The Ten Commandments of Deaf Culture

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1. You should not put hearing culture above Deaf Culture;

2. You shall not lose eye contact when communicating with a Deaf person;

3. You shall communicate in sign language at all times;

4. You shall not be the Deaf person’s sign language instructor;

5. You shall not be the Deaf person’s English grammar teacher;

6. You shall not be the Deaf person’s speech therapist;

7. You shall not be the Deaf person’s comedian, tell non-Deaf jokes and puns;

8. You shall not be the Deaf person’s “mother or father”;

9. You shall view Deaf people as an ethnic group, not as handicapped;

10. You shall believe Deaf people can do all things.

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(Author unknown~Please let me know who should get the credit for creating this wonderful list)*

*found on FB by Mikey K. (Thanks, Mikey - I was looking for that to use it again! It was so long ago. I can't remember the author's name. Maybe someone will help us!!)

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