How To Write An Essay About Deaf Culture

Deaf Humor
Hearing people may make the assumption that Deaf people have the same jokes as they do, just expressed in a different manner. I have learned through research that that is not entirely true. Deaf culture has its own sense of humor and style of telling jokes that is completely different than that of a Hearing person. I was naïve to believe that a joke I made speaking English would translate to a Deaf individual if only finger spelled. After reading “For Hearing People Only” I was fascinated to realize that a pun or homonym obviously would not be funny to a person who doesn’t have the same understanding of English sounds that I do.
Deaf culture’s jokes cannot rely on sounds or wordplay, but more rely on body language and facial expressions. Storytelling, which is an art in any language, is truly visual art in ASL. The way the “speaker” moves

his/her face can express any emotions. The way the speaker moves his/her body paints a picture. A joke in ASL is more of an experience than that of simple wordplay.
Before researching this topic, I, like most unknowing Hearing people, assumed that I could tell a joke in ASL if I simply knew the signs and finger spelling. But after learning some Deaf culture jokes and acting them out myself, I realize my English jokes simply wouldn’t make sense to those born Deaf just as a Deaf joke makes no sense to Hearing person who does not sign. Of course there are some exceptions in both English and ASL that can be translated, but both are mostly funny in their own peculiar ways. When I learned the Deaf pun for “pasteurized milk” I literally laughed out loud and have been demonstrating this joke to anyone and everyone who will sit and watch. I think ASL is a beautiful language and the jokes are a visual performance.
Why Study ASL?

For me personally, I jumped at the opportunity to learn ASL in a college course. I went to elementary school in Ohio that integrated its Deaf children with the Hearing children, therefore two of my best friends growing up were Deaf. So from the time I was 5, I knew the bare minimum in ASL to communicate with my friends and we even performed a song (“What a Wonderful World”) in ASL for a talent show. Unfortunately, I moved away to Florida when I was 11 and my new school didn’t offer ASL as a language credit so I took French for 4 years.
I have always been fascinated by the emotional art of sign language. I never miss an opportunity to watch interpreters and I even considered becoming an interpreter myself, but alas, life had different plans for me. But apparently I am not the only one who enjoys this language so much. ASL in growing in popularity with more and more eager students wanting to learn to sign. Classes are filling up and now most schools and colleges are accepting ASL as a language credit There’s even entire DVD’s devoted to teaching Hearing toddlers and their parents sign

language.
So why the growing interest in this language? Well for starters, having a physical way to express yourself as a toddler who can’t grasp English yet, is very beneficial to both child and parent and starts an earlier than expected line of communication. And research has shown 55% of meaning extracted from what we express is body language. I think today more than ever with technology restricting our physical communication with one another, things are misunderstood and taken out of context. A physical form of communication is much harder to misinterpret which is very refreshing. ASL may be blunt, but the point is clear which is a wonderful thing.