Deaf Again is the first book written by Mark Drolsbaugh. He was enrolled at the world’s only university for the hard of hearing and deaf students in 1989 and graduated with a M. A. in the School Counseling and Guidance and a B. A. in Psychology.
This book is an autobiography on how the author, from being a person who can hear progressed to become a deaf person as he was growing up. As I read this book, I have realized a number of purposes that the author was pressing towards his intended readers; Readers who are deaf, those who have a hard time hearing, the ones who are able to hear, and to the people who live among them.Deaf people have a major burden that they carry around every time they have an encounter with other people who are able to hear. They only want one simple thing, and that is to be understood.
This was also written to help them uncover the significance of discovering their own deaf identity. Hard to hear people feel miserable and are forced to fake their condition because they want to fit in. There are a lot of tricks that hard of hearing and deaf people do for them to fake being able to hear.And until today, there are still a lot of people who are in the process of acting to cover the situation that they’re in. This was also written to let the people feel how it is to be in the shoes of a deaf person and understand the circumstances they are facing. This book shows everyone how it feels like to be deaf.
It is very suitable for its audiences because it helps the deaf and hard to hear people accept their situation and deal with it positively. In Deaf Again, the author asks the person who reads to imagine swimming a mile in his scuba gear. It’s like being in a glass bubble while underwater.You probably will be able to observe all the fish around you, but that’s all you can do. You are still different from them and you’re stuck wearing that uncomfortable gear.
This is how the deaf people feel all their lives. And just empathizing with them may not even do justice. Born being able to hear, Mark slowly lost this ability as he grew up. In spite of the reality that his deaf parents favored sign communication, he was raised and taught without using sign language. His relatives were anxious that this method might hinder with speech and limit his educational attainment.People have the notion that using ASL might delay speech and alter one’s ability to process language.
But using sign language is more that just making gestures. It's not unusual for deaf people to go to hearing family gatherings and leave without being totally wiped out from all the endeavors it took them to converse with their hearing counterparts ASL is considered a language in its own that has helped millions of deaf people who, if given a chance to be able to hear again will still choose to be deaf because they know how to value communication in spite of their circumstances.Mark was trying hard to hang on to his hearing because of the fear that there is something wrong in one going deaf. Even though he became more and more hard-of-hearing as he grew, he worked hard to fake it as a hearing person.
This in turn actually limited the deepness of relationships with friends and family and constrained his development. Throughout those long years, he didn’t know what he was missing. Afterwards, he learned how to use ASL and was able to interact with the deaf community which helped him to learn and appreciate deafness as something that was special as he broadened his horizons.He gradually valued relationships and communication with the people he loved. This became his priority in life. Even though Mark's learning opportunities and well-built family support assisted him in achieving success, he regretted being spiritually and emotionally behind for his age.
After he realized and had learned to embrace his deaf identity, he became proud of who he is and who he has become. He is also proud of the deaf culture, because the people within that group share meaningful experiences and relationships.They help strengthen and genuinely enjoy each other. The deaf community is not something that a lot of people are aware about. Deaf culture put its focus on what they do, instead of the pathological means of focusing on what is wrong. There is a sense of validation and belonging which has more meaning than fitting in.
I personally like this book. We’ve learned of various disability-oriented perspectives which enhance fusion into the hearing human race as the peak of victory for deaf persons.But this book offers us something fresh to reflect on: a back to front look at both sides from one who has been through being deaf and hearing and has been in and out of the speaking and silent worlds ever since birth. His influential book sounds an obvious caution to all who would restrict their lives with detrimental barriers.
This book gives an empowerment for deaf readers to demonstrate to their family and friends how they feel. And that is precisely what happened. It will seize its readers for an enlightening ride.
