LETTER: Deaf culture awareness is important

Dear Editor,

I was really excited to see an article about deaf culture this week. I really felt it was about time. When we moved here so my husband could go to school I was shocked at the way deaf people are seen. In California I was going to a junior college, which had a large population of deaf students and a few deaf teachers. It was a neat experience to truly see this culture up close.

When we moved here I got a job as a sub for the School for the Deaf. I felt like the emphasis was on making them hearing. We teach our children to be tolerant of other cultures, but the one we can’t be tolerant of is the deaf. Why is that? Is it because with another language we can hear the language? Is it because we have to go outside of our comfort zone and make an effort? It is time to realize that everyone is different. In the letter to the editor on Friday (“The deaf are handicapped”), the definition of handicapped fits just about every person I know. I am left-handed, and because the world is set up for right-handed people, does that make me handicapped or just different? I hope we can all step out of our comfort zones and see people how they really are instead of labeling them.

Gayle Haux