Introduction

Through my research, I have found that the majority of the books that portray deafness do not come from the cultural view of deafness. Those who are Deaf (the capitalized “d” shows that they identify with Deaf culture), do not see deafness as a disability. This contrasts with the medical view of deafness. Of course, just because you are deaf doesn’t mean that you are a part of the Deaf culture. This is a choice. Many of the books that I read focused on the oral method of communication . This means that those who are deaf lipread and talk. The only book that used a lot of ASL was Deaf Child Crossing, who is an insider. The deaf character, Megan also lipreads and talks, but she uses ASL when she can. The other two books mentioned a sign here and there, but it wasn’t a main mode of communication. Many of the books I read also focused on having to “overcome deafness”. This may be something that deaf individuals have to do, but there also should be books out there that show deaf individuals who have accepted their deafness as a part of their identity. There also seem to be a lack of books from an insider’s view. The only book I read, that I know of, that had a deaf author was Deaf Child Crossing. Some are written by audiologists and other professionals who view deafness as a disability and this is seen through their text. I believe it is important to have more books in this field by insiders and that portray Deaf culture views.