Deafness and Language

Identify at least three facotrs which make hearing loss more likely.

Loud noises. chronic ear infections, substance abuse

Historically, pre-lingual deafness often had major negative social consequences. What were these and why did they occur?

Social stigma that deaf people are stupid. Aristotle agreed which further reinforced this stereotype.

Are fully-developed sign languages actual languages?

Yes, they have their own grammer, syntax and lexicon.

What were the contributions of Father Charles-Michel de l’Epee to deaf education?

• Set up the national institute for young deaf people in france, believed in education for deaf children

• Developed first modern sign language

What was the differences between the ‘oralist’ and ‘manualist’ approaches to deaf education?

oralist= emphasizes lip reading in order to integrate people in the wider community, encouraging them to pspeak words

manualist= emphasises learning sign language

Why were the developments at the Managua school for the deaf in Nicaragua so important in understandint the origins of sign language?

• taught oralist system, children used sign language during breaks

• found out that when you have deaf children together, they will have their own sign language to communicate and socialise

Why is the development of death communities so important for many of the pre lingually deaf?

• Recognition

• Integration into society

Who was Helen Keller and what did she suffer from? How did she learn to communicate with the wider world?

• American author, educator and activist who suffered from deafness and blindness

• Learned manual alphabet, communicate by finger spelling

Under what circumstances is a sign language for the deaf most likely to develop?

Environment for where deaf people are brought together.