blue and brown books

I came across this documentary from ‘Best Free Documentaries‘ which I like mostly for their BBC docs on philosophers, but this one has really peaked my interest. Wanting A Deaf Baby is a documentation of a deaf couple’s pregnancy, and their interest in having their child grow up being a non-hearing person.

My favourite line in the whole thing is when they speak to the fellow who is going to be interpreting their wedding, and in discussing the preferred volume of music for them to enjoy the vibrations, he says; “If I know the deaf, they’ll just be talking anyway”.

Not only is it interesting on a dramatic level that this couple is interested in having their baby be what would normally be thought of as ‘impaired’, but what it really makes clear is how a language, and a form of communication constitutes entirely ones life. It questions entirely what a language is, and what it means to have a culture, or a way of life.

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What are the reasons a person would want to be deaf, or want someone to be deaf? Keeping in mind this is a question posed by someone who is very partial to what little hearing he has let after years of playing guitar too loud. The deaf community, by both choice and social obstruction, is obviously a very isolated and strong community.

By isolated, I mean strongly defined. That there is an obvious split between hearing and non-hearing people, for both sides. I say this not with any indecency in mind. It is merely the case that hearing and non-hearing people are separated by a host of social issues related to communication. Here is a physical issue with a person that is not related to gender, class or race (though of course these things are a factor), but instead the treatment of ‘them’ as a cultures has more to do with the complex notion of what we view as disability in general. (We might also be able to relate this to blindness, or motor paralysis in the same way, but hearing-impaired is especially interesting as it is directly communication related, all other aspects being equal.)

Somehow this occurs between the greater issues of gender or race, but remains a strong subset of social distinction. Furthermore it seemingly reworks our idea of what a language is, and more interestingly what a culture is.What is entirely articulates is how different a person’s world is given their form of communication. Their interests in being comfortable in their own language, and with their ‘own people’ so to speak. People that understand their predicament and are able to articulate and relate to the problems.

Although different, isn’t it interesting to relate this to somewhere such as Japan, in terms of culture/ethnic stake? That Japanese are living a certain life because not only their history, geography, economy has dictated it, but their language and for what that means in terms of the rules and boundaries that sets on a consciousness?