Aaliyah Bryant

The chapter “Is it normal for a deaf people to whack another person on the shoulder

during an argument? Isn’t that abusive?” from “Hearing People Only” tells a story of how

hearing people mistakes deaf people’s actions as a criminal act. This action is whacking a person

the shoulder when they are upset. The book explains that as long as it doesn’t sting, pain, nor

cause red welts. It is meant as the most forceful point of emphasis—not a blow. Because hearing

people are not educated on this topic, it has affected deaf people in a negative way. For example,

there was a 15 year marriage between “Bob” and “Debbie”. Because Bob used a forceful point of

emphasis on Debbie, she accused him of abuse when really it was Debbie abusing Bob. This had

a negative effect on Bob due to the ignorance of others.

What I have learned is the whole forceful point of emphasis. I thought this might be

something that sometimes happens in an argument but it wouldn’t be normal. Turns out that it is

completely normal in an argument as long as it is not physically hurting the signer. I also learned

that it is not only important but positive to Deaf communication. Then, there was the three basic

levels of shoulder tapping: gentle “flag”, moderately empathetic tap, and forcefully empathetic

tap. The third one is the most commonly used for arguments. There is a fine line between

“forceful emphasis” and an abusive blow meant to hurt people. Deaf people understand the

difference between the two.

How I could apply this to my life is to understand that when a deaf person uses a forceful

emphasis on me, they are not intending on hurting me. If it does hurt, I am sure I can explain to

them that “hey that hurts” or something along those lines. I feel like Debbie and the other hearing

people in the story should have educated themselves on this topic instead of jumping to

conclusions. That way people like Bob won’t be accused of being an abuser for their culture.