Deaf community: an approach to their culture in the metropolitan área

Abstract

The present study aimed to describe deaf culture in the metropolitan area. Ethnographic qualitative where data were collected through semi-structured interviews with interpreters and deaf people, exploration of social networks, reading indexed articles and reflection, web browsing of associations of the deaf and non-participating observation within the community; the information was then categorized and analysed. We found a culture with the same values that arise within the environments of socialization and struggle for communication needs and access to diverse spaces and roles. It is not possible to generalize the deaf culture of the metropolitan area to other cultures, as it happens also with hearing population. The incidence of sign language in the construction of interactions customs and beliefs is identified facilitating the constitution of all the elements that establish it as community and culture. Of deaf cultures (App international level in Spanish-speaking countries) from countries other than Colombia were identified, coinciding in the identification of this population with a  mother tongue different from that of their nation. It is important socially to recognize the current situation of this social group, with special needs and characteristics that need to be made visible. The deaf community of the metropolitan area
is diverse both in its communication capacity within the same territory and different vocabulary according to the region of the country, which makes it difficult to disaggregate their differences to identify common aspects of the community.