Essay On American Sign Language

1745 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Deaf culture and its impact

In the U.S. the fourth most common language is American Sign Language. American Sign Language or ASL is a way of communication for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. As common as this language is, many people know nothing about it so i decided to open myself to this challenge. I decided to dedicate myself to this topic and learn as much information on this language. I wanted to open myself up to a whole new community just like i had in learning Spanish and French. I wanted to take the next few months and learn as much as possible about something that i honestly knew nothing about. So what is American Sign Language? How much can i learn in 3 months?

During my 3rd grade year my teacher had taught us some hand signals in order to answer …show more content…

Gallaudet died his youngest son, Edward Miner Gallaudet went to become a teacher at the American School for the deaf in Hartford. Edward’s dream was to open the first deaf college. In 1857 Edward went to the superintendent of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind, which was in Washington DC, and was able to convince him to help him open the first deaf university. In 1864, Edward’s dream came true and he was able to open the National Deaf-Mute College, the first college for the deaf. Years later in 1986 the college was renamed to Gallaudet University who is known as the first and only deaf university in the world. And it located in Washington D.C.(Start ASL, …show more content…

When children are born and as they grow most of what they learn to speak is from hearing their parents talk but what if they couldn 't hear? How would they learn? Its pretty simple actually. They wouldn 't learn. Those who were born hearing but got sick or eventually lost their hearing learned a few things and use them but, eventually they turn to ASL to be able to communicate with others and be able to further their education. When having to learn this language you have to keep many things in mind such as handshape, palm orientation, location, movement and facial expression, all of those things are crucial to being able to speak this language correctly. While this language has been around for many years there are still things that don 't have an ASL name and in those cases you would do something called finger spelling, where you spell out what you are trying to say in order to get your point across.(Learning Sign Language,2) As every language you are learning a whole different way of saying things and you are also opening yourself to those who can’t really open themselves to you. The deaf community do really try to not be a burden to us. They learn to read lips or even talk because they were forced to. A couple a years ago they were restricted from learning ASL and were punished if they tried to sign. (About sign

Show More
Related

  • Deaf Again by Mark Drolsbaugh

    1466 Words  | 3 Pages

    This issue is important because if you try to force the Deaf to hear, they might not grow because they will have no form of communication to use with other people. Even though the doctors might say to not use ASL, this will greatly hinder your child's well-being in the long run. 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.

    Read More

  • Audism Unveiled Essay

    686 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • For Hearing People Only: Chapters 71-131 Book Reaction

    1666 Words  | 4 Pages

    In my family, I have a close cousin who is Deaf, and I know that many of my family members have questions about Deaf culture but are too afraid to ask. I felt the same way, which was a main reason I decided to take the ASL class. The class not only opened my mind to the study of American Sign Language, but also how Deaf culture is used in our society. This book has helped me learn a lot, from ways to respect Deaf people and to understand them, which is why I have advised my family to give the book a look as well. I definitely agree with points this book makes, because nearly all of them relate to today’s society and the world that we live in right now. Although, occasionally, some points were a bit confusing and took me off-guard, I performed some critical thinking on it and made a list of those I didn’t quite understand or agree with.

    Read More

  • Deaf World Sparknotes

    1296 Words  | 3 Pages

    He was very instrumental in developing the French Sign Language (Langue des Signes Francaise, LSF). Epee's sign language class grew from 2 students in the late 1760's, to 6 students, and ten years later there were 30 students in the class. By his death in 1789 there were over 60 students. Thomas Gallaudet, a Protestant minister, was sent by philanthropists to learn the art of teaching Deaf people. The Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons opened in April of 1817.Laurent Clerc, a student of Epee, was the head teacher. 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. It was banned by a special congress and only oral teaching was allowed. Even today, ASL still struggles as the main language of the Deaf because of the decisions of those in the late 1800's and early

    Read More

  • Ben Jarashow Journey Into The Deaf World Analysis

    505 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Ben Jarashow’s Journey Into the Deaf World, he explained Deaf culture and how it feels to be deaf within the world of those who hear. People who are born deaf have a loss of what is commonly viewed as the most important sense, hearing. This leaves them with four senses instead of five; most important sense now being sight followed by touch. In return, this means that a language must be developed that is based heavily on sight. In the United States, it was not until 1960 that American Sign Language (ASL) was recognized as its own language.

    Read More

  • Never The Twain Shall Meet Book Report

    1836 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the ITP program and the lower level ASL classes the name Gallaudet is driven into our heads. We know of the University named after him and how he was the man to bring education to the Deaf in America. What was not before mentioned is that there were two Gallaudets. The first thing I learned from this book is the importance of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and his son Edward Miner Gallaudet. I fact I had believed for some time now that E.M. Gallaudet was this extraordinary man that everyone loved and the named a university after him. It is unfortunate that this was not made clearer in the past. Now all I see is a man who took the only path that he knew how to take.

