Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- PART I BILINGUALISM-BICULTURALISM AND THE DEAF EXPERIENCE: AN OVERVIEW
- PART II PSYCHOSOCIAL, COGNITIVE, AND LANGUAGE EXPERIENCES OF DEAF PEOPLE
- PART III THE DEAF EXPERIENCE: PERSONAL REFLECTIONS
- 13 Growing up Deaf in Deaf Families: Two Different Experiences
- 14 Another New Birth: Reflections of a Deaf Native Signer
- 15 Raising Deaf Children in Hearing Society: Struggles and Challenges for Deaf Native ASL Signers
- 16 In Search of Self: Experiences of a Postlingually Deaf African-American
- 17 Living in a Bilingual-Bicultural Family
- 18 On Being Both Hearing and Deaf: My Bilingual-Bicultural Experience
- Name Index
- Subject Index
17 - Living in a Bilingual-Bicultural Family
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- PART I BILINGUALISM-BICULTURALISM AND THE DEAF EXPERIENCE: AN OVERVIEW
- PART II PSYCHOSOCIAL, COGNITIVE, AND LANGUAGE EXPERIENCES OF DEAF PEOPLE
- PART III THE DEAF EXPERIENCE: PERSONAL REFLECTIONS
- 13 Growing up Deaf in Deaf Families: Two Different Experiences
- 14 Another New Birth: Reflections of a Deaf Native Signer
- 15 Raising Deaf Children in Hearing Society: Struggles and Challenges for Deaf Native ASL Signers
- 16 In Search of Self: Experiences of a Postlingually Deaf African-American
- 17 Living in a Bilingual-Bicultural Family
- 18 On Being Both Hearing and Deaf: My Bilingual-Bicultural Experience
- Name Index
- Subject Index
Summary
Thirteen years ago when I married my husband, Ken, I believed the biggest difference between us was that I was Catholic and he was Lutheran. The fact that he was Deaf and I was hearing seemed inconsequential. The idea that we were entering into a bilingual and bicultural marriage and its potential impact on our relationship and future family did not enter our consciousness. Thirteen years and two children later, I have come to appreciate the significance of living in a bilingual-bicultural family.
Only recently have I reflected upon and analyzed bilingualism. When the editor of this book invited me to reflect upon the experience of living in a bilingual-bicultural family and write about it, I hesitated. I felt uncomfortable proclaiming myself a “bilingual.” I believed a true bilingual was someone raised from birth with two languages or someone who moved from country to country and developed fluency in two or more languages. I also hesitated to proclaim myself a bilingual since I didn't start learning American Sign Language (ASL) until age eighteen. Although I was fluent in two languages, I didn't fit what I believed to be the definition of bilingualism. In addition, in my field of sign language interpreting, making a claim of bilingualism seemed to belong solely to children of Deaf parents.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Cultural and Language Diversity and the Deaf Experience , pp. 258 - 271Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1996