I am frustrated, sad and confused. Ever since Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing issued a contoversial letter, I have been getting flashback of my past when I was attending deaf school near Boston. Growing up deaf, I often got confused why adults during in the 1960's and 1970s (mostly parents and educators often have ties to AG Bell) believed that sign language was bad and oralism was better (even for a deaf person who can't hear?). I have attended deaf school that did not permit sign language but I am alittle different because I am not completely deaf and I can hear with the help from technology. I can speak almost normal and I can hear almost normal and I even know sign language (not as good as I used when I was younger).
Over the years, I have been watching deaf Americans have engaged in civil rights movement when they were fighting "oralism" which was in fact a controversial teaching method that had been dominant in deaf schools since the 1920s. Oralism discouraged sign language in deaf schools, forcing deaf students to read lips and learn to speak. Today, the public are more accepting towards sign language and many of them are learning on their own free time. Since, the Deaf culture have became very strong politically, deaf people are more integrated into the hearing world than ever. In 1864, one of my favorite Presidents of all time, Abraham Lincoln signed the charter for the Washington, D.C. based college for the deaf.
In the 1800's two "hearing" educators have disagreed how deaf people should communicate:
Thomas H. Gallaudet chose to use the manual method to educate the deaf students because he saw a barrier between the hearing world and the deaf. The primary language used on the Gallaudet University Campus is American Sign Language (ASL). Educators who were deaf led efforts to establish a National Association of the Deaf (NAD) which advocated the use of sign language.
Alexander G. Bell, the telephone inventor, argued that sign language was barbaric even though he was fluent in sign language. He was a very strong advocate of oralism for deaf students. His thinking was correct of trying to get deaf people more involved in the hearing world but his methods were wrong. He was very oppressive of how deaf should behave when it came to oralism, speech and forbidding sign language. This is where Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing got their agenda from.
Over the years, the United States Government got very wise and studied. In 1964, Congress issued the "Babbidge Report" on oral deaf education and concludes that it has been a "dismal failure." In 1988, another Congressional Report published, "Toward Equality: Education of the Deaf" that recommended ASL be used as a primary medium of language instruction with English as a second language. Also recommends that ASL be included in the Bilingual Education Act.
Of course, Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing were not happy with Congress and they even fought harder to make parents of deaf children not to accept the Deaf culture and keep them away from the Deaf culture.
In today's society, I thought we are done with racial issues and this is happening right now that the mainstream public are not even really seeing that is happening. Ignorance will always lead them to much harsher problems down the road.
Right now, I thought I am okay with my deafness, actually I am but rather I am upset about some people's attitude towards the Deaf culture. I want to focusing on Multiple Sclerosis which is my more constant battle than my deafness. I know many deaf people who are hurt by this and I don't know what to do for them.... except to speak up and educate which I am doing now. I don't think I can do more but I pray that other Deaf people will keep striving for acknowledgement of AG Bell's errors.
I hope this will be my last venting post about the controversal issue started by AG Bell.
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3 comments:
Jim, I am glad that you are sharing (venting) these issues. It is important for folks not in either deaf culture to understand what's going on. I live outside Washington, D.C. and watched with interest the protests regarding the 'not deaf enough' president.
You read about my piano student K. but one thing I didn't include is that K.'s mother is one of two deaf interpreters at their church. K. and her older sister take signing classes although K. obviously does function with oralism. Because of this blend of deaf communications, I have not really understood the divide between deaf cultures. Thank you for shedding some light on the issue.
On a different note, there is a man who works at my local grocery store taking care of the grocery carts out front and loaded groceries into folks who drive their cars up to the sidewalk. I do this often because this particular store does not encourage carts be taken into the parking lot. Well, back to this man. He doesn't really speak...I mean he kinda grunts. He is very friendly and last christmas time expressed some annoyance with the salvation army bellringer. I often talk to him although I couldn't always understand his responses...but this time he was very clear and used some signing. Ahaa, he uses signlanguage so I started to thank him using sign. Well, this began a relationship where he would talk about the weather (ie. it's cold, or it's raining) and I would ask him how to sign things like 'the sky is beautiful today.' He talked about riding his bicycle to work and would tell me when to go get my car to load the groceries. One time a different employ was outside and he was 'telling' me that this man was a friend, that he was good. He also expressed that another worker was not good, not a friend. I talk to him kinda confirming what he was telling me and the 'good friend' told me that he couldn't hear a word I said, that he is deaf. Well, I don't think this must be correct because I think he is simply mute. Unfortunately though, I think that most folks just ignore him and don't try to communicate. We've held conversations although I don't really know ASL, but only know a few signs and can figure out the meaning behind the effort. Thankfully, he is very forgiving with my ignorance and kindly makes himself understood. This is one man, deaf or mute, who is often invisible to others but who desires to communicate. I respect that and can only imagine how lonely this might be for him.
Jim,
Thanks for the nice comment. I just wanted to tell you that I have a friend that was also diagnosed with MS and it was the end of his marriage. I hope that he, too, can find someone wonderful like your wife in the future.
Jim,
I am sharing the same amusement about the history of AG Bell and how the likes of him patronizes Deaf people who uses ASL. AG Bell merging with CI industries is a now a 10 billion dollar industry and is becoming more powerful by the minute. What can we do about it? Just get more involved in the system to challenge and educate the public about the evils of AG Bell oppressors.
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