Analyzing my own Assumptions:

1) I don't believe I share enough with this culture yet to make a decision on a topic as sensitive and important as this one. Because I have a little education on the culture I do know more than some other people about this subject but I personally do not fully understand this culture yet. My hope is to someday be able to understand more. To say that I know enough about this culture to make an informed decision to this extreme would be to disrespect the culture all together.

2) I grew up in a hearing world and have only recently been introduced to the signing world. I would say that my culture is very different from theirs. I believe culture extends beyond societal norms. Of course, both cultures follow the laws of society, extend the same manners and decent behavior as any person would, but on a deeper level we are completely different. Their experiences are entirely different in that I cannot imagine a world without sound. Every time I reflect on a memory or an experience of my own there is sound.

3) The reason I find this culture to be so fascinating is because of how different it is to my own. I would like to become bilingual in ASL in the hopes of discovering this culture and possibly making it part of my own. I integrate sign language into my classroom every day by using sign to help my students "find their words". If a child with a speech or language delay or disorder can't express themselves when they need to it builds up in the form of anger and frustration within them and eventually they get upset and could upset the classroom. By teaching some simple signs that are used in passing (ie: when reading a book or talking to the class, I casually use signs repeatedly so they learn in passing, indirect ways) a student will usually start using the sign too. When a child is stuck on a sentence or a word, they can use the sign to express themselves through tears, through a stutter, and more. This is where my culture, or the culture I have created in my classroom, may be similar to the Deaf culture.

4) This text is written in our time, so this question is irrelevant.

EDIT: Analyzing others' assumptions

I analyzed Jake's  and found his topic to be really interesting! I think looking at subcultures within the general culture is something both him and I must look at as we continue with our research. My topic on education relates strongly with economic standing of these families, because of resources and financial reasons many families don't get to pick which education their little ones get. This is something for me to keep in mind!

I analyzed Jess' blog next. I found her topic also very interesting. I think the biggest issue my generation has is that we don't usually look at subcultures within our "American" culture even though we all have them. I think this is a common custom of ours that we need to break but will take time to fully get in the habit of being aware of.