The Deaf community does not view their hearing loss as a disability but as a culture that includes a history of discrimination, racial prejudice, and segregation. According to an online transcript, “Through Deaf Eyes” (Weta and Florentine films/Hott productions Inc., 2007), thirty-five million Americans are hard of hearing. Of the thirty-five million people, it is estimated that 300,000 are completely deaf. Ninety percent of deaf people have hearing parents (Halpern, C., 1996). Additionally, most deaf parents have hearing children. This being an example, deaf people communicate on a more intimate and meaningful level with hearing people their entire lives. “Deaf people can be found in every ethnic group, in every region and in every economic class” (Weta and Florentine films/Hott productions Inc., 2007). Deaf and hard of hearing culture has many arguments and divisions with living in a hearing world without sound. However, this absence will be the starting point of an identity within their culture as well as hearing culture (Weta and Florentine films/Hott Inc. productions, 2007). Nowadays, it is possible for a deaf family to characterize themselves as an all-American family. For centuries, hearing people considered deafness a terrible misfortune. As University of Iowa historian Doug Baynton reports, in the early 1800s, most deaf people in America lived in rural areas isolated from each other and with little communication with those around them. “They also had a limited understanding of what they could do – of their own possibilities. People with deaf children really had no idea what their children could achieve” (Baynton, D., 2007). There...... middle of paper ...... line of hearing aids and early education for the Deaf [Fact sheet]. Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO: Author Gallaudet University. (1997). Public Relations Gallaudet University: The beginnings. Gallaudet University, 1-17. Retrieved from http://pr.gallaudet.edu/Halpern, C. (1996). Halpern: Listening to Deaf Culture. University of Colorado Journals, 1-6. (Original work published in 1995). Retrieved from http://www.colorado.edu/National Institute of Health. (2011). National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders: Improving the lives of people with communication disorders. National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders,2-2. Retrieved from http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/(Weta and Florentine films/Hott productions Inc. (2007). Film transcript: Through Deaf Eyes. PBS, 1- 69. Retrieved from http://www. pbs.org/