Respecting Languages

For someone who speaks fluently as well as signs fluently, respect comes a long way. As I painfully learned this past week when I was on vacation in Florida, visiting my grandmother, I've always wanted to speak instead of sign. My choice. My parents knew and understood the value of signing ever since I was "discovered" deaf at the age of 3 (I was already deaf at 1 year old). They impressed upon me the importance of signing as well as speaking.

I was already speaking fluently when I requested to stop speech classes at the deaf school I attended in my junior year. I already can't hear, so what's the point of training my hearing when I can speak. I guess I already accepted the gift and curse of being able to speak as well as sign fluently. No bragging but I'm an above average lipreader, so I was fine with what I had.

Before I read my letters to my grandmother, I had disillusioned myself as the person who always wanted to sign rather than speak. How intriguing is it to find myself reading MY letters to find out that "oh boy!" I wanted to speak; however, as I learned, I am better for being myself, whether I sign or speak.

Anyway, the relevance of this topic is this....approximately three weeks ago, there was a deaf event held locally. Of course everyone signs - no big deal, it's great. There was a group of students (hearing) learning ASL, cool you think right? Nope, very discouraging.

This group sat at a table away from the deaf people and used their voices, perhaps a flutter of hands here and there but primarily using their voices. WHAT, you say. Yep, ain't kidding you there.

Another thing before I go on. There were two people that I met the year before and I asked one of them " How are you?", the person couldn't answer me. I was momentairly confused. I asked again. The person asnwered me back with "Waiting for (person)". Dumbfoundly, OH.

I encouraged a few friends to go up and talk to them (I was disgusted and I do not mingle well when disgusted). My friends did go and talk to them, when I decided to play a game with them. The group did not know how to play the game so another friend and I explained the game to the entire group, including the other friends. Then we sat down. I asked each to introduce themselves. All of them attended one school in Hammond and most were level 2 ASL students. Signing not bad, but not much talking back and forth, questions, inquiries...just playing the game.

After the game, that was it, they went back and used their voices again. AGAIN? Yeah. Disappointed? Yes. I sent an email to their teacher. I stated "If we (both of us) made the choice to learn how to talk with our voices, we are extending respect to their spoken language, where is their respect for our primary langauge - ASL?"

Thinking about it, I'm right. If we are willing to learn how to speak, we are extending respect to a language that is not deaf-friendly at all (speaking-wise). If hearing people are willing to take our classes and learn the language, the same respect needs to be extended to ASL (American Sign Language).

Being forced to learn something that is not deaf or hearing-friendly is another story. Growing up with speaking English and signing ASL is a natural way of life. Remember, this applies if the person is a willing learner of both languages. If one doesn't want to learn the language, don't bother learning it anymore than one needs to.

I wonder if parents realize this, or basically anyone out there. Denial of a language that is native to this world creates a frustrated inability to communicate. Denial of lingual acceptance creates a culture that is anti-multicultural. Forcing children to learn a secondary language over a primary language does not create a child with a spongy brain. The children would have to work doubly hard to catch up with the secondary language to maintain "intelligence". A primary language working with the secondary language (parallel method) creates flexibility and choice in how to use language to the benefit and the most of a situation.

You note, I do not say anything about a primary language. In this case as a Deaf American, I sign ASL, speak and write English. ASL and English share words to describe or explain things that we see, imagine and feel. For written language, it is primary to the entire population of America (other than Spanish, French and other languages) that we write English. Speaking English or Signing ASL has the same prinicpal, structure and usage.....in different ways.

Those who use English everyday - that's our primary language as a group of American citizens; however, speaking a language or signing a language is different from a written language. For those who speak English, listen to those who come from the East Coast, Mississippi, Colorado and the West Coast - they don't speak the same type of English that we in the Midwest speak. For those who sign ASL, we all pretty much know that anyone from any point in the US sign a little bit different from those who sign here in the Midwest.

