The experience of being “hearing” and using spoken language to communicate anchors most of our world and workplaces today. Meetings are conducted in spoken languages, colleagues and customers make phone calls to share knowledge or voice concerns, most professional services are conducted through people speaking audibly with each other, and many people rely on video, radio, podcasts, and television for information, learning, and entertainment. This nearly ubiquitous experience influences the common belief that deaf people, deaf employees, and especially deaf children must learn to speak and use adaptive technology to be successful in the “real” world, and that the solution lies in curing hearing differences or getting accommodations to bridge communication between deaf and hearing people.
It can be difficult to imagine a different way where people primarily engage with the world not through spoken language but through visual communication and visual language. Equally challenging can be understanding how this different way of being can be advantageous, joyful, and fulfilling. To understand requires shifting our mindset and being willing to step into a liminal space to explore this unfamiliar territory, where being deaf and using sign language creates dynamism and beauty in our own language and culture, and seeing how those experiences translate into significant value and talent in our world and our workplaces.
The concept of Deaf Gain offers a radical reframing that views...
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