![]() Having deaf parents, however, never made me different from the other kids in my school. I think everyone grows up differently due to various factors that influence the lives of each and every one of us. Like all other aspects of life, every child has different experiences depending on their environment. I would be lying if I said it didn’t bring hurdles along with benefits. There was never the compulsion to choose between the two of them, but often the attempt to bring them together – sometimes more and sometimes less successfully. Growing up hearing with deaf parents has indeed often felt like growing up between two worlds. On the other hand, they learn the spoken language, which is accessible through the immediate environment, such as contact with relatives and acquaintances through kindergarten, school, or media. On the one hand, they learn sign language used in their families and with the Deaf community. Hearing children of deaf parents grow up in two different cultures and with two different languages. According to the World Health Organization, about 20% of the world’s population (i.e., more than 1.5 billion people) live with hearing loss, and 430 million have disabling hearing loss. The remaining 10% are children who are deaf themselves, also known as “Deaf CODAs.” The origin of this name goes back to the American Millie Brother, a daughter of deaf parents who founded the association “CODA International Incorporated.” This group of children of deaf parents is also described as a subgroup of the Deaf community – in most cases, a minority. ![]() It’s what about 90% of all children of deaf people are. “ Children Of Deaf Adults” or “CODAs” are what my brother and I are. Eighteen years later, I can say with conviction that my parents cannot hear us, not even sometimes, but that hearing loss is compensated for deaf people by other senses like feeling. Yes, we should not be so loud, says our mother, who cannot hear us but who feels the movements of us jumping on the floor. “Sometimes, I think they can hear us,” I remember my brother saying to me as we quietened down because our mother told us we should not be so noisy while playing in the apartment.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |