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
18 - On Being Both Hearing and Deaf: My Bilingual-Bicultural Experience
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
Jim's family. My husband, Jim, and I hopped into the car for the long ride to his parent's house – our first visit to his Italian-American family. I wanted to be as polite as it was possible to be! When all seven of us sat down around the dinner table, I was immediately bombarded with questions from all sides, all at once. Turning my head frantically from side to side, I tried to look at everyone as they spoke to me. My Deaf and Hearing worlds were clashing again. My parents, who were Deaf, always taught me that it was polite to look directly at the person with whom I was talking, but here it was impossible! After dinner Jim's younger sister pulled him aside and said, “I like Pat a lot, she is really nice. But is there something wrong with her that she jerks her head so much? Is it something physical or is she a little odd?”
My life has always flowed between my two worlds – Deaf and Hearing. Recently I lost both of my parents. My parents were Deaf. I am hearing. It has been a time for reflection upon my life in these two worlds, and a time to reexamine my own sense of identity.
I agree with Padden & Humphries (1988) notion that there are two different perspectives, one Deaf, one Hearing, through which the world can be understood and judged; two lenses through which the world can be viewed.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Cultural and Language Diversity and the Deaf Experience , pp. 272 - 288Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1996
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