The Oppression Of Deaf People

There have been numerous accounts throughout history where a group of people, belonging to either a particular religion or country, felt it was their right to change other cultures, to press their values and beliefs onto society who are different from them. Sometimes it is to provide help and other times to enforce power. This has been seen with the oppression of the Native Americans during the early history of the United States, with slaves, with women, the crusades and the also the deaf community. ”Some hearing people want Deaf people to be just like hearing people. These hearing people believe Deaf people must conform and adopt English, lip reading, speech, and other hearing ways of communication at the exclusion of embracing the natural

Additionally, the Deaf are thought of as stupid when they attempt to communicate and ask “what?” hoping for a repeat of the question and it is interpreted as a lack of understanding, not as a lack of hearing. This has happened throughout history as the Deaf were looked constantly viewed as stupid and were not given rights as human beings. According to the World Federation of the Deaf “the rights of Deaf people are often overlooked, especially in developing countries. Societal prejudices and barriers prevent Deaf people from enjoying full human rights; for Deaf people the major barrier is lack of recognition, acceptance and use of sign language in all areas of life as well as lack of respect for Deaf people’s cultural and linguistic identity.” (https://wfdeaf.org/human-rights). Because of this, hearing people looked for ways to cure deafness. One such way is through cochlear implants, which is a device designed to make the deaf hear. Cochlear implants has become a huge controversy in the Deaf community. Being Deaf does not mean they are disabled, wrong or unable to

However, the Deaf community had a rough start to get them to where they are today. The first person to record or mention someone being deaf was Aristotle. During the ancient times, people believed the only way to learn anything was through spoken language; therefore, Deaf people were thought of as being unable to learn. Deaf people were denied their fundamental rights and in many places were not allowed to purchase land or even get married. Deaf people were treated very poorly. They were oppressed and denied their rights as human beings. This is because Deaf people were thought of as “non-persons”. It was not until Geronimo Cardano (date or timing?) realized that learning did not require hearing or spoken language that the Deaf people began to have hope for future. Cardano realized that Deaf people could be taught through written words and he used this method with his Deaf son. Though Cardano made progress in educating the deaf, organized deaf education did not exist until the 1750’s. Abbe Charles Michael de L’Epee was the first to establish a free public deaf school, which became known as the National Institute for Deaf-Mutes. Deaf children from all over France came to his school. The Deaf children signed at home and brought these signs to the school. L’Epee studied these different signs and utilized the signs to teach