Deaf Community
If you recently viewed a presentation about the culture of the Deaf Community, and would like more information, please look below for links and an FAQ.
Links
- Handspeak (video American Sign Language dictionary): https://www.handspeak.com/word/
- Gallaudet University: https://gallaudet.edu
- National Technical Institute for the Deaf: www.rit.edu/ntid/
- Indiana School for the Deaf: www.deafhoosiers.com
- Nine Things Not to Say to a Deaf Person (BBC webpage, but the sentiments are applicable on this side of the pond as well!): https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4LJyTqnqQFK3wTPS3qZ62fS/nine-things-not-to-say-to-a-deaf-person
FAQs
Sensory Disabilities, Communication Strategies, and Facts about Deafness and Hearing Loss:
Do all D/deaf and Hard-of-Hearing people use sign language?
No. In the United States, about 70% of D/deaf and H/hard-of-hearing people do not use sign language at all. Among those who do sign, most use American Sign Language (or ASL).
There are about half a million people in the United States and Canada who use ASL as their
native or primary/preferred language. ASL is the third most commonly used language in the
United States, after English and Spanish.
Okay, so if a lot of D/deaf and Hard-of-Hearing people don’t use sign language, how do they
communicate?
There are a variety of ways in which people with varying degrees of hearing loss may choose to
communicate. These include:
Speaking and reading lips
Cued Speech
Reading and writing (including texting/typing things out on their phone)
Do most D/deaf people have D/deaf parents?
No. While some causes of deafness are inherited and run in families (the most common being
the Connexin 26 gene, which is estimated to be present in 1 in 30 people), 90% of D/deaf people
have hearing parents—and, most D/deaf parents have hearing children.
What does that look like within families?
Many hearing parents grieve when they learn they have a D/deaf child, and unfortunately, many
are swayed by surgeons, audiologists, and those who promote “oralism” exclusively (i.e.,
teaching D/deaf people to speak and read lips to the exclusion of learning any form of sign
language) so their child can be “normal”—rather than speaking with D/deaf adults and learning
about their experiences, what worked well, what didn’t, and how it made them feel about
themselves overall as a D/deaf or hard-of-hearing person.
This is critical, because being a great lipreader or having great speech doesn’t mean much when
a person’s self-esteem and mental health are damaged by a lifetime of being defined by what
they can’t do (hear) rather than what they can do…when the rubric by which they are constantly
being evaluated is one that places who and what they are naturally as inferior to a preconceived
standard of “normalcy”. It’s like the saying: “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its
ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid”.
When we want to learn about issues surrounding race and gender, we should ask people with
lived experiences as marginalized racial and gender groups about their experiences. By the same
token, when we want to learn about issues surrounding deafness (or any other human
experience), we should go to D/deaf adults and ask them about their experiences. And, we
should be doing that before making potentially permanent or life-defining decisions for those
D/deaf children.
By contrast, in families where one or both parents are Deaf, the birth of a child with ANY hearing
status—Deaf, hard-of-hearing, or hearing—is cause for celebration. Deaf parents recognize that
a Deaf or hard-of-hearing child is carrying on a proud family lineage—that child may go to the
same Deaf school the parents attended, for example. And when a child is born hearing, parents
recognize that this child will have a unique opportunity to have one foot in the Deaf community,
and one foot in the hearing community. People who have “one foot in each world” often
become the best advocates, allies, interpreters and educators around.
Are D/deaf people who speak and read lips smarter than those who don’t?
Absolutely not! D/deaf people who speak and read lips do so because they’ve learned how to do
so—a decision that was very likely made for them when they were very young, by their parents.
Would we say that a person who knows how to change the oil on a car or bake a cake is
“smarter” than a person who doesn’t know how to do those things? No! And we certainly
wouldn’t say that a person who doesn’t know how to change the oil on their car or bake a cake
is “inferior” to a person who can do those things.
Saying that someone who speaks and reads lips is more intelligent than a person who uses sign
language is what we call an “ableist” statement. Ableism is when we say that what the majority
does (seeing, hearing, speaking, walking, etc.) or how the majority does things (communicating
by speaking and listening, navigating their world by seeing it, getting around by walking), is
superior to any other way.
The danger in that way of thinking is that when people think there’s a superior and inferior way
of doing everyday things, they sometimes end up thinking that the people who do things one
way or another are superior or inferior. And because they think that way, they are less likely to
make accommodations for differences—even when federal law says they have to.
So…what does the law say about deafness (and other differences in abilities)?
The first major piece of legislation that heralded a historic shift in disability public policy
occurred in 1973 with the passage of Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act. Section 504,
which banned discrimination on the basis of disability by recipients of federal funds. This law
was modelled after previous laws which banned racial, ethnic, and gender-based discrimination
by federal fund recipients. With the passage of Section 504, “disability” was, for the first time,
viewed not as a consequence of any condition itself, but rather, as the result of societal barriers
and prejudices.
