Disparity Of The Deaf In The Hearing Community Brittney Connell October 16, 2017 Introduction The disparity between the Deaf and hearing is based around ableism, or a newer notion, Audism. Audism is the notion that those that can hear are superior. (Oberholtzer, 2009) Like most that are viewed as inferior, the Deaf are often looked at as lesser compared to those of the hearing community and labeled as disabled, even if they themselves do not view their deafness as a disability. Many of Deaf community members are able to hear and speak well enough to communicate with hearing people but still chose to identify with the Deaf community rather than in the hearing world. (Harlan, 1996) One’s involvement does not center around their hearing …show more content…
(Moskowitz, 2010) The Christian church was the driving authority in the treatment of the Deaf. Their belief was that deafness was decided by God, likely as a punishment- perhaps because of a parent’s sin, this led to the hiding of deaf children. (Kyle, 2000) Even though it was thought that because deafness was a punishment that it could not be cured unless through a miracle. Still, priests would attempt to treat the ears of the deaf for over a thousand years. This included going to harsh and torturous lengths in the effort to gain the ability to hear and speak. It was the church’s views that prohibited deaf people from owning land, receiving an education, and from marrying. (Kyle, 2000) Before there were deaf schools, it seems that deaf people lived in isolated communities where there was little contact between signers. Residential schools provided safe signing zones where children were able to learn more about their language and culture. For many, a residential school was their first introduction to sign language used widespread or even the beginning of their language development as only 5 to 10% of deaf children are born into deaf signing families (Schembri and Lucas, …show more content…
(Hartford, 2017) After the Deaf began to flourish by expanding their community in creating clubs, schools, and deaf safe zones where they could gather, in the 1860s Alexander Graham Bell started to spread the belief that those who can speak and hear are inherently superior. He wanted to wipe the U.S. clean of what he thought to be hereditary deafness, going as far as to strongly advocate against deaf intermarriage and removing Deaf faculty from schools. (Padden and Malzkuhn, 2007) Later in 1880, delegates met at the request of Bell to discuss deaf education. As a result, a resolution passed that encouraged spoken language, thus banning sign language in schools. This only ended in 1980 during the International Congress on Education of the Deaf when it was declared that deaf children had the right to use the mode of communication that met their needs and successfully overturned Congress’ 1880 ban. (Padden and Malzkuhn, 2007) Fortunately, it is now often allowed for deaf students to have access to an interpreter in a public hearing school. In younger grades especially though, it is hard to determine how much of the educational content can be understood and if an interpreter that lacks skill affects academic achievement.(Anita, 2013) The Deaf in the U.S. now receive better treatment than before but that does not mean they
At this time in history, those who were deaf were tried at best to be converted into hearing people. Doctors, speech therapists, and audiologists all recommended the use of speaking and lip reading instead of sign language. Since Mark’s grandparents were hearing, they were closer to the parental position instead of his deaf parents. His grandparents provided him with the best possible education he could get, startin...
I learned a lot about Deaf people, ASL, and/or Deaf Culture after reading this book. Deaf people are normal just like anybody else and they should not be treated any differently. Some people treat Deafness as a disease that needs to be cured, but it's not. If a parent comes to learn that their child is deaf they react very crazily and act like their child is dying and that deafness is some fatal disease. Deaf people should be treated just like anyone else and no differently. They are not disabled and can do great things in this world.
The movie “Audism Unveiled” was a very interesting and powerful movie. I never realized that deaf individuals are discriminated against. This could be partly because I have never been immersed in or educated about the deaf culture until this year. One of the things that struck me the most while watching “Audism Unveiled” was the many heart wrenching stories about children being unable to communicate with their own non-signing hearing families.. The deaf child would have to ask their family members, why everyone was laughing or what’s going on. The family members would just tell them “I’ll tell you later” or “Nevermind. It’s not important”, resulting in the individual feeling isolated. Personally, I agree with people saying that if a parent has a deaf child they should learn how to sign; communication is what brings families together. As a result, the most intriguing thing to me was the stories of family members never learning American Sign Language; leaving their family member isolated.
In the following chapters, there is an extensive amount of knowledge to learn about how Deaf culture is involved in our modern world. The pages assigned give us an outlook of how Deaf people are treated in our daily life, and how we should learn from it. Its gives a clear line between what are myths and what are facts, to those who are curious about the Deaf community or have specific questions. This book has definitely taught me new things that I could put to good use in the near future. In specific chapters, my mind really opened up to new ideas and made me think hard about questions, like “why don’t some Deaf people trust hearing people,” or “do we need another ‘Deaf president now’ revolution?” I realized many new things in the course of reading this book, and have recommended this to my family.
Toward the middle of the 19th century, deaf children were beginning to be more accepted. Most deaf children completed and elementary education and some even went on to "higher" education. An oral school for the Deaf was organized in Massachusetts in the late 1860's. by Samuel Gridley Howe, an American educator. In 1867 there were 26 American institutions for the education of Deaf children and all of them taught ASL, by 1907 there were 139 institutions and NONE of them taught ASL.
