Hi everyone,
Haven't wrote a blog in a while and have a lot to say. For the discussion on "Deafness as a culture, I feel that deafness can definitely be a culture depending on what definition of "culture" you choose to use. I don't mean to get all scholarly but in the dictionary culture is defined as "social and intellectual formation," "the totality of socially transmitted behavior, patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought characteristic of a community or population," and "a style of social and artistic expression perculiar to a society or class." Also "the growing of microorganisms in a nutrient medium." If you look at the last discription, obviously deafness is not a culture. But if you look at the first three discriptions, deafness can be a culture. Deaf people do make up a social group and community/population, and they do have a distinct way of expressing themselves (sign language, lip reading). I can see how people think that they are not a group, afterall they don't have the same beliefs, and are interested in different things, but that can go with almost every culture. They share common characteristics unique to their group and have a style of social and behavioral expressions.
But ultimately, I feel that it's up to the deaf people to decide whether they think they are a culture or not. Because eventhough cultures can be involuntary, in many ways they are also voluntary.