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Th e psychological motivation and traits of hearing people who work with deaf people have been explored by several authors (Baker-Shenk & Kyle, 1990). Hoff meister and Harvey (1996) refer to these as the “psychology of the hearing,” contrasting their work with the much more extensive literature about a presumed “psychology of deafness” (Levine, 1960; Myklebust, 1964; Paul & Jackson, 1993; Vernon & Andrews, 1990). Lane (1992) has challenged the whole notion of a “psychology of deafness” as “audist,” and while we agree that there are no psychological traits common to all deaf people, there are several unidentifi ed or unlabeled “relational postures” which deaf people may commonly assume towards hearing people. Relational postures involve both attitudes and behaviors. Th e relational postures that deaf people assume towards hearing people are often triggered by the relational postures that hearing people commonly assume towards them. Th ese contrasting perspectives, stemming from widely different experiences and worldviews, foster what Glickman (2009) refers to as cross-cultural confl icts between deaf and hearing people.
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