“Mother, father deaf” is how people like me establish ourselves with deaf people, the simple grammar a kind of entrée into deaf society. It’s a membership card into a very elite club. Regular hearing people can work all their lives in the deaf world, they can establish themselves as true allies to the deaf community, they can be loved by all, but they will always be “hearing” and “other.” But a kid with deaf parents, signing “mother, father deaf,” is instantly accepted as family. We aren’t hearing. We are the rare exception to the rule, hearing people trusted as insiders in a society that is
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