It is a fact that one is deaf; it is a fact that one's skin is black. On that level there's no difference. However, "blackness" as a negative or inferior condition is historically constructed; deafness as representing a loss is not entirely historically constructed. People who have their limbs amputated experience the "phantom limb" phenomenon regardless of the culture in which they live. It's the nerve endings, not the culture speaking.
>Since there is no difference, the Deaf had/have to pass through their
>"Celebration of Separate Culture", as Joseph Shapiro would say. In this
>sense they have to go through a process of "autonomy". Pride is part of the
>typical journey in search of an identity which has been stolen by ........
>Fill the blank.
I identify with being a woman, and you identify with being deaf, and another identifies with being queer....and so forth. One huge collection of diversified niche markets: the capitalist laughs all the way to the bank and opposition is so fragmented it no longer even possesses a language that can help it come out of its dead end.
Joanna