Celebrating KODA Culture with Deaf History Month
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Celebrating KODA Culture with Deaf History Month
April 16, 2024
Written by: Maris Dishno
In grad school, I spent my time getting my Masters in Public Service Nonprofit Administration. While I was in school, I took KODA Camp Midwest as my case study throughout my time in school and eventually wrote my thesis about KODA Camp Midwest. While I was doing my research, I read one of my favorite books about CODAs (Children of Deaf Adults), called Mother Father Deaf by Paul Preston.
I attended KODA Camp Midwest in my youth, but I had never heard of Mother Father Deaf before this book. This was the first book I read that accurately accounted for experiences that KODAs go through. One paragraph pulled to me as it was the definition of the book itself and CODAs.
“Adult hearing childrens’ preoccupation with their deaf parents underscores their mutual cultural heritage- a heritage emphatically linked through their parents. Although many of the issues and struggles of hearing children of deaf parents parallel those children of other ethnic and racial groups, there is one important difference. Within the Deaf community, the critical measure of cultural identity is neither degree of language proficiency nor shade of skin color nor knowledge of customs. It ultimately depends on neither declarations of allegiance nor degree of interaction. Above all, to be deaf is to not be hearing. This paradigm underscores why the emphasis on parental linkage is so crucial. Because hearing children share neither their parents’ functional hearing loss nor, in many cases, their parents’ language, the primary source of cultural identity and community entree is their connection with their parents. Only by association do these informants have access to this exclusive identity and community: mother father deaf.”
Mother Father Deaf by Paul Preston (Preston, 1994, p. 201).
Basically, we are CODAs solely because of our Deaf parents. It’s not our race, our language, or customs that make us who we are. It’s our connection to our parents that makes us who we are. And that’s powerful.
This month, April, is Deaf History month! Previously celebrated March 13- April 15, it is now moved to April to make Deaf History Month inclusive by celebrating Deaf culture as a whole rather than focusing only on schools. In particular, KODA Camp Midwest is celebrating Mother Father Deaf Day. Mother Father Father Deaf Day is the last Sunday in April designated for CODAs to recognize and celebrate our unique culture comes directly from our Deaf parents.
Take action to celebration Deaf History month, here’s how you can get involved:
Attend KODA Camp Midwest’s fundraiser: Bagels that Give Back in Fishers, IN to connect with the KODA and Deaf Community https://www.kodamidwest.org/fundraisers/bagels-that-give-back
Learn ASL, Deaf Culture, and KODA culture: Follow @jonurquhart_ on Instagram.
Attend Deaf events- go to signing slam to play some trivia in ASL https://www.facebook.com/groups/signingslamwi/
Reshare posts and stories from KODA Camp Midwest about Deaf culture on social media such as Facebook and Instagram
Support Deaf-owned local shops and online stores by making a purchase, and recommending them to your friends and family member
Watch:
Educate yourself on Deaf History and watch “Why Sign Language was Banned in America” is a 12-minute short on PBS.
“Audible” is a 2021 short film that documents a Maryland High School for the Deaf high school athlete.
Documentary: “Through Deaf Eyes” — This two-hour documentary explores 200 years of Deaf life in America and presents a broad range of perspectives on what it means to be deaf. The film is propelled by the stories of people, both eminent and ordinary, and sheds light on events that have shaped Deaf lives. The film includes interviews with prominent members of the Deaf community, including actress Marlee Matlin and Gallaudet University president emeritus I. King Jordan. Interwoven throughout the film are six short documentaries produced by Deaf media artists and filmmakers.
“CODA,” which won an Academy Award for Best Picture. The movie is about a hearing child in a deaf family who finds herself torn between pursuing her love of music and helping her family’s struggling business.
“Sound and Fury” is a documentary follows the lives of the Artinians, an extended family with Deaf and hearing members across three generations. Together they confront a technological device that can help the deaf to hear but may also threaten Deaf culture and their bonds with each other. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and won the National Board of Review Freedom of Expression Award.
“Deaf U” is a Netflix reality series that follows a group of Deaf and heard of hearing students at Gallaudet University. Released in fall 2020, the series is produced by actor, model and deaf activist Nyle DiMarco.
Read:
Mother Father Deaf: Living Between Sound and Silence by Paul Preston
“Mother father deaf” is the phrase commonly used within the Deaf community to refer to hearing children of deaf parents. These children grow up between two cultures, the Hearing and the Deaf, forever balancing the worlds of sound and silence. Paul Preston, one of these children, takes us to the place where Deaf and Hearing cultures meet, where families like his own embody the conflicts and resolutions of two often opposing world views.
Our Father Abe: The Story of a Deaf Shoe Repairman by Harvey L. Barash and Eva Barash Dicker
The story of a deaf shoe repairman.
Between Two Worlds: My Life as a Child of Deaf Adults by David Sorenson
In his memoir, David Sorensen explores his identity as a coda, or a child of Deaf adults. He describes his experiences with the roles often placed on codas at a young age, such as interpreter, confidant, and decision-maker. Hs story reveals a person seeking acceptance and belonging while straddling the Deaf and hearing worlds, and shows how he found reconciliation within himself and with both worlds.
In Silence: Growing Up Hearing in a Deaf World by Ruth Sidransky
Sidransky portrays her family with deep affection and honesty, and her frank account provides a living narrative of the Deaf experience in pre- and post-World War II America. In Silence has become an invaluable chronicle of a special time and place that will affect all who read it for years to come.
On the Beat of Truth: A Hearing Daughter’s Stories of Her Black Deaf Parents by Maxine Childress Brown
As an African American woman born in 1943, Maxine Childress Brown possessed a unique vantage point to witness the transformative events in her parents’ lives. Both came from the South -- her father, Herbert Childress, from Nashville, TN, and her mother, Thomasina Brown, from Concord, NC. The oldest of three daughters, Maxine was fascinated by her parents’ stories. She marveled at how they raised a well-respected, middle-class family in the midst of segregation with the added challenge of being deaf.
Have other resources for people to celebrate Deaf History month? Contact Maris at maris@kodamidwest.org to add to this list!
About the Author
Maris Dishno is the Business Manager at KODA Camp Midwest. Maris lives in Milwaukee, WI and you can find her frequently with a camera in her hand and working on the behind the scenes of KODA Camp Midwest. In her free time she enjoys reading YA Fiction novels, taking photos of cat & landscapes, and hanging out at the beach.
