By
Jessie Griffin
06 April 2012
Being a Deaf Person Is Still Being a Person
Being Deaf involves
living in a silent world that is different from the Hearing
world, but a Deaf person can still enjoy a very productive
and independent life. To a Hearing person the thought of
being Deaf and never hearing a sound in a world full of
sounds may be a scary thing. However, to a Deaf person the
opposite can be true. Growing up Deaf, a person may miss the
sounds that a Hearing person has around them all the time,
but many have a sense of quiet and peace that a Hearing
person will never have. Deaf people have their own culture,
language, and can function independently by attending school
and by working, just like anyone else. Both Deaf and Hearing
people need to learn to accept the differences in each other
while understanding that these differences do not make the
other strange. Instead, each can learn to communicate with
the other and care for each other.
Deaf Culture may seem strange to a Hearing person. Each
ethnic and religious group has its own culture. A culture is
when a group of people come together because they have the
same beliefs, thoughts, and behavior patterns.
Much of what has developed as Deaf Culture has developed
just as many cultural norms develop. It simply happens
because people in a specific group have likenesses that
bring them together in special ways. At schools for the
Deaf, because students are surrounded by other students who
are Deaf and culturally like them they naturally form a
special bond. “The cultural is neither here nor there, but
is born through history, made anew by the circumstances of
the present.” (Padden) An example of this is that Deaf
people tend to be extremely physical. They like to hug and
touch each other. When they come up to each other, they tend
to hug. To a Hearing person this can be considered an
invasion of their space. This is an example of a time that
each need to understand the others cultural norms and
attempt to show respect for each other. Other times a Deaf
person may need to rely on their sense of touch, maybe when
they feel to see if their car is running, if they have a
vibrating alarm clock, or if a person comes up to them and
needs to tap them on the shoulder to get their attention.
Overall, a Deaf person will be blunt in what he/she says
then a Hearing person. This may be viewed as “tactless” to a
Hearing person. Deaf people do not see being blunt as being
rude. They are simply seeking to understand and trying to
gain more information. In asking students at the NCSD about
their views of how they differ from Hearing people, they
stated that they observed that Hearing people were very
closed about expressing their feelings. They expressed that
they feel that Deaf people are more open with their feelings
and more open about being willing to hug friends and meet
new people. They also do not tend to see Deafness as a
condition that needs to be fixed. They simply see it as how
they are and they see themselves as able to make a life for
themselves. In Deaf Culture, the Deaf tend to be extremely
expressive when trying to communicate. Facial expressions
can show if a person is happy, sad, or questioning something
that is going on. Basically, a culture of any kind can be
defined as ”
a
set of learned behaviors of a group of people that share a
language, values, rules for behavior, and traditions.”
(Padden)
Language is how people learn to communicate with each other.
Every culture has its own language. Many times even twins
will develop their own language. Babies are born with no
language at all, but they learn their language by being
around their parents and having people teach them the names
of objects around them. For Deaf people many use ASL as
their main form of communication “American
Sign Language (ASL) is a complete, complex language that
employs signs made by moving the hands combined with facial
expressions and postures of the body.” (NIH Publication)
It is believed that one of the biggest influences on the
development of sign language in America was
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. He was a minister. His neighbor’s
daughter was Deaf and he was interested in helping her find
a way to communicate.
He
went to Europe because they
had many schools to help the Deaf communicate. While he was
there he met
Laurent Clerc who not only taught him about Deaf education
methods, but who also returned to
America
to help start schools in America for Deaf students.
It is very important for children to learn
language at an early age. Learning ASL helps Deaf children
because they learn to visualize and put meaning to objects.
Many people see ASL as a type of pantomiming words. However,
it does help Deaf people communicate. ASL does not use
grammar like spoken English. An example of this would be
that in spoken English a person may say, “I am going to the
store tomorrow” however ASL would sign “tomorrow, I go
store.” This is not because Deaf people are dumb or
illiterate. It is because they are speaking their own
language. American Sign Language is a language of its very
own. It has its own way of getting meaning across to others.
In ASL the thing that is considered the most important is
stated first and other information follows. When using
American Sign Language, it is important that the person
signing use facial expressions to also show what is being
said. For example, if a person is asking a question they
would not be smiling, instead they would have a puzzled look
on their face along with signing the question. By doing this
the Deaf person gets the message two ways and finds it
easier to communicate. This can be hard for Hearing people
to understand while Deaf people may not completely
understand grammar in spoken English, both Users of American
Sign Language and oral communication can learn to
communicate with each other.
Because American Sign Language is a language
of its own and has its own grammar and ways of expressing
meaning and thought, in 2007 North Carolina approved ASL to
be taken as a foreign language. At least 28 states accept
ASL in high school to meet the foreign language requirement.
Many colleges are even offering follow-up work for students
who took ASL in high school. The Deaf world sees this as a
victory; because it will help people from the Hearing world
not only be able to communicate with them, it should also
help them better understand the world of the Deaf. It is not
that hard if both sides simply accept that they have
differences and those differences are what make us special
and unique.
Many Deaf people can read lips. They learn to
do this because as some people sign they also say the word.
Because of this they can learn to read the lips of others
they come in contact with. If a Hearing person will attempt
to talk to a Deaf person they are often able to communicate.
Deaf people listen with their eyes so when a person tries to
talk to them they need to look them in the eyes and let them
see their facial expressions and their lips. Often, the Deaf
person can get their point across by pointing to things or
making motions. Also, both can try writing notes to each
other.
Deaf people are able to attend schools. In 1817 the oldest
permanent school for the Deaf in the
United States was founded
by Thomas Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc. After that many
schools for Deaf students began opening. These schools gave
students a chance to be educated while being with other Deaf
people and developing a sense of community. This helped
develop more of an identity. They had a place where they
belonged. Also at these schools they learned about Deaf
history and culture. There have been three schools for the
Deaf in
North Carolina.
