Subculture Of The Deaf Community At Santa Fe College

“Society should not focus on research to cure deafness, claim the Deaf culturists, but should accept Deaf people as composing a cultural minority and respect their right to live as Deaf person.”(Bonnie Tucker 1997) The subculture that I research/analyzed was the Deaf community at Santa Fe College. When asking many students on campus on whether they have knowledge about this community and its existences many people respond with “No”. With so many people responding this way, this was the reason why I chose this subculture to be researched and to bring awareness to its presence on campus. From a young age I have been interest in ASL and Deaf culture whether it was learning from my aunt or watching in amazement at family and/or friends communicating
For example in the Deaf community eye contact is key because it is a language that is visual and communicates through gesturing. Also within this language facial expression is key in the communication and can give insight on how the person feels about the topic in discussion. For example is a person in happy they will smile with their whole face which means their eyes will be at attention, eyebrows up, cheeks will also move up. This was evident during the Deaf Game Night because everyone in the room showed this expression at least once during each game. When eye contact is lost it can be perceived as a sign of disrespect. This was expressed by all people that were interviewed that if eye contact was lost or back was turned it was a sign of disrespect and that their situation or other conversation that got the other persons attention was more important that other person. Which means that if a person looks away in the opposite direction or at their phone has become a norm in the hearing community would not be perceived the same way. Another difference that was seen is how a person will get the attention of another person. For example during both Deaf Game Night and the Deaf Panel when getting the speakers attention the waving of a hand, tapping on the shoulder, arm, and/or table, or stomping the foot on the floor on occasion was acceptable. If it was a large crowded room asking a third person to aid in the getting the attention of the group is also acceptable. On the other hand, if a person within the hearing community did any act listed above it would have seen as an invasion of one’s personal space and/or disrespectful because they rely on their ability to hear. Most conversation that were held during the events were often elaborate depictions about their daily lives and different occurrences that occurred in school,