Deaf Culture and Marginalization in the 1980's

Presenter: Katie James

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 20-21

Semester: Fall

Faculty Mentor: Razzan Zahra

Department: English

Funding Source/Sponsor: SYRCE Symposium

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1i3sS1Nk-qYDxNMsJn3tISDEx8prs8-5H

Abstract:
My final creative project will be about deaf culture and marginalization in the 1980’s and how different life was for those who were deaf but also had other disabilities. The initial thought in my mind was, why don’t we talk about those with disabilities and what they did in terms of telling stories and sharing their experiences with others. This topic spoke to me because I moved in 6 months ago with my boyfriend and his parents, and both his mom and dad are deaf. I have been seeing how they live their lives so differently but still are able to do so many things that people who are hearing can do. I had to adapt to the ways of their household including learning to understand and communicate in sign language. They have shown me their way of living and I think it is so unique and a very interesting topic to talk about in many ways. Both his parents grew up in the 1980’s so I was able to talk to his mom about how that was and how marginalized she felt because of being deaf. The deaf culture and community is very strong and I have enjoyed learning about it. I am very excited to be doing a project about this idea in that it hits close to home for me and is not something a lot of people know or talk about. Disabilities, whether visible or invisible, should not be pushed under the rug and should be discussed because disabled people are just as capable as those who don’t have disabilities to do things like storytelling.