Deafness

As a group we all learned about the positive and negatives of what is offered for people who are dealing with deafness/ hard of hearing in the San Diego County. For starters, Deaf people are members of a small and close-knit community. The shared sense of community brings deaf people together in ways that are enriching and rewarding. For example, because many deaf people have friends across the country, they are avid travelers. Often they travel for activities such as the National Association of the Deaf conference, deaf softball and basketball games, and other well-attended events. Rare is there a deaf person who hasn't left his or her state. Just as there are deaf people all over the world, there are international clubs and events as well. The World Games for the Deaf allows hundreds of amateur deaf athletes from many countries around the world to compete in Olympics-style athletic competition. Just like the Olympics, the games are held every four years in a different country.

In addition, there are a multitude of religious, social, and charitable organizations estab-lished, managed, and attended by deaf people. Rabbinical scholars might find the Wolk Center for Deaf Jewish Studies helpful. If the Deaf Aviators Club isn't your thing, perhaps you'd like to attend a reading given by the National Deaf Literary Society? Christine really liked how she was able to acquire information about the different colleges and universities that are helpful when having a deaf student at the ASL Expo in downtown San Diego. For example Palomar communi-ty College and San Diego Mesa community college have interpreting classes; this would be help-ful if the student wants an interpreter for his/her class. Christine was also given flyers for a camp called Wilderness Camp for Deaf Children Inc. This is a great way to have recreations where the children can have fun and learn how to handle boats and other recreational tools. Raquel was also able to find information about another camp held by the House of Ear Institute, HEI family Camp. The Family camp is a place for children to explore their creativity, enjoy the outdoors, and to give deaf and hard of hearing children and their siblings the opportunity to share feelings and concerns with each other.

We were surprised to learn that as educators and service providers work to improve their understanding of multicultural issues and their own intercultural competence, their courses, text-books and even life experiences, do not often include or recognize the American Deaf communi-ty as a distinct linguistic and cultural group. For the deaf individual this means, unfortunately, that every time they engage in a service system, the chances are high that they will encounter a complete novice who has no experience working with the deaf and no understanding of the com-plex communication and identity issues that pervade the “Deaf-World”. Furthermore, the chances are good that the hearing professional will hold a “pathological”