What does that mean? Here’s an example: people think that a person in a wheelchair is disabled
because they’re in a wheelchair. But if you really think about it, a person isn’t disabled by the
fact that they use a wheelchair—in fact, the wheelchair is liberating for a person with a mobility
issue, because it gives them a way to get around! But if the place they’re trying to go has no
ramp, or doesn’t have wide enough aisles, or doesn’t have elevators or accessible restrooms,
then what that person is bringing to the situation that would normally liberate them—i.e., the
wheelchair—becomes useless because of structural problems, lack of accommodation, and
societal attitudes that it’s too expensive, too troublesome, or simply not worthwhile to put
accommodations into place.
Then in 1991, the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (or ADA) was signed into law in by
then-president George H. W. Bush. It’s been amended and refined several times since then to
close gaps that were not addressed in the original law, as well as to address technological
advances that have changed the landscape of possible accommodations that can be made for
individuals with disabilities.
Additionally, there have been rulings from federal agencies (like the 2016 Department of Justice
ruling that mandated closed-captioning in all indoor movie theaters that show digital movies,
regardless of the size of the theater) that have opened up greater accessibility in places that
were previously inaccessible to individuals with disabilities.
Is ASL the same as spoken English?
Not at all! American Sign Language is completely different than spoken English—in fact, the
grammar and syntax of American Sign Language is more closely related to that of the Navajo
language than it is to English.
There are some people who use the signs of ASL, but do it in English word order. This is called
Pidgin Signed English, or PSE (pidgin languages are languages that are typically learned as
second languages to facilitate communication—we see this kind of signing quite a bit among
people who speak English as their first language, but are learning ASL).
There is also something called Signing Exact English, or SEE. SEE isn’t actually a “real” language;
rather, it is a signed “code” for spoken English that was invented by hearing teachers of the
D/deaf in the hopes of making English, not ASL, their first language, and improving English
language literacy among D/deaf and hard-of-hearing people (many of whom struggle to achieve
native fluency in English because English is a second language for them that they’ve never
heard).
Is sign language international?
The short answer is “no”. Different Deaf communities use different signed languages, just like
different hearing communities use different spoken languages. Researchers estimate that there
are over 300 distinct signed languages in the world today.
The slightly longer answer is that there is one signed language, International Sign (also called
Gestuno), that is used by signers from all over the world. It’s particularly useful at gatherings of
organizations like the World Federation of the Deaf. However, not very many people actually are
fluent in International Sign, there’s disagreement in the broader Deaf community regarding
what is and isn’t International Sign, and it isn’t standardized.
What should I do if I meet a D/deaf person and we can’t understand each other? What’s the best way
to communicate?
There is no one answer to this question. Again, not all D/deaf people use sign language. Some
speak and read lips, others do not. Some are comfortable with writing in English, others aren’t.
Often, D/deaf people will let you know what works best for them. If they don’t offer that
information up, then pick a method, and use it to ask! If the method you’ve chosen isn’t the one they prefer,
they will let you know.
Sensory Disabilities, Communication Strategies, and Facts about Deafness and Hearing Loss:
Do all D/deaf and Hard-of-Hearing people use sign language?
No. In the United States, about 70% of D/deaf and H/hard-of-hearing people do not use sign language at all. Among those who do sign, most use American Sign Language (or ASL).
There are about half a million people in the United States and Canada who use ASL as their
native or primary/preferred language. ASL is the third most commonly used language in the
United States, after English and Spanish.
Okay, so if a lot of D/deaf and Hard-of-Hearing people don’t use sign language, how do they
communicate?
There are a variety of ways in which people with varying degrees of hearing loss may choose to
communicate. These include:
Speaking and reading lips
Cued Speech
Reading and writing (including texting/typing things out on their phone)
Do most D/deaf people have D/deaf parents?
No. While some causes of deafness are inherited and run in families (the most common being
the Connexin 26 gene, which is estimated to be present in 1 in 30 people), 90% of D/deaf people
have hearing parents—and, most D/deaf parents have hearing children.
What does that look like within families?
Many hearing parents grieve when they learn they have a D/deaf child, and unfortunately, many
are swayed by surgeons, audiologists, and those who promote “oralism” exclusively (i.e.,
teaching D/deaf people to speak and read lips to the exclusion of learning any form of sign
language) so their child can be “normal”—rather than speaking with D/deaf adults and learning
about their experiences, what worked well, what didn’t, and how it made them feel about
themselves overall as a D/deaf or hard-of-hearing person.
This is critical, because being a great lipreader or having great speech doesn’t mean much when
a person’s self-esteem and mental health are damaged by a lifetime of being defined by what
they can’t do (hear) rather than what they can do…when the rubric by which they are constantly
being evaluated is one that places who and what they are naturally as inferior to a preconceived
standard of “normalcy”. It’s like the saying: “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its
ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid”.
When we want to learn about issues surrounding race and gender, we should ask people with
lived experiences as marginalized racial and gender groups about their experiences. By the same
token, when we want to learn about issues surrounding deafness (or any other human
experience), we should go to D/deaf adults and ask them about their experiences. And, we
should be doing that before making potentially permanent or life-defining decisions for those
D/deaf children.
