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Deafness and other hearing impairments are more than a medical conditions and physiological phenomenon; they are a way of life.

The definition of deaf culture is a set of learned behaviors of a group of people who have their own language, values, rules of behavior, and traditions. (Carol Padden, 1988)

Those who are deaf or hearing impaired belong to a group of their own a culture. Like Hispanic or even African-American cultures, there is a strong sense of pride among members of this culture.

It is interesting how many humans in the hearing world either do not know that the deaf culture exists or if they do, have little or no actual knowledge about it.

In his book, Mask of Benevolence, Harlan Lane writes on a fierce group loyalty among this group of people, its values extending to being protective of its own community's culture and language.

In the United States, the main language is American Sign Language (ASL). They share a common sense of pride in mastering this language as well as the outstanding ability to overcome obstacles and adversity as both individuals and groups.

In addition to mastering ASL, skillful storytelling is also embraced in the deaf /hearing impaired cultures. In recent decades, sign language has played an increasingly central role in the cultural unification of these communities.

However, there are both deaf and hearing impaired individuals that had also been raised in what is termed the oral tradition. These people usually used little or no sign language but instead were highly skilled in lip reading.

This tradition was more common throughout the twentieth century, before educators began to both recognize encourage the practice of sign language as an actual language in the 1970's, but lip reading still continues today, as not all deaf and hearing impaired either are not proficient in sign language or use it at all.

Recent sign language studies have revealed that not only does sign language have a complete syntax and grammar structure of a true language, but it also activates the same neural pathways and brain activities of other languages.

Controversy has stemmed from the result of these findings between the practice of lip reading and sign language immersion. Whereas lip reading encourages deaf and hard of hearing individuals to be a part of mainstream society, making it more acceptable and accessible to hearing people to have normal conversations with them, the downside is that l-readers are able to reliably understand about 40-60% of what

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