Exploring the Presence of a Deaf American Cultural Life Script

Cultural life scripts are defined as culturally shared expectations that focus on a series of events that are ordered in time. In these scripts, generalized expectations for what to expect through the life course are outlined. This study examined the possibility of a Deaf American Life Script developed in relationship to the use of a visual language, traditions developed to navigate in a hearing world, and the values developed within the Deaf community. Results found that Deaf individuals had both overlapping and novel themes when compared to earlier work on the American life script. Additionally, Deaf individuals integrated Deaf values into themes that overlapped with earlier research with hearing participants.