[sixstringtheory]

That's a great question, and unfortunately we've reached the point where I'm afraid I can't speak authoritatively. I did a quick search regarding cultural vs. physical deafness, here are some interesting things I found:

https://nad.org/issues/american-sign-language/community-and-...

http://www.signwriting.org/about/questions/quest024.html

The reverse is also an interesting question: how does the Deaf community view people who seek to gain hearing through e.g. cochlear implants, like for a child born deaf? Answer: it's extremely controversial.

It's an very interesting subject for me because I love thinking about language and how it shapes cognition and culture–and sign language is such a different paradigm than spoken or written languages. That being said I still only have a beginner's level understanding of Deaf culture, at least w.r.t. how far a hearing person could ever get.

Edit: formatting