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Keanna Caldwell
Professor Robert Moore
Deaf Culture
5 April 2016
The authors of this book clearly want to do justice to Deaf Culture. Both of the authors
are deaf and identify as Deaf, with a capital D. It show in the way they approach the many
subjects of this book. Both authors feel it is important to address the topic of Deaf Culture from
a subjective and objective perspective. The first book the authors wrote, which was before ASL
had gotten accredited as a language and Deaf Culture was accepted as its own culture, the
authors remained unbiased and did not feel the need to insert their own feelings or experiences
on the matter of it all. This time around, and for this topic of Deaf Culture, the authors feel that it
is important to include some firsthand accounts as well as some objective information.
The authors right away delve into the topic of Deaf Culture. The idea and acceptance of
Deaf Culture did not come into existence until the 1980s. ASL was a key part of this
development. ASL is an essential part of defining deaf culture and also uniting it. Deaf Cultures
language is ASL and it separates those that do not use ASL and do not use it. Typically those that
embrace ASL are those that embrace Deaf Culture. These people are the ones referred to as
capital D Deaf, those do not are just deaf or hearing impaired. Even as both Deaf Culture and
ASL came into acceptance there were those who accepted it and those that didnt and went
against it.
After ASL and Deaf culture began to flourish there were forces working against. With the
progress of technology and the need for deaf schools decreasing Deaf Culture and its languages

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existence was threatened. With technology advancing people believed they could solve the
situation of deafness with cochlears, this threatened ASL. Mainstream schools are now more
accessible the need for residential schools for the deaf are seeming obsolete to some people. This
is causing many residential schools to lose attendance and close down.
This book and other initiatives have been taken to preserve Deaf Culture. Deaf Culture is
such a small and unique minority in such a huge and slow to adapt majority of hearing people.
Preserving the culture and language is a bit of an uphill battle but it has a bright and will find a
way to endure and flourish.
The authors wanted to write about how Deaf Culture and how it came to be something
that became of great importance to the deaf community. They wanted to make it clear even
though Deaf Culture is not the text book definition of culture it is one, if not even more so. Deaf
Culture is an evolved type of culture with its own history, language, and minority like no other.
There are so many unique qualities about it, it has earned the title of its own culture. I like this
perspective that the authors put on it. I came into ASL always learning that the Deaf had their
own culture but I had not viewed it in a way that a lot of people outside of the deaf community
view it.
The authors wanted to give the whole story of the development of Deaf Culture. The
history, and all its sides dark or good, is extremely important to the creation of it. The authors
wanted to be true to Deaf Culture and give the full story. It was also very important for them to
give an accurate as possible overview of Deaf Culture and its history. It was important to them to
put down the frame of ideas and practices that now define deaf culture.

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Tom Humphries grew up away from the deaf community and sign language. The first
time he experienced either is when he began school at Gallaudet. After he started school there
and realized all that he was missing he decided it was important to embrace deaf culture and its
sign language. It was here at Gallaudet that Tom took upon himself a Deaf identity. He embraced
the language and became immersed in the Deaf community. He realized the importance of
language, especially ASL, and how it ties and connects people. He was able to gain a body of
friends that accepted him the way he was. He no longer felt on the outside of the deaf
community. What was once awkward encounters with Deaf people soon became natural. Tom
explains this transition as being rescued from his isolated way of life, as if ASL and Deaf Culture
were his savior, hero.
Before becoming involved with the deaf community Tom viewed deaf culture the way
many hearing people did. He thought there ways were a little barbaric and did not view ASL as a
legitimate language. In fact he thought that it showed lack of intelligence and held deaf people
back. It was not until he started taking up ASL did he discovered how complex and advanced the
language really is. Tom was despised with the way he used to think and said it was time for
heating people to change their standards.
Tom was in the height of acceptance and defining moments of Deaf Culture and ASL. He
was very cautious to all the exposure it was getting. There fear arose because it was the hearing
population that was having it all come about and in the past that has not always been positive.
For several years the much hearing population have had negative opinions and ideas of the deaf
population and sign language.
Carol Padden, the other author, was born into a deaf family and raised in community. She
grew up not knowing only ASL but she knew English fluently also. The area Carol grew up in

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may not have been exclusively a deaf population but the hearing people in it were very
supportive to the deaf community, so she grew up around very accepting hearing people unlike
Tom. She was able to grow up comfortable being deaf and with sign language. Carol grew up in
more of an ideal situation than many deaf people, because of this Carol was unaware of a lot of
the negativity that was thought of the deaf population. When she was older the scales fell from
her eyes and she realized that to many deaf people were viewed as handicapped or strange.
Although Carol grew up being able to be comfortable in here being deaf she did not label
herself as being capital D Deaf until she was well into adulthood. It took her some time to
come upon it herself what it meant to be deaf and what that meant to her. As for Tom he was not
and he also labeled himself in adulthood. Even though both these authors have different
backgrounds and journeys they both decided to embrace the label Deaf when they were older.
Tom and Carols goal in writing this book was to address Deaf culture by defining and
reviewing its history. In doing this they found that every milestone, good or bad, that the deaf
community has encountered is what make it a legitimate culture, if not more so. It had to be
addressed not only by an objective point of view but also by a subjective one, because that is also
important.
The authors really stressed that be open and honest about deaf history, even the darker
sides of it, were important because it all contributed to what is now deaf culture. The book list
many of the grimmer sides of the deaf populations history. This comes to be important because
it show the oppression and mistreatment of deaf people and that is what made many deaf come
together and bond through their adversity. Their suffering made them have to depend on each
other and lean on one another. This is a big part of deaf culture.

