BUG: Deaf Identity and Internal Revolution

by Christopher Jon Heuer

“What you have in your hands is a bomb. But it is the kind you need to hold on to for dear life, not run away from.”
—From the Foreword, John Lee Clark

Christopher Jon Heuer lost his hearing early, but not before “being able to hear a lot as a kid.” He also received a good education, both in a speech-oriented setting and a signing environment. These varied experiences provided him with the perfect background to write about biases he faced, not only those of a mostly oblivious hearing society, but also those of ideologically restrictive members of the Deaf community. BUG: Deaf Identity and Internal Revolution combines new work of Heuer’s with his best columns from The Tactile Mind Weekly and the National Association of the Deaf’s Mind Over Matter . He addresses all topics – exit interviews, baldness, faith healing, marriage, cats, Christmas trips, backyard campfires in boxer shorts – with a withering wit that spares no aspect of life and deafness.

Being “bugged” for Heuer began early: “When I was growing up, my mother’s response to every problem I had was: ‘Well, he just needs to adjust to his deafness.’ Bloody nose? ‘Chris, you need to adjust to your deafness.’ Homework not done? ‘I know it’s hard adjusting to your deafness, honey, but ....’ Acne scarring? ‘Lots of teenagers get zits, Chris. I know it’s hard for you, dealing with this while trying to adjust to your ....’” He rebelled then, and continues through his even-handed irreverence in BUG , a bomb that should go off in everyone’s consciousness about being deaf and Deaf.

Genres: Nonfiction, Poetry

232 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2007

Reviews

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought provoking, and well written. The anecdotes that Heur came up with to describe his experiences as a Deaf man were pretty amazing. I feel a desire to write, and to become more educated on events in Deaf culture. Advocacy, still, is so important!!

[olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahh, Chris Jon Heuer I'm so grateful that he exists. As much as I appreciate his insights, do I appreciate the way he says his opinions with his chest. Every hearing person would do well by reading this book. That being said, I don't like his approach to proving many of his points, usually by way of comparing Deaf struggles to other marginalized communities, I thought it especially weak to continously compare Black USian struggles to Deaf struggles, and thought that if he were going to even try to strike such comparisons that he needed to talk about Black Deaf experience and the way Black and white deaf people in US were historically socialized and educated separately. And no mention of BASL was another huge gap in that conversation. That all being said, I still appreciate the man, and mostly because he strikes me as the kind of person who would honestly engage with criticisms. And I'll always appreciate the ending of his book, which reminds me of the importance of saying shit with our chests, something I know he knows we all need. And so in the end, in spite of all that I dislike, I know there's good reason I continue to revisit his work.