“So, suppose that in this world everyone is deaf”. A co-cultural approach on deaf people communicative practices

Abstract

This study explores how deaf people, as a marginalized group, navigate their communication practices with the broader community. Therefore, co-cultural theory is used to see the complexity and nuanced communication applied by deaf people. To provide a phenomenological illustration, we conducted in-depth interviews with four deaf Indonesians to discover their lived experiences related to their communicative practices. We found that none of the participants applied aggressive approaches, but they chose communication practices within the spectrum of nonassertive assimilation, assertive accommodation, and nonassertive separation. In addition, this research also shows a shift in the preferred outcome of communication from assimilation to accommodation with age. In order to better understand the dynamics of deaf people's communication practices, we also offer suggestions for future research.