Lisa Cooper March 24, 2018 Deaf Essay Deaf as a Cultural Minority The Deaf community is relatively small but very social and tightknit group with its own values, behavioral norms, traditions, and even language. Most of these traits are intertwined and in so some of these traits become blurred. According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary culture is described as “the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; also, the characteristic features of everyday existence (such as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time (Culture).” If someone was to look at just the definition of a culture the Deaf community seems to fit it perfectly. While not perfect there will always be biases …show more content…
The Merriam Webster dictionary states a value is a “relative worth, utility, or importance (Value).” To the Deaf their language American Sign Language (ASL), eye contact, video mail and captioning are important. The hearing value the spoken language whereas ASL is based on visual gestures, facial expressions, placement, and hand signs. With advances in technology it is common to see a deaf person with a cell phone, when just a few years back that would have been unheard of. With video chatting, emailing, texting, closed captioning the deaf can participate in different aspects that was not as easy before it also helped them be more independent and not so reliant on family members, teachers, and or interpreters. Behavioral norms in the Merriam Webster dictionary states “a pattern or trait taken to be taken typical in the behavior of a social group (Norm).” Values and norms seem to be more intertwined than some of the other cultural aspects because a person or group may value something it is the behavior that is acted upon. An example would be ASL it is highly important, and it would be expected as a norm that every deaf person the importance of learning it. The aspect of the social group or the closeness is the value in others who are the same and wanting to build a relationship with someone who is the same. Many people value their individuality whereas as the deaf culture value “collectivism” (Deaf Culture,