Similarly, it is considered incredibly rude to grab a deaf person's hands while they are signing. In the
2- Eye Contact in the Deaf Community If talking to a Deaf person, it is considered rude not to make eye contact. Deaf people do not hear with their ears, they hear with their eyes. Everything on your face is important to people in the Deaf community, including facial expressions.
Eye contact is extremely important. Hearing people often talk to each other with comparatively little eye contact, but within Deaf culture, avoiding eye contact can be seen as rude. Looking away while someone is signing to you is definitely a no-no.
Don't Shout
Shouting at anyone is rude and shouting at someone with hearing loss is no different. Not only can it come across as aggressive, but it can also cause some hearing aid users discomfort. While you might not intend to shout, your voice might start getting louder without you realising.
It's rude to wave your hands right in front of a Deaf person's face to get their attention. Just gently tap them on the shoulder instead. It's ok to wave your hand, though, if you're too far away for a shoulder tap. Here are some commons mistakes hearing people make when trying to get a Deaf person's attention.
Always face a deaf person.
Make eye contact and keep it while you are talking. Try not to look away or cover your mouth as many deaf people rely on lip reading to help them understand you.
Ever wondered how to get past an ASL conversation politely? Simply walk through without drawing any attention to yourself! This is not considered rude in Deaf Culture.
Having language and communication barriers are bound to cause anxiety. Think about not being able to hear the person on the other end of the phone clearly, static obstructing your hearing; rage and anger may fill your mind. Similarly, the deaf suffer this experience daily.
As previously discussed, 90% of deaf children have hearing parents. The remaining 10% are deaf children that were born to deaf parents, and most are deaf due to a genetic abnormality. This being the case, there is a fair chance that they will pass their deafness on to their own children.
The best way to gain a deaf person's attention is by giving them a simple tap on their shoulder, or a wave in their line of vision. Any other visual signal, such as flickering of the light, can work wonders too.
The best way to get their attention is to walk up to them and tap them on the shoulder, or you could flash the lights in the room on and off, not like a strobe light, but once or twice should suffice in getting their attention.
In Deaf culture, Deaf audiences will use a more visually expressive variant of clapping. Instead of clapping their palms together, they raise their hands straight up with outstretched fingers and twist their wrists.
Some slang words are only used by Deaf school kids (e.g. "shaking L"), some by a particular generation of Deaf people, some by Deaf families, some by Deaf people only that hearing signers shouldn't use (or it'd make them look awkward).
In hearing Western culture, they typically clap with the palms of their hands. Sound-oriented. In American Deaf culture, as visually-oriented, Deaf people ususally wave their hands in the air. This Deaf applause (waving in the air) began in the 1980s.
MYTH: All deaf people are mute. FACT: Some deaf people speak very well and clearly; others do not because their hearing loss prevented them from learning spoken language. Deafness usually has little effect on the vocal chords, and very few deaf people are truly mute.
For example, in ASL, 258 means “very interesting”. There are also other slangs such as “missed the train” or “true-biz”.
Similarly, it is considered incredibly rude to grab a deaf person's hands while they are signing. In the deaf community, this is the equivalent of holding your hand over someone's mouth to prevent them from speaking.
It is a well-known medical fact that isolation and loneliness lead to depression and other forms of mental illness. It is therefore not surprising to learn that if you are profoundly deaf you are also 50% more likely to suffer from depression than your hearing counterparts.
Of course! There was actually a UFC fighter, Matt Hammil, that was deaf. He wasn't a world beater or anything, but he was decent and a really good wrestler. A blind person, that may be a little more difficult.