By contrast, in families where one or both parents are Deaf, the birth of a child with ANY hearing
status—Deaf, hard-of-hearing, or hearing—is cause for celebration. Deaf parents recognize that
a Deaf or hard-of-hearing child is carrying on a proud family lineage—that child may go to the
same Deaf school the parents attended, for example. And when a child is born hearing, parents
recognize that this child will have a unique opportunity to have one foot in the Deaf community,
and one foot in the hearing community. People who have “one foot in each world” often
become the best advocates, allies, interpreters and educators around.
Are D/deaf people who speak and read lips smarter than those who don’t?
Absolutely not! D/deaf people who speak and read lips do so because they’ve learned how to do
so—a decision that was very likely made for them when they were very young, by their parents.
Would we say that a person who knows how to change the oil on a car or bake a cake is
“smarter” than a person who doesn’t know how to do those things? No! And we certainly
wouldn’t say that a person who doesn’t know how to change the oil on their car or bake a cake
is “inferior” to a person who can do those things.
Saying that someone who speaks and reads lips is more intelligent than a person who uses sign
language is what we call an “ableist” statement. Ableism is when we say that what the majority
does (seeing, hearing, speaking, walking, etc.) or how the majority does things (communicating
by speaking and listening, navigating their world by seeing it, getting around by walking), is
superior to any other way.
The danger in that way of thinking is that when people think there’s a superior and inferior way
of doing everyday things, they sometimes end up thinking that the people who do things one
way or another are superior or inferior. And because they think that way, they are less likely to
make accommodations for differences—even when federal law says they have to.
So…what does the law say about deafness (and other differences in abilities)?
The first major piece of legislation that heralded a historic shift in disability public policy
occurred in 1973 with the passage of Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act. Section 504,
which banned discrimination on the basis of disability by recipients of federal funds. This law
was modelled after previous laws which banned racial, ethnic, and gender-based discrimination
by federal fund recipients. With the passage of Section 504, “disability” was, for the first time,
viewed not as a consequence of any condition itself, but rather, as the result of societal barriers
and prejudices.
What does that mean? Here’s an example: people think that a person in a wheelchair is disabled
because they’re in a wheelchair. But if you really think about it, a person isn’t disabled by the
fact that they use a wheelchair—in fact, the wheelchair is liberating for a person with a mobility
issue, because it gives them a way to get around! But if the place they’re trying to go has no
ramp, or doesn’t have wide enough aisles, or doesn’t have elevators or accessible restrooms,
then what that person is bringing to the situation that would normally liberate them—i.e., the
wheelchair—becomes useless because of structural problems, lack of accommodation, and
societal attitudes that it’s too expensive, too troublesome, or simply not worthwhile to put
accommodations into place.
Then in 1991, the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (or ADA) was signed into law in by
then-president George H. W. Bush. It’s been amended and refined several times since then to
close gaps that were not addressed in the original law, as well as to address technological
advances that have changed the landscape of possible accommodations that can be made for
individuals with disabilities.
Additionally, there have been rulings from federal agencies (like the 2016 Department of Justice
ruling that mandated closed-captioning in all indoor movie theaters that show digital movies,
regardless of the size of the theater) that have opened up greater accessibility in places that
were previously inaccessible to individuals with disabilities.
Is ASL the same as spoken English?
Not at all! American Sign Language is completely different than spoken English—in fact, the
grammar and syntax of American Sign Language is more closely related to that of the Navajo
language than it is to English.
There are some people who use the signs of ASL, but do it in English word order. This is called
Pidgin Signed English, or PSE (pidgin languages are languages that are typically learned as
second languages to facilitate communication—we see this kind of signing quite a bit among
people who speak English as their first language, but are learning ASL).
There is also something called Signing Exact English, or SEE. SEE isn’t actually a “real” language;
rather, it is a signed “code” for spoken English that was invented by hearing teachers of the
D/deaf in the hopes of making English, not ASL, their first language, and improving English
language literacy among D/deaf and hard-of-hearing people (many of whom struggle to achieve
native fluency in English because English is a second language for them that they’ve never
heard).
Is sign language international?
The short answer is “no”. Different Deaf communities use different signed languages, just like
different hearing communities use different spoken languages. Researchers estimate that there
are over 300 distinct signed languages in the world today.
The slightly longer answer is that there is one signed language, International Sign (also called
Gestuno), that is used by signers from all over the world. It’s particularly useful at gatherings of
organizations like the World Federation of the Deaf. However, not very many people actually are
fluent in International Sign, there’s disagreement in the broader Deaf community regarding
what is and isn’t International Sign, and it isn’t standardized.
What should I do if I meet a D/deaf person and we can’t understand each other? What’s the best way
to communicate?
There is no one answer to this question. Again, not all D/deaf people use sign language. Some
speak and read lips, others do not. Some are comfortable with writing in English, others aren’t.
Often, D/deaf people will let you know what works best for them. If they don’t offer that
information up, then pick a method, and use it to ask! If the method you’ve chosen isn’t the one they prefer,
they will let you know.
