WHAT IS CULTURE?
Culture is characteristics of a particular group of people defined by language, religion or social habits.
DEAF CULTURE
Deaf Culture has a special way of communication through the use of sign language which is silent, not voiced like spoken language. Please read below for some examples of things that differ:
LANGUAGE
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We communicate using sign language and it is a unique language, easy to understand. It's also used in schools, hospitals, meetings, etc... When we meet we discuss different things about life, politics, news and many other topics. Sign language is usually a second language to us. Historically, Deaf schools have not known how to teach us well using sign language although we are still trying our best to make sure that sign language can be used effectively. Indeed sign language is a special language to us. |
LIP READING
In order for the Deaf to understand and capture lip reading, one must speak slowly and ensure one is looking direct into the deaf person's eyes. It is not the best way to communicate with a deaf person so sign language is highly recommended to ensure the message is clearly passed to a specific person.
BEHAVIOURS
You might thing we are different compared to a hearing group of people. There are specific examples that make us look different, especially those people who were born deaf.
You might find that the walking style is different as they drag their shoes, hence some produce noise while walking. Also chewing may also be the second behaviour. It's very hard for a deaf person to control the movement of the mouth without making noise.
Those are basic common behaviours that you may find in a large percentage of deaf people.
WORSHIP
It's really interesting to write about worship - how wonderful it is to worship the living God! We are glad that we have pastors and evangelists who can effective use sign language to preach as well as have choirs who can also praise and worship using sign language.
Pastors or evangelist are supposed to stand in front of everyone to ensure that his/her signs are clear to everyone listening. Indeed it is amazing. Sometimes during fellowship we sit in a circle as this gives everyone an opportunity to share his/her own view or to explain his/her understanding according to the specified text.
