WSU AUD 5420 week 5 manual communication & deaf culture

4 main types of manual communication

American Sign Language (ASL), Signed English, fingerspelling, cued speech

American Sign Language (ASL)

unique natural language of hand configuration, facial expressions, head tilts, body movements, eye gazes, has regional dialects, roots in French sign language (first US deaf teacher learned in France); unwritten literature based off visual patterns, oratory, performance art, poetry, jokes, puns

Cheremes

basic parameters of ASL - hand configuration, movement, location, orientation

William Stoke

linguist who researched ASL & published work demonstrating its natural language properties

Pidgin signed English

combines ASL & English, manually coded English systems, codes rather than true languages, system derived in 1970s, often used in educational settings to minimize differences between the languages and facilitate learning to read English

Signed English

Linguistics of Visual English (LOVE); Signing Exact English (SEE2); Seeing Essential English (SEE1)

fingerspelling

manual spelling of words, least efficient form of manual communication

Rochester method

part of fingerspelling, expression is also spelled manually

cued speech

talker uses hand cues while speaking to identify homophonous phonemes (same pronunciation but different meanings); helps with speech reading, 4 hand positions, 8 hand shapes, hands placed near mouth

deaf lower case d

hearing loss is a medical issue, usually sees hearing loss as an impairment to be treated, usually prefers the term ‘hearing impaired’, usually wants to associate w the hearing world, prefers to speak or lipread

Deaf upper case D

hearing loss is part of their culture, usually does not see hearing loss as an impairment, usually prefers the term ‘Deaf’, usually associates w the Deaf world, prefers ASL

cultural Deafness

identification with Deaf people, participation in activities with Deaf people, manual communication & shared language (ASL), shared values, similar experiences, Deaf people marry other Deaf people 90% of the time

Martha’s Vineyard 1690-1880

most residents, both hearing & Deaf, were bilingual; settled by 200 immigrants from Kent County, England; carried dominant & recessive genes for deafness; by the mid-1700s a sign language (not ASL) for deaf AND hearing had developed on the island; nearly all inhabitants used sign language; town meetings were in sign language; Deaf islanders were married, had families, worked, voted, held public office

1 in 155 children

were born deaf on Martha’s Vineyard 1690-1880 while the average in general population is 1-2 in 1,000 births

1817

when the American School for the Deaf was established; Martha’s Vineyard’s deaf children went to Hartford to be educated, their island signing influenced FSL in its conversion to ASL

bilingual-bicultural

because most Deaf people live among hearing people, they are typically bilingual (communicate with ASL & written/spoken English and fingerspelling); unlike most cultural and language traditions, ASL often handed down within Deaf community rather than within families

Deaf organizations

National Association of the Deaf (1880); National Fraternal Society of the Deaf (formed by Michigan School for the Deaf alumni to provide life insurance to Deaf people/social functions); American Athletic Association of the Deaf (Deaflympics)

Abbe Charles Michael De L’Epee

aka Father of the Deaf; French Catholic priest who pioneered use of sign language in instruction of deaf students; also used fingerspelling & speech reading; established the Institute National des Juene Sourds-Muet; published FSL dictionary in 1788

genesis of ASL

many children came to American School for Deaf from Martha’s Vineyard which had its own sign system; Pidgin language, other students’ signs, and FSL taught in school evolved into modern ASL

manualism philosophy

valued effective communication, language development, and intellectual growth (not oral/spoken language)

Gallaudet & Clerc

founded more Deaf schools and these schools used a bilingual approach to education - sign language, fingerspelling, written English

residential schools/deaf history

most Americans at this time lived in isolated/rural communities & most deaf students did not have ready access to these schools; most deaf children grew up isolated from their families in residential schools

history of deaf education

most deaf children were not allowed to begin formal school until 8-10 years of age; in addition to academics they were taught vocational training

Columbia Institution for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind

now called Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center; headed by Edward Miner Gallaudet (son of Thomas Gallaudet)

Gallaudet University

first national college for Deaf students in US; provided interpreters & FM systems

National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID)

provided vocational training

oralism

children taught to mimic mouth shapes & breathing patterns of speech to learn to speak; taught to feel vibrations of speech of oral individuals to learn to speak; oralists felt that use of sign language invited discrimination of deaf individuals & prevented inclusion into mainstream hearing society

Milan Congress (1880)

international group of educators of deaf ppl met in Italy; only ONE deaf person was present at this meeting; resolution was passed endorsing oralism in education of deaf children

Alexander Graham Bell

teacher of deaf students; wife & mother were deaf; advocated strict oralism; advocated separation of deaf people so as not to propagate a deaf race; advocated day schools staffed by teachers who enforced bans on sign language; invented the first hearing aid for his mother

Babbidge Report (1965)

report by the Advisory Committee on Education for the Deaf; found that children identified with hearing loss later in life did not do as well as their peers in terms of education; recommended universally applied procedures for early identification/evaluation of hearing impairment; this was instrumental in the implementation of early identification, but it took ALMOST 35 YEARS to implement an early hearing loss identification program

deaf immigrants

most immigrants who were deaf were turned away from entrance to the US; argued that such individuals would be unable to care for themselves without becoming a public charge; policy changed in 1990s to allow individuals with disabilities to forego ability to speak/read/write English and pass US civics exam to become citizens

1906, deafness & employment

as US became more industrialized, deaf people faced more barriers to employment - the Civil Service Commission automatically disqualified people with ‘total deafness and loss of speech’ from civic service jobs; which resulted in activist response led by Gallaudet College Alumni Association and the policy was ultimately reversed

26 countries

ban deaf drivers; deaf people initially banned from driving in most US states (now legal in all 50 states)

audism

the idea that an individual who is able to hear is superior to someone who has hearing loss or is deaf; the idea that life without hearing lacks quality

Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID)

founded in 1964 to establish interpreting as a profession; allows for standard for quality of interpreters & ethical standards for interpreters

CI controversy

a cochlear implant allows a person with deafness to communicate w the hearing world; pathological view vs cultural view: deafness (medical condition that should be treated) vs Deafness (cultural identity)