Deafnormativity: who belongs in deaf culture?

Abstract

This article explores how formerly sighted Deaf individuals confront vision loss and grapple with adopting new identities as Deaf-Blind individuals. Co-researchers in this study analyze sighted Deaf culture and the resulting power dynamics that have relegated the Deaf-Blind body as inferior, revoking membership from sighted Deaf culture. From the perspective of 6 Deaf-Blind individuals, the balance of power within sighted Deaf culture is explored and solidified to reveal a hierarchy which categorizes the Deaf Disabled body in comparison to the sighted, Deaf normate.

Points of interest

• Members of the Deaf-Blind communities are beginning to develop their own culture which is separate from sighted Deaf culture and operates under different norms.

• Deaf-Blind communities reject the label of Deaf with a disability and have begun to take ownership of not only the definition of culture, but the modality in which they communicate.

• A majority of Deaf-Blind individuals lose vision in early adulthood, which means at some point, they were members of sighted Deaf culture and then become outcasts as a “disabled” body.

• The research indicates that Deaf culture actually has an unspoken hierarchy where power is concerned, an analysis that is not yet part of the academic discourse, particularly where Deaf Critical Theory is concerned.

Keywords:

• deaf-blind
• deafnormatvity
• disability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 The term Deaf-Blind is used as such in the Deep South of the United States where this study occurred. The general use of the term is DeafBlind and is used as such in this article when referring to DeafBlind culture as a whole (Wright 2017).