Children of Deaf Adults

Living the life as a Coda can be a struggle or it can give many opportunities in life. What are the pros and cons as a coda and to figure out, you will find it through facts about CODA's, CODA life, and opinions about them.

First of all, American Sign Language (ASL) is a unique language that Deaf people use to communicate. This language is a child with Deaf parents first language. This language was originated from the French. Another fact, is that sixty percent of Children Of Deaf Adults (CODA) are fluent in Sign language because of the fact that this helps create the bond with each other. Many CODAs are bilingual, learning both a spoken and a signed language, and bi-cultural, distinguishing with both Deaf and hearing cultures. The majority of children with deaf parents want to become an- interpreter to help the Deaf community and increase the population in the Deaf culture. Video Relay phone created by Sorenson is the top and number one way to contact a Deaf person through the phone. How does this system work? Well, a Deaf person is on one line signing through a camera on a television, then, in the middle of the line is the interpreter for both the hearing and Deaf person. Lastly, the hearing person is on the other end of the line and talking through the phone to the interpreter. For example, the hearing person talks through the phone saying hello, the interpreter hears that, then signs it to the Deaf person. It is really an amazing source to communicate to the Deaf and it is better than e-mail. The biggest and best Deaf schools are in Maryland because in that area is where ASL began. Deaf schools have a quiet environment and learn the same curriculum as hearing students do. Hearing students have a louder environments with more students in each classroom. Except when CODAs come home then its a quiet area because there is no one besides other hearing siblings. Reason being is because of the deaf to hearing ratio in the United States. As of 2001, there are 28 million Deaf/Hard of Hearing people living in the United States. Ninety percent of that number of Deaf will have a hearing child. Is that a crazy fact or what?

Next, is the topic of what CODA's responsibilities are and life as one. While at home and the family is having a movie night, closed captioning must be on at all times when parents are watching movies or any television of some sort. This gives opportunities for kids to read while watching television or understanding some ideas on what Deaf culture is about. When it comes to emergencies such as burglars or fire alarms, CODA's have a giant role and that is to keep the family safe and letting the parents know whats going on in the worst case scenarios. It is important for children to understand that because it can save lots of time figuring out whats going on and increases parent-child communication skills. Most Deaf controlled houses have special fire alarms that have flashing lights or siren