There is one School for the Deaf (NCSD) in Morganton. The
reason NCSD does not have the “W” (Western) in front of the
NCSD if because it was the first School for the Deaf in North Carolina. The
school in Raleigh was for the blind as well.
It
recently closed. Much of the reason that it closed is due to
recent technologies which make it possible for Deaf children
to live at home and be mainstreamed into their community
school. Another, change for the schools for the Deaf is that
in the past more of the children started their school
experience at the school for the Deaf and continued there
through high school. Today, most students stay at home
longer and start school in their local schools. Most do not
attend the schools for the Deaf until middle and high
school. These schools have been a huge benefit to the
students needing their services.
“They were no longer just individuals with an individual’s
plights or triumphs; they were a people with their own
culture, like the Jews or the Welsh.” (Sacks). Later the
need was noticed for higher education for Deaf students, so Gallaudet University was created. It is still in
operation today.
However, since the Americans with
Disabilities Act and Public Law 94-142 the Education for All
handicapped Children Act in 1975, public schools were
required to start providing education for Deaf and other
handicapped children. Now, Deaf children have more options
in their education. They can still choose to go to schools
for the Deaf or they can go to public schools. If they are
in public schools and need an interpreter to understand, one
must be provided for them. Also in upper grades and in
college, the schools may provide note takers to help the
students, because a student cannot be expected to read lips
and take notes in a class at the same time. They can go to Gallaudet University or public universities. If they
go to a public university the school will either offer an
interpreter or a note taker for them so Deaf children have
the same options in education that that Hearing students
have. Deaf and hard of hearing students have plans for the
future and goals just like other students. Some at the
School for the Deaf are already planning to be ASL Teachers,
farmers carrying on their own family traditions, game
designers, and photographers. One hopes to attend Gallaudet University and study the violin. Others,
much like their Hearing peers, do not know what they will
become but look to the future with great excitement. Some
already have part-time jobs that will help them find their
strengths and weaknesses.
Just because someone is Deaf does not mean
that a Hearing person cannot be friends with them. A Deaf
person lives a lifestyle much the same as anyone else. Deaf
people communicate with their friends, go out to eat, and go
shopping. Deaf people communicate with each other through
ASL. The Hearing can communicate with Deaf through an
interpreter, lip reading, or learning ASL. Also, many carry
a pad of paper and a pencil so a person can ask questions
and communicate with them. Each person should accept others
for their differences and learn from those differences. This
can help both people grow and become a better person.
Instead, of seeing someone who is “different” from them and
deciding that they do not like them before they even try to
get to know them.
Most Deaf people can participate in any activity a Hearing
person can. They can ride bikes, participate in sports,
drive cars, and with the help of closed captioning watch and
enjoy
television. Deaf are able to use same office and home
technologies that Hearing people do. These Examples of these
would be computers, instant-messaging, E-mail, fax, and text
pagers these are Even though these were not made just for
Deaf people. They have been a huge benefit to the Deaf in
helping them communicate with those around them.
Deaf people can be employed doing almost any job that
Hearing people can do.
They get college educations. They also tend to be very
visual and observant. Some employers say Deaf people make
great employees because they are not as easily distracted.
Deaf people have been successful at being writers,
educators, actors, musicians and many others professions.
Marlee Matlin is a well-known Deaf actress in Hollywood who has steadily
increased her name recognition in both the Deaf and Hearing
worlds.
A very famous person with a hearing loss in
history is the inventor Thomas Alva Edison.
Edison had had hearing problems from his
childhood. He was technically Deaf by the time he was a
teenager. In spite of his hearing loss he went on to develop
the light bulb, phonograph, telegraph, and a camera for
motion pictures. More recently, Heather Whitestone was
crowned the first Miss America who was Deaf. She went on to
become a voice for people with disabilities. Vinton Cerf is
known as the father of the internet. It is interesting to
know that because of his frustration of not being able to
communicate with other researchers he developed internet
communications protocols.
There are "hearing dogs" that are trained to alert their
owners to everyday household sounds by touching with a paw
and leading the person to the source of the sound. These
dogs are much like a seeing-eye dog and become a companion
dog to the person they help. There are alarm clocks that
shake the bed and lamps that turn off and on when the
doorbell rings. Deaf people are even considered to be safer
drivers because they are so visually attentive. The other
senses seem to
compensate for the sense that they have lost. 280 million
people world-wide have moderate to profound hearing loss in
both ears. 34 million Americans have significant hearing
loss.
With all of the people in the world who have
some type of hearing loss and Deafness it would be in
everyone’s best interest to learn to accept the differences
and not try to avoid people who are different from them.
Also, to understand that we all do many of the same things
even if we do them in different ways. All people are people
even if they are different. “There is a final lesson from
the history of Deaf people: Without the diversity of
culture, language and different ways of understanding the
world we would never have learned what we know about the
different ways that humans live (Padden). Differences
have made us who we are as a culture. It does not make sense
to decide we do not like people just because we need to
communicate differently with them. We need to remember that
everyone has something special we can learn from them. By
getting to know people with differences and different
interest each person is giving themselves a chance to grow.
WORKS CITED
Moore, S. Matthew, and Levitan, Linda. For
Hearing people Only .
Rochester, New York: Deaf
Life Press. 2003.
Paddon, Carol and Humphries, Tom. Inside Deaf
Culture .
Massachusetts:
Harvard
University Press, 2005.
Sacks, Oliver. Seeing Voices New York: Random House Inc., 2000.
“Sound and Fury.” PBS. 2011.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/soundandfury/culture/voices.html.
