Here are some common misconceptions about Deafness and the Signing community!
Myth #1: Deaf people use Braille: Mathew S. Moore and Linda Levitan mentioned in their book For Hearing People Only, “Some hearing people have told us that when they first saw deaf people signing to each other, they immediately thought, “Oh, they’re using Braille. They must be blind!” This is a common misconception that us hearing people make. The easiest way to debunk this myth is that you will never be able to see a conversation in Braille. The main cause for this weirdly common mistake is that noticing someone who is Blind is 10 times easier than someone who is Deaf or Hard of Hearing, which has led to blindness gaining more recognition and respect than deafness.
Myth #2; There is only one sign language: Perhaps, the most mind-blowing thing about sign languages is that there are more than one. Why would Deaf or Hard of Hearing people need more than one? Aren’t they all the same? Nope! Their are now about 170 different sign languages across the world. Sure, 170 is not a lot compared to spoken languages, but that is definitely more than one.
Myth #3: Sign Language is like a kind of pantomime: We all know and love the game charades, and sign language is like the same thing, right? They just spread their ideas with the movement of their hands, right? Well actually, not really. We are usually able to guess what is going on in charades, but sign language is not so kind. Why is it so hard to understand sign language? Let me answer this with a counter question: why would we expect it to be easy?
Myth #4: All deaf people can lip read: We all know that when you’re in class and want to talk to your friend across the room you just mouth what you are saying and they usually get the idea. Deaf people do the same thing, right? Nope! Even people who are good at lip-reading can only understand about 30% of what’s being said – the rest is guesswork. Try saying “pat”, “mat”, and “bat” in a mirror; they're really hard to distinguish!
Myth #5: Deaf people can hear everything with their hearing aids or cochlear implants: False! Hearing aids can help focus sounds and make them louder, and cochlear implants carry sound directly to the brain. But this doesn’t mean a deaf person hears in the same way, or as well as a hearing person. A lot of children choose not to wear them because the hearing aids are so sensitive. Imagine being in a classroom and the AC vent is as loud as the teacher’s voice, and the class next door, and the clock on the wall. It is very frustrating that people assume Deaf people can all hear with the implants or hearing aids and “make” them wear them so that everyone can be in the same basis.
That’s all the myth busting for today, but check back next drop for some more jaw dropping myths!
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