Deafism and Philosophy

Whew... what an interesting couple weeks we've had here! I've absorbed so much information about a variety of topics relating to the Deaf World. I've learned so much but my list of research topics has been expanding ever so rapidly! I wonder if I'll ever have time to just sit at my computer and surf the web!

Learning about Deafism, we had a crash course in Philosophy and I really became interested in learning more about the field of Philosophy. Foucault's name is constantly mentioned and his work seems to "help" our cause so I find it important that we know about this philosopher. Also, in fighting for the preservation of our culture and language, we need to know the different perspectives and sciences that are harmful to us. One such theory is Positivism, the field of positive sciences. This includes biology, the area in which the Deaf community has suffered greatly. With the biological view of us and our community, the focus becomes narrow and more specific on the problem of hearing loss. From this point-of-view, our hearing loss is a problem that needs to be repaired; this perspective has persisted for centuries. How can we aid the transition from this view to a more postmodernism view, one that focus on the whole human and the betterment of human life?
I also find it extremely important that members of the Deaf Community understand and are able to discuss different topics such as phonocentrism (the discriminatory focus on spoken language), audiocentrism (the excessive and demeaning focus on hearing) and audism, oppression related to sign language and visual communication. Deafism, Deafhood and other information about minority/ethnic groups are also important. In knowing this information, we are able to defend our community and culture, provide viable arguments and basically show that we "know what we're talking about!" Armed with this information, we can help protect our community from ethnocide that may result from cochlear implants and genetic engineering.