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An example of a darker side of deaf history, in the US, is the debacle with David Seixas.
Seixas was accused of having inappropriate behaviors with a residential school he presided over.
This scandal showed many problem wrong with residential schools. It showed that they had no
means to properly communicate with the students and it also showed that there were many
hearing people were speaking for the deaf that had no connection or understanding of the
community, most simply did not care to be involved with the community they were translating
for. Another big issue was the fact that the deaf only had secondhand communication with the
hearing world, they could not have a voice for themselves.
Due to many revelations much of these problems were able to be resolved over time. The
residential school went through many formations and have been improved over the years. Also
over the years many technological revolutions have taken place and the deaf have more access
for having a way to communicate in this majority hearing world.
The evidence posed by the authors were very in depth and detailed. The authors offered
not just evidence but stories and history that unfold to support what is now Deaf Culture. This is
an amazing feat. The history was extensive and covered all bases of the history and how it
affected deaf culture.
Much of the evidence given to support the authors point is from a subjective point of
view. Many facts and historical events are reported. This is good because it gives a lot of
credibility. It added a lot of validity and showed that there is an extensive amount of deaf history
recorded, even though it is not well dispersed or known. This helped to spread awareness to
things about deaf culture that many dont have access too, which is good.

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Another good thing that the authors did was subjective evidence. Many works from the
past on deaf history/literature have approached the topic from just an objective stand point. By
adding some firsthand accounts added a lot of personality to the evidence. It is a lot easier to
accept information when it comes from another person. Especially because the topic had to do
with a population that has been oppressed for so long, personal accounts are appropriate.
Much of the evidence going against this topic comes from outside the deaf community,
i.e. the hearing population. A lot of it has been negative and lack a lot of credibility. Much of the
counter evidence given my hearing specialist and hearing minded deaf persons have come
from a place that lacks insight and understanding, this is why firsthand evidence was important
for the authors to give.
This book has served its purpose in stating what deaf culture is and gave plenty of
information to support it. I think the book it pretty convincing. It helps that it is a book about
deaf culture written my deaf authors. It is also great that they both have different backgrounds
and were able to come together and have the same idea, then collaborated together to give insight
on something meaningful to them and many others. This make the book so much more appealing
and easy to be engulfed, personally.
The honesty and openness also make it easy for the reader to appreciate and be open to
accept it. When the author were willing to share parts of deaf culture that may be hard for many
to talk about made the information vulnerable letting the audience appeal to it better. For
example, the authors mentioned the history of the time schools for the deaf were segregated. This
topic is a touchy for many but they were very open about it. They went through the facts about it
and how it was a darker time for the deaf community but then the authors rebutted and showed
how far they have come. They talked about how the bond of being deaf was greater than any

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other differences between them. Though they mentioned that they still addressed how tragic it is
that so much was lost about the black schools for that deaf, and that too is crucial to deaf history.
I have taken ASL classes for three years now and over that span of time I have
accumulatively read a lot about deaf culture, community, and key figure heads to deaf
history/culture. Many of the literature I have read of course supports and goes against things in
this book.
Historically, many of the things I have read up to now have pretty close references and
information. There are few discrepancies. These discrepancies range from a recorded year,
historical accounts, to interactions. This does not affect the quality of the book or information, in
my opinion. As long as the purpose of the information fulfills its purpose a few discrepancies can
do no harm.
As far as content and thesis, not much has touch this particular way of addressing the
information. Much of the literature I have encountered in the past are purely informational based.
There were some things I have read that can relate to this in the addressing deaf culture. An
article I read, Train Gone, touched a lot of information about cultural tendencies. The article
mention some parts about where these tendencies came from bit not a lot of history. This is
where a book like Inside Deaf Culture come in handy because it give a closer look into the root
of a lot of why things are in deaf culture. We get a more rooted and in depth reason why deaf
culture is deaf culture.
After reading this book in its entirety it take a second for all the information to sink in.
There is a lot of information and emotions stirred in this book. It can clearly be seen that the
information was well researched and a lot of effort and heart went into the making of this book.

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It is obvious that the authors truly delved into a personal and connected place inside themselves
to compose this book.
As mention before a lot of the history given in this book has been touched on before. A
lot of it was completely necessary but some excessive. It took an extensive amount of time to get
to the point that the authors were making the majority of the time. All of the history and facts
given overwhelmed the point a lot of the time, it seems. I truly appreciate the effort that the
authors made and I understand that it was important for the book to have some objectiveness to
add credibility and stay unbiased, but it really overshadowed the main points. I briefer touch of
information would have served the same purpose without losing the audience. This was my main
critique of the book.
I really love the firsthand accounts given in the book. I felt that this was great. It added
voice, the literature kind, and gave the deaf culture a voice also, the being understood kind. This
was the better parts of the book and could have used some more spotlight.
As far as recommending the book I definitely do so. I would probably recommend it to
someone curious about ASL and the deaf community. The books gives history, personal stories,
defines deaf culture, and a glimpse into the deaf community. This is a great over view into deaf
culture that should be shared with anyone that has a curiosity about it.

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Works Cited
Padden, Carol., and Tom Humphries. Inside Deaf Culture. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press, 2005. Print.