Deafhood, Oralism and Audism - Essay Example

There is a hegemony between deafness and deafood. While deafness is a medical condition, seafood represents a continuous struggle by deaf people to explain their existence to the world (Hauser 2010, p. 486). Deafhood, in this case, is interpreted as a process rather than an end that characterizes the perception of deafness. In this view, the world should recognize deaf people as normal but different.

In describing normal, the term recognizes deaf people as individuals capable of emotions and rationality just as other hearing people do (Ladd 2003, p. 176). In describing different, however, the term recognizes deaf people as individuals facing different challenges from hearing people. The medical definition of deaf people has characterized them as strange and helpless people who demand help from hearing people. This means that society typified the deaf as people who are less capable of surviving in the ordinary world. In essence, deaf people are just normal people whose language system differs from that of hearing people ((Ladd 2005, p. 13).

Oralism and audism, therefore, are great challenges for deaf people in defining themselves to the world. Society symbolically participates in eugenics to define a distinct way in which every person should define oneself. This occurs as society highlights the traits it considers positive and the traits it considers negative (Ladd 2003, p. 18). In a physical sense, society invests in activities such as genetic engineering, genocide, and selective breeding as a means of identifying the part of the population it deems fit for life. Oralism is an educational philosophy that focuses on the development of speech and listening skills (Ladd 2005, p. 13). This philosophy constraints the individuality of deaf people by claiming that if everyone is taught reading through lips and auditory input, they eventually attain assimilation into the general society (Ladd 2005, p. 14). On the other hand, audism proposes that hearing is more ideal than being deaf.

Summary
In the end, deafhood proposes that deaf people should attain the capacity to define themselves in their way. Treating deafness as an illness vilifies the position of not hearing and constrains the individuality of a deaf person (Ladd 2003, p. 50). Deafhood is essential in the idea that it promotes the acceptance of diversity in a complex society. The deaf people, therefore, acquire a commonality through which they appreciate the use of sign language and visual orientation (Hauser 2010, p. 489). The systemic eugenics that is prevalent in society is a hindrance to this journey. This is because philosophies such as oralism and audism define flawed standards upon which different people are judged. This occurs even though deaf people are normal individuals whose challenges are simply unique (Hauser 2010, p. 490).