While the benefits for the hearing are great, there are better benefits for those who are Deaf. Jarashow stated that it was essentially frowned upon if a Deaf child was using sign instead of trying to use what ability they had to hear. This seems counterproductive and if they emphasized more on teaching Deaf children ASL, there would be better outcomes for them in the future. Instead of focusing on trying to make everyone the same, they should focus on giving these children the best opportunity possible despite their
In the book Seeing Voices, the author describes the world of the deaf, which he explores with extreme passion. The book begins with the history of deaf people in the United States of America, the horrible ways in which they had been seen and treated, and their continuing struggle to gain hospitality in the hearing world. Seeing Voices also examines the visual language of the deaf, sign language, which is as expressive and as rich as any spoken language. This book covers a variety of topics in deaf studies, which includes sign language, the neurology of deafness, the treatment of Deaf American citizens in history, and the linguistic and social challenges that the deaf community face. In this book, Oliver Sacks does not view the deaf as people having a condition that can be treated, instead he sees the deaf more like a racial group. This book is divided into three parts. In the first part, Oliver Sacks states a strong case for sign language, saying it is in fact a complete language and that it is as comprehensive as English, French, Chinese, and any other spoken language. He also describes the unhappy story of oralism (this is the education of deaf students through oral language by using lip reading, speech, and mimicking the mouth shapes and breathing patterns of speech)) in deaf children’s education. In addition, the first part is about the history of deaf people as well as information about deafness. It also includes the author’s own introduction to the world of the deaf.
One excerpt mentioned that the idea that Deaf people are left with the burden of fitting into a hearing world was a product of “laziness” on the part of the Hearing. Instead of making adjustments to accommodate the Deaf, Deaf people are doing all of the work to accommodate the Hearing. Notwithstanding the major alterations that include learning to speak and wearing hearing aids, hearing people merely have to learn sign language. I’ve witnessed this in my own home. When my brother stopped speaking, it wasn’t ever a concern for the rest of the family to adjust to him, we continued on as if nothing changed. It’s true, Deaf children practically have no say in how they would rather communicate, it is left up to the parent and in most cases, Hearing parents. I’m just glad that I have an opportunity do the work to learn ASL and make strides in breaking down barriers that have hindered communication between the Hearing and the
Prejudice is everywhere, including against the *Deaf culture. Deaf people, as a linguistic minority – they use sign language to communicate – have a common experience of life, including beliefs, attitudes, history, norms, values and even literary tradition. This culture it is not universal, that is, every country have its own sign language and different norms, as any other. In a Deaf community, they identify themselves as members of a cultural and linguistic group, being an individual choice to be part of it – independent of the individual’s hearing status. Unfortunately, some hearing people really believe they are superior to Deaf people. Sometimes, even Deaf people believe that they are inferior to them.
In his doctoral dissertation, Tom Humphries (1977) defined the term Audism as being, "The notion that one is superior based on one's ability to hear or to behave in the manner of one who hears," (Humphries, as cited by Harrington 2002 ). Humphries explains the negative stigma that has been created based on pathological thinking people have heard from doctors and professionals about anyone who is Deaf, deaf, or hard of hearing. Is it right to limit, judge, or label people on the basis of whether or not a person can hear or on whether or not they choose to speak? For my research project I decided to ask individuals this very question. After posting a number of questions on the Facebook, a social media site, that many people do not know the term audism, confuse it with autism, are afraid to voice their views and do not think it is right to discriminate against people who are Deaf or hard of hearing.
Deaf and hearing impaired individuals are know longer an out cast group. They now have there own deaf community. Deaf individuals do not consider themselves having an impairment, handicap, or any type of disability. They believe that through the use of sign language, other communication skills, and technology that there deafness is the way they are supposed to be. Many people who have perfect hearing can not understand deaf people and why they embrace there deafness instead of trying to receive hearing and get rid of there handicap. However not all deaf people have th...
With the deaf community having a signed language that is natural and practical to them, they were able to learn and communicate with others. So it boggles my mind to have someone like Alexander Graham Bell, who had a deaf mother and wife, and a Scottish immigrant would want to stifle and change the deaf community to fit in with everyone and not have the tools to make them who they are. I see it as Bell saying that you cannot get anywhere in life by being different yet Bell was different himself. Having them
The deaf community does not see their hearing impairment as a disability but as a culture which includes a history of discrimination, racial prejudice, and segregation. According to an online transcript,“Through Deaf Eyes” (Weta and Florentine films/Hott productions Inc., 2007) there are thirty-five million Americans that are hard of hearing. Out of the thirty-five million an estimated 300,000 people are completely deaf. There are ninety percent of deaf people who have hearing parents (Halpern, C., 1996). Also, most deaf parents have hearing children. With this being the exemplification, deaf people communicate on a more intimate and significant level with hearing people all their lives. “Deaf people can be found in every ethnic group, every region, and every economic class” (Weta and Florentine films/Hott productions Inc., 2007). The deaf culture and hard of hearing have plenty of arguments and divisions with living in a hearing world without sound however, that absence will be a starting point of an identity within their culture as well as the hearing culture (Weta and Florentine films/Hott productions Inc., 2007).
From a deafness-as-defect mindset, many well-meaning hearing doctors, audiologists, and teachers work passionately to make deaf children speak; to make these children "un-deaf." They try hearing aids, lip-reading, speech coaches, and surgical implants. In the meantime, many deaf children grow out of the crucial language acquisition phase. They become disabled by people who are anxious to make them "normal." Their lack of language, not of hearing, becomes their most severe handicap. While I support any method that works to give a child a richer life, I think a system which focuses on abilities rather than deficiencies is far more valuable. Deaf people have taught me that a lack of hearing need not be disabling. In fact, it shouldn?t be considered a lack at all. As a h...
Scheetz, N. A. (1993). The Educational Environment. Orientation to Deafness (Second Edition). Boston: Allyn and Bacon