A post for the CODAs

I write for my school's newspaper. We were assigned to write a practice column writing. The requirements? What I found controversy in. This is for my CODAs. 

Sunday night rituals for every family are sacred, different, and still similar. You eat. Perhaps the one night of the entire week the entire family gets together to sit down and eat food. In my family this remains true, but with a very different dinner topic: speech production.

Being a CODA, a child of deaf adult, I do my best to teach my mom and dad to pronounce words correctly.  “Oyinges,” “Ghermany,” “Cohmoonication,” “spuhhetti,” and “Toosunami” are the reoccurring visitors at the table.

It is a common myth that deaf people cannot talk. It is perpetuated by the local universities who teach the students about the deaf culture. Look at the high schools. Students of ASL classes believe this idea of a silent existence. It is a class project to be silent and only communicate through American Sign Language.

Have you heard a deaf person without any hearing devices, such as hearing aids or cochlear implants? They run on two extremes: non-existent whispers and face-melting hollers. The deaf community is anything but silent.

Another false conception is that deafness is inherited. Yes, it can be. So can cancer. The chances are slim. One is more likely to lose hearing listening to music too loudly or being boxed in the ears. In the US population, there are roughly 68,351,428 peoplewithin the ages of 18-34. In this age group, only 0.9% is deaf.

Sure, there are perks of being CODA. I can sneak out and my parents will never hear the door open or close. There’s a constant sing-a-long script on the TV, though it throws off all major plot twists. I can say dirty, mean things without even opening my mouth.

The cons of being a CODA? Dealing with all those crazy hearing people that learn the ASL alphabet and think they know all there is about sign language. I can’t say things only once; everything will end up being repeated. I also can’t throw a secret party; they will feel the vibrations.

My plans for this upcoming Sunday? Teaching production of speech with a focus on “skissors,” “pasa dobul,” “ghingher,” and “Queen Lahteihfuh.”