I had done an English assignment where we had to teach our English class about a subject we cared about. I chose to teach the class American Sign Language. I taught them that the Deaf child cannot understand closed captioning most of the time because in learning ASL, the syntax of sentences does not match. While English sentences follow a subject-verb-object format, ASL follows a subject-object-verb one. While most Deaf get the idea of what closed captioning is trying to say, those who are capital ‘D’ Deaf do not want to understand because most have no desire to learn the English syntax. Just like some hearing Americans have no desire to learn Spanish, German, or French, as well as ASL. While I can understand why someone doesn’t want to learn most other languages, learning ASL can bring so much joy to the Deaf person. When I hear stories about how someone who is learning ASL happens across a Deaf person in the store, and they communicate, and the Deaf person has tears in their eyes because someone is taking the time to learn about them and their language, it brings me so much joy; I get tears in my eyes. I have such compassion for this group.

In another one of my blogs, I mention helping a friend navigate our day camp. Yes, she was blind, but I also had my first taste of ASL and decided to teach her the ASL alphabet. We practiced every day for two weeks. I had her finger spelling her name without the use of feeling her letters with the other hand. I felt pride and loved it the following summer to hear her telling me about a deaf'/blind girl at her new school, and they were learning to sing together. This was my first taste of pride in what I was doing for the Deaf community.

References

HBO. YouTube. 2021. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6LfG7dpK08>.