Sociology
Research Paper
Deaf Culture in America
Who are deaf? A person shall be
deemed to be deaf if he/she has lost 60 decibels or more in the
better ear in the conversational range of frequencies. Why a
person becomes deaf? There are many different ways that a person
can become deaf. A child may have had a bad case of rubella, or
the mother had rubella while she was pregnant. Another way is if
a child gets a bad case of the mumps. He or she could lose their
hearing. It is the same with measles, and meningitis. The other
ways are either inherited or unknown. However, the majority of
deaf children are born to hearing parents.
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Educating a child is necessary according to his abilities; if a
child is deaf one cant take the opportunity of education away
from him. Public Act 94-142 mandates that each child be taught
in the ‘least restrictive environment’ possible, and this has
been widely interpreted to mean public schools. The first major
oral school in the U.S., Clarke School for the Deaf in
Northampton, Massachusetts, opened in 1867. ‘Columbia Institute
for the Deaf’ at Washington, D.C. in 1864. Now called Gallaudet
University, it is still the only liberal arts college for the
deaf in the world, although there are now several other
institutions offering college and post-graduate courses to the
deaf. (dww.deafworldweb.org) The deaf have both a community and
a culture. Carol Padden has defined Culture as a set of learned
behaviors of a group of people who have their own language,
values, rules of behavior, and traditions. (Baker, C., Cokely,
D.) There are many different languages in the world today and
they all have uniqueness; a wonderful culture that every one
should learn about.
One of the languages is American Sign Language, also known as
ASL. ASL was developed by American Deaf people to communicate
with each other and has existed, as long as there have been Deaf
Americans. Standardization was begun in 1817 when Laurent Clerc
and Thomas H. Gallaudet established the first school for the
Deaf in the U.S. Students afterwards spread the use of ASL to
other parts of the U.S. and Canada.
For many deaf people who are born with a ‘profound’ hearing
loss, such a feat would be impossibility. Locked into ‘signing’
communicating with a vocabulary of hand motions and finger
spelled words they are truly living in a silent world. Their
language is American Sign Language (ASL). Like any spoken
language, American Sign Language (ASL) is a living language with
its own rules of grammar and semantics. Like all verbal
languages, ASL grows and changes over time to accommodate the
needs of its native users. It is not very easy to learn sign
language. It takes time. To pick up enough signs for basic
communication and to sign them comfortably, without excessive
stiffness, can take one or two years. Some people pick up signs
slower than others everyone learns sign language at their own
speed. One should just need to remember that sign language is a
visual language. This means that the brain processes linguistic
information through the eyes instead of ears. It also means that
facial expressions and body movements play an important part in
conveying information. It is possible to sign without using
facial or body expressions, but doing so may give a mixed
message and may confuse the listeners and it will also look odd
or unnatural. Studies have shown that skills in understanding,
speaking, and writing complex language have a direct
relationship with reading success. While one may want to
simplify his language and vocabulary when you speak to a deaf
child, using complex sentences and new words will stretch
child's understanding and develop his or her language more
fully.
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There are approximately 250,000 - 500,000 ASL users in USA and
Canada (Baker and Cokely). Most of them use ASL as their primary
language. At least thirty-five (35) States have recognized ASL
as a modern language for public schools. Hundreds of
colleges/universities (at least 750) in the United States are
offering ASL classes. Mastery of ASL and skillful storytelling
are highly valued in Deaf Culture. Through ASL Literature, one
generation passes on to the next its wisdom, values, and its
pride and thus reinforces the bonds that unite the younger
generation.
Sign language by itself is not universal language that is why
one cant says that ASL is universal. Each country has their own
sign language; just as hearing people in different countries
speak different languages, so do Deaf people around the world
sign different languages. Deaf people in Mexico use a different
sign language from that used in the U.S. because of historical
circumstances. Contemporary ASL is more like French Sign
Language than like British Sign Language. Thomas Gallaudet
invented French Sign Language (FSL) in conjunction with Laurent
Clerc, a deaf teacher from France. American Sign Language was
greatly influenced by FSL, and some of its signs show their
French origins. Of course, other countries have their own sign
languages, Italian sign language, Danish Sign Language, French
Sign Language and many others, although ASL is widely known
among the world's deaf.
Today with the advancement of technology-improved hearing aids,
cochlear implants, text phones and subtitles all provide means
of access fro deafened people. But deaf people deny themselves
the opportunity to hear sound. They do accept hearing aids and
not implants. Why they do it? The Deaf community's stand against
cochlear implantation as based only on the fact that deaf
children have hearing parents who are not aware of deaf culture
and therefore unable to determine their best interests. In fact,
there are numerous Deaf community arguments regarding cochlear
implantation. Many are not based on that issue but on specific
scientific, educational, medical ethics, and other issues.
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Hearing impairment is the most common type of birth defect,
affecting about 12,000 newborns each year. About a third of
those have profound deafness that would make them likely
candidates for cochlear implants, according to the National
Campaign for Hearing Health. Experts’ estimate more than 200,000
deaf adults and children in the USA could benefit from the
implants. Though demand for the devices has been growing 25%
annually, only about 2,000 people a year receive the implants in
the USA. Success levels vary widely among the 36,000 or so
implant recipients worldwide, about half of who are children.
Studies have shown that nearly all recipients improve in
lip-reading ability, and about two-thirds gain the ability to
understand speech without such cues. But some profoundly deaf
people have no improvement, and experts don't know why.
References
Suit may be filed over arrest. Deaf man says officer wouldn't
let him write answers, by The Associated Press, 2002.
Gregory J. Rummo. (1994). American Sign Language Deserves
Elevated Status.
Padden C., And Humphries, T. (editors) (1988) Deaf in America:
Voices from a Culture. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Baker, C. and Cokely, D., "American Sign Language: a teacher's
resource text on grammar and culture," T.J. Publishers, Silver
Spring, Md., 1980.
Deaf Education in America, Contributed by American School for
the Deaf, 1995, http://dww.deafworldweb.org/pub/e/edu.usa.html
Misrepresentation of Deaf Community's anti-CI views, Last
updated: 1996 Jan 20 by Omer Zak,
http://www.zak.co.il/deaf-info/old/pollard-letter.html
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