It would be safe to say that as long as man has been able to procreate, the possibility to birth children who are deaf has been more than probable. Although there is no way to access the number of individuals in the past that have been dealt the hand of deafness, it is known that these people were oppressed and denied basic rights such as the right to own property or to marry. It wasn’t until the Renaissance in Europe that these laws were challenged.
Italy and Spain seemed to have led the way in the education of the deaf, including creation of the first known alphabet of hand shapes that represented different speech sounds. However, it was a French abbot, Charles Michel de L’Epee, who took the reins and organized the first association for the education for the deaf in 1750. Children flocked to his school from all corners of the country, bringing with them their various methods of communication, all involving signing. L’Epee compiled these signings, made them the standard form of deaf communication, and soon all of France and eventually Europe were using a common form of sign language known as the French Sign Language (FSL). Soon afterwards these concepts were brought to America to serve its deaf population as well.
There were staunch believers, such as Alexander Graham Bell, that sought to persuade Americans that oral language was still the superior form of communication. His opinion took flight and resulted in Congress passing a declaration forbidding the teaching of sign language. Oralism, or the education of the deaf promoting methods such as teaching speech, speech reading, and listening, was the tolerated pedagogy. The American Sign Language (ASL) movement was on the brink of death when in 1960 William Stokoe testified before Congress proving that ASL was a language of its own, complete with its own set of rules for grammar and syntax, thus making is distinct from the English language.
Just as geographical and cultural constraints eventually lead to distinctions in the spoken word, ASL has evolved in the same way. Each region in the United States has its own twist on how it is expressed. The audible word is often accompanied by intonations to punctuate its meaning. Users of ASL employ a similar but distinct manner of communication by raising their eyebrows, leaning forward or backwards, and widening their eyes. In fact, it can be said that ASL users use their entire body for communication purposes, from hand and body movements to facial gestures, producing many phonemes at the same time. It is this reason that sign language is not usually written.
In the United States alone, and this figure is based on deaf individuals who self-report, as many as 38% of our residents over the age of 5 are functionally deaf; one half of that number being adults over 65 years of age. It is no wonder that a whole new culture has developed that has its own language. Unfortunately, many members of this community feel discriminated against in society and feel the non-deaf look upon their lives as a form of ‘audism’ resulting from birth defects or accident or illness. The effects of this discrimination can be acutely observed in educational settings where deafness is listed on IEPs as a disability, or in taking tests where wording is biased towards the hearing population. All in all this community is overlooked during policy-making and would appeal to our government to consult with them instead of relying on the suggestions of individuals who have no concept of their culture.
As our nation is becoming more and more diverse it seems evident that the community of deaf individuals and their language, ASL, should be included in discussions of equal rights just like all the other minority populations. It isn’t as if the deaf have not contributed their share to society. Listen to the music of Beethoven. Hear the eloquence in Helen Keller’s writings. Acknowledge the fact the William “Dummy” Hoy, the first deaf major league baseball player, hit the very first grand-slam and created the hand signals that are still used in the game today. And we once thought the deaf were just taking up space.
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In high school and few years prior to that, I joined a club which would have been the equivalent to the “Happy Hands Club” in Napoleon Dynamite. It was a good learning experience in that I was both learning part of a language and realizing the depth of sign language concurrently. ASL is just as complex of a language to learn as spoken English.
ReplyDeleteGoogle defines language as a systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or conventional symbols. By these standards, sign language is nothing short of a language; it takes advantage of the conventional symbols rather than sounds. However, even signers often use small utterances in their communication.
One point I found particularly interesting is in the reasons you listed for feelings of discrimination. You mentioned having deafness listed as a disability in an educational setting almost as if it were a put down. I could see how this might inspire such feelings; however, I don’t know that I would look at it as such a put down. A disability is the condition of being unable to perform as a consequence of physical or mental unfitness. A hearing impairment would in all reality render someone incapable to function in a classroom setting in the same way that the other students would. It’s not necessarily an insult and if it isn’t listed as a disability they would not be able to receive proper assistance therefore leaving the student at a disadvantage.
I appreciate your research; I have learned a little bit more about deaf culture from reading your blog. This will help me to see where sensitivity is crucial in dealing with different people’s life circumstances.
Those among the non hearing-impaired can never imagine what a deaf person goes through on a daily basis. I can believe that from the early history they were discriminated and not even allowed to marry. Throughout history anyone who was different, or had some impairment were discriminated and cast out. Look at the Spartans who left any babies who were not deemed perfect out for the wolves to eat. I am glad to find out that there were those who championed for their cause and took them in, such as Charles Michel de L’Epee. It is very sad though, as you discussed in your response that even today our deaf citizens are still treated a second class citizens.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog response about the history of American Sign Language. I learned a lot about the early history and the creation of a language for the deaf. What I did not know was that it originated in France and came to America, where it almost became extinct. I also did not know that where the hand signs originated in baseball, and it was a deaf major-league player that created them. Your blog was insightful, well written, and very educating.
It is a shame to learn that not much effort and research has gone into something as important as understanding the social and emotional experiences of women who are disabled. I have seen many women with distorted images of themselves because of our Western image and definition of beauty, which is a pathetic one at that. I have even seen men begin to suffer from the same poor self-image and self-esteem from comparing themselves to these Hollywood actors. The white, powerful, heterosexual male has indeed done immeasurable amounts of damage to millions of people in our nation. They probably had no idea what they were doing when they were doing it and neither did they know what effect it would have on American citizens and even foreign citizens. Trying to attain the perfect body is indeed impossible, because it doesn’t even exist. This is just some made up fantasy of a small group of people whom everyone made the mistake of listening to.
ReplyDeleteIt is heartbreaking to see that women with disabilities feel that they are unable to attain the basic needs and rights of having a family and a happy life because of something they have no control over. This is something very cruel and unjust.