Introduction to the Deaf Essays

‘Deaf’

Deaf in the context of these essays means people with reduced hearing, requiring, and benefitting from, a hearing aid. Often you will meet such a person and not realize straight away that they have a hearing problem at all. However, the disability will manifest itself in subtle ways, which often leads to misunderstanding by hearing people. These essays set out to address the cause of these misunderstandings.

Purpose

These essays are provided to serve two purposes

• to explain to hearing people why deaf people often behave the way they do
• to reassure deaf people that they are never the first person to tackle the problems they come up against

Hopefully, this will bring two mindsets closer together, and maybe engender a little more understanding, and sympathy for a deaf person’s problems.

Continuing and contributing

These essays are a work in progress, and will be expanded upon in the fullness of time. If you would like to contribute, sign into the Deaf Village (see below) and send a PM to ‘Dale’. Alternatively, you may send an e-mail to dale -at- rdmp -dot- org.

The essays

The essays which are available at present are

• Deaf and Telephones
• Deaf and Eating
• Deaf and Walking
• Single-sided deafness, by Ray Gillies-Jones
• Neither Hear Nor There, a poem by Ian McKean and Jan Fletcher
• The Bubble, a poem by Dale Mellor
• Practice Makes Perfect — Inspirational history of a deaf communications group in Sefton, by Maureen Doyle
• Hearing Essay, by Dame Evelyn Glennie
• Understanding Deaf Culture: A Critical Review by Dale Mellor
• The Mask of Benevolence: A Critical Review

The Deaf Village

If you are affected in any way by deaf issues, whether you yourself are deaf or not, you might consider visiting the Deaf Village at http://tribalvillages.org/deaf, where you will find a friendly bunch of hearing aid wearers who are more than happy to share their experiences with you.