    Read More

  • The History of the Gallaudet School for the Deaf

    685 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Gallaudet University was founded in 1864 when Amos Kendall donated two acres in Washington D.C. for deaf and blind students seeking aide. He became involved in the children's lives and convinced the government to let them be his wards. He received aide from the government and started the Columbia Institute for the Instruction for the Deaf and Dumb. Kendall appointed Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet's son, Edward Miner Gallaudet, as superintendent. In the twentieth century, the university shifted more towards the technical fields of study, but Percival Hall, the second president of the school, changed the curriculum again to a more liberal field. In 1954, an act of congress the Columbia Institute for the Instruction for the Deaf and Dumb was changed to the Gallaudet University. In 1970, Gallaudet was bein...

    Read More

  • The History of the Gallaudet School for the Deaf

    668 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Gallaudet School for the Deaf is a school where deaf and hard of hearing people can go to collage and get a degree. This school has been around for more than 100 years and has quite a history. Through the years, it has been recognized by Presidents and dignitaries.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Cochlear Implants

    968 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many hearing people do not take the time to listen to the Deaf community as they just assume that they are being “selfish” as they do not want to change. The Deaf community does not want the hearing community to change them. If we try to change the Deaf community, we are trying to change their language and culture. The Deaf community relies on American Sign Language just as many of us rely on English. We would not want anyone to try to convince us to change our language just so we can communicate with the general population. Being deaf is not a disability, but rather a culture that most of the hearing community is going to have to

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of 'The Deaf Body In Public Space'

    823 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kolb soon felt like she was a bother to people when she simply was using her way of communication. But, looking back decades later she realizes how her childhood friend had stared at her with a sort of wonder. Sign language had challenged her friend’s rules of social conduct and it made Kolb seem ignorant in a way or rebellious. But, pointing was a way for her to express what her grown-up scholarly self would call relationality. The definition of relationality is being in the world relation to

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Deaf Teachers

    1419 Words  | 3 Pages

    English is an interesting language. English is comprised of many different words from different languages all mashed up and mixed together. English is a very hard language to learn, especially if you can’t hear it. How easy would it be to confuse a “B” with a “P”, they sound similar and when trying to lip read how can you tell the difference? I feel that young Deaf /hard of hearing students being taught by a Deaf teacher or a child of a Deaf adult (C.O.D.A) teacher is very important because ASL is the first step to learning English and becoming bilingual. According to the article Why Schools for Deaf Children Should Hire Deaf Teachers: A Preschool Issue By Courtney Shantie and Robert Hoffmeister, the authors state “This paper will focus on

    Read More

  • American Sign Language: God's Noblest Gift

    2326 Words  | 5 Pages

    In general, sign language—as defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica as “any means of communication through bodily movements … used when spoken communication is impossible or not desirable”—has been used by dozens of cultures for ages, but American Sign Language (ASL) is fairly new. The Native Americans hold one of the earliest records of sign language with their ancient system of communication using signs to converse and break “language barriers” between tribes who spoke different dialects (American). Because many of their cultures were so intertwined with various “shared elements,” the Indians were able to devise “common symbols” to communicate with each other without the use of formal interpreters (American). Across the sea, Juan Pablo de Bonet of Spain was conducting his own research of sign language for the deaf and published the first documentation of a manual alphabet in 1620 (Butterworth). Before ...

    Read More

  • Benefits Of British Sign Language

    1194 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sign language is a natural human language, they have their own vocabularies and sentence structures. Sign language comes into practice wherever Deaf societies come into existence. Sign language is not identical worldwide; every country has its own language and accents; however, these are not the verbal or transcribed languages used by hearing individuals around them.

    Read More

  • American Sign Language And Pidgin Signed English

    795 Words  | 2 Pages

    It “is an important part of the social, cultural, and educational context of the hearing-impaired child’s development” (Stahlman, 349). If a person cannot communicate effectly then they may not thrive and develop while having a hearing or speech impairment. In both American Sign Language and Pidgin Signed English, a person who is hearing-impaired must learn to communicate with the world using only his hands and facial expressions. American Sign Language and Pidgin Signed English is a way for the unable to communicate. Both ASL and PSE can be taught in many different ways however, ASL is normally taught in school while PSE is normally self-taught but either way they are both a unique method of communication and can be used all over the world and can be translated and spoken just like any other language can

    Read More

  • The Deaf President Now Movement At Gallaudet University

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Deaf President Now movement occurred at Gallaudet University, a deaf university in the United States. The university was established by congress in 1864 to serve the deaf and the hard of hearing. The university can also be used for graduate students who are hearing and want to pursue an education in the language through immersion and a bilingual education. The university plays an important role in the Deaf culture. A main reason it plays such an important role is due to the fact that it was the first deaf university established in the United States. Which makes Gallaudet University the heart of deaf culture.

    Read More

More about Essay On American Sign Language

Open Document