Deafness

3 approaches to deafness

1. Cure/prevent

2. Accommodation

3. Celebration

Prevention

1. Individual pathology

2. Reliance on visual communication

3. Often rejected by Deaf community

Accommodation

1. Deafness as a disability caused by impairment and social/environmental barriers 

2. Social approach 

3. Still leaves people marginalised

Celebration

1. Culture group

2. Acknowledge, include, and celebrate

3 Key Markers of the History of Deafness

Language acquisition fail

Sign language emerges

Oralism vs. manualism (ASL, BSL)

Oralism vs. manualism (ASL, BSL)

• eugenics pushes spoken language and lip reading

• deaf people are prevented from marrying each other

Sign language emerges

• 1960: Sign Language Structure emerges 

• 1500s: early signs developed universally

• 1800s: golden age for Deaf community

language acquisition fail

• 18-36 months (connected to neural development)

• Failure to meet it before 12 means Deaf kids are set up for failure in life

• Cochlear implants at a young age means kids don’t get to choose whether they want to be a part of hearing or Deaf culture (medical model vs social model)

Sencity

a multisensory dance club created by/for the Deaf community + disabled allies

Reverse inclusion

making the space specifically inclusive for a group instead of trying toa assimilate them into another culture

Environmental (social) approach

• DP have voice and choice (not contributors, but leaders)

• Disability as difference and opportunity (not a weakness/problem)

5 parameters of ASL

1. Hand shape

2. Palm orientation

3. Location

4. Movement

5. Non manual markers (facial/body expressions)

Changes in interpreting

Historically: Interpreters focus on the english (ignore the sound/music)

Now: show the waviness of the sound, beat, tone, then break down

Martha’s Vineyard + Deafness

one of the earliest Deaf communities in the US

***Not all hearing loss is hereditary but some stairs are. One strain was brought to the island by UK immigrants

Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language” (MVSL) was developed

• Deaf residents didn’t experience hearing impairment as a disability because they were able to go about daily life with ease (education, work, business)

• ENVIRONMENTAL/SOCIAL MODEL

Sparrow Reading “Implants and Ethnocide”

• deaf people as a minority cultural group NOT DISAB

• cochlear implant is person fixing (deaf is wrong)

  • assimilation to heaaring culture

• against implanting children (no choice)

• destructive to deaf culture (ethnocide)

Endogamy

Deaf people marrying within their culture

90% of deaf people marry each other but only 10% produce deaf children