Speaking or Signing a language is not perfect - writing them is. Audists live with the perspective that their spoken language is the perfect language in the world. Manualists live with the perspective that their signing language is the only one in the world. In reality, any version of speaking or signed language is the most appropriate for the region.

Basically, all we need is to acknowledge and respect each other's language and learn it the way others actually use it everyday. Speaking or Signed, doesn't matter - RESPECT does. If you learn ASL and go to a deaf event, don't speak, you will not learn how to use ASL the way deaf people do it. If I learn how to speak, I do not do it the way deaf people speak, I do it the way hearing people in my community speak. I learned French - I can attest to this - I do not learn French the way English people use it. I learn it the way French people use it, that's the best way and closest way to reach the heart, soul and core of French speaking people and its culture.

Again, ask yourselves - am I respecting the others' langauge as I am learning it or am I ignoring the bountiful opportunities to learn another language by reverting back to my primary language?

I learned to speak (fluently or not, don't care, I wanted to period), I am respecting the spoken language used everyday. You learn to sign (or learning), are you respecting the language I use everyday? Ummmmmm

Caution: Pro Culture

Gallaudet U. needs to take great care in how they will portray deaf community, culture and language to the world. Choosing a leader who will exemplify those characters will also need to take great care in welcoming those who are "outsiders" of the culture. This caution applies to any subculture among the world.

Becoming pro-deaf does not allow a person to become broadened in experience and education. Hearing assistive device users are in the core group in the community, so are people who practice oralism, cued speech, and other communication methods are also in the core group. Each one of us have a hearing loss ranging from mediocre to profound. Why would each of us be exempt from core group in the Deaf community?

I am profoundly deaf, a hearing aid user, fluent in ASL and Spoken English, a crazy reader and a mediocre writer and the majority in my families are hearing. Does this exempt me from being in the core of the Deaf Community? I'm not for cochlear implant, nor do I want one - yet those who wear them are exempt.

As I mentioned two or three posts ago, the hype of cochlear implant is the same hype that hearing aids - the value of CIs will go away. Still remains, communication needs are being met? CI users like hearing aid users are essentially deaf. A new hype is coming up - genetic manipulation.

I'd prefer the term "manipulation" because that is going too far to make a socio-political term "abnormal" child into "perfect". Genetics is studying how genes work, especially when those genes are "mutations" causing difference in how animals and invertebrates are developed. Those "mutations" could be evolutionary traits to help us adapt to a world changing before our eyes, under our feet, feel in the wind, smell and hear around us.

Anyway back to the point, the caution is to not make Gallaudet U a pro-deaf community but a deaf community/university that accepts a wide range of people with hearing losses, regardless if they have a hearing assistive device or none or practice oralism, cued speech or ASL. Sign language needs to be strongly encouraged because Gallaudet U will be practicing the Bi-Bi Philosophy. People are already speaking two languages at Gallaudet U. The languages need to be respected.

What is Bi-Bi philosophy? Indiana Deaf School (ISD) was one of the few schools to adopt this philosophy, where Deaf Culture/ASL and Hearing Culture/English is put to work together. In fact, any attempt to create a mulatto language (meshing of ASL & English) is not a language, nor does it create respect for each language. Known mulatto methods are Cued, SEE I, SEE II, and Pidgin English. Each gear children to the English language, which we as any American citizen uses to read and write.

See here for ISD's presentation on the Bi-Bi Philosophy at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention in 2003.

Gallaudet U needs to remember that the world is bigger than the University itself, in doing so, they will need to select a leader who encompasses all diverse cultural and lingual aspects of deaf community and lead the University to a strong educational base and send forth their students ready. Many Gallaudet U graduates did go on to other universities and graduated as educators, lawyers, doctors, administrators and the like.

However, it is the middle and poor class that suffer the barriers imposed by employers who do not understand the need of anyone with a disability's desire to work. I believe the Midwest and the South suffers greatly from this disadvantage - the Gallaudet U. clusters are based in large cities, no one goes back home to their hometowns - "its too hard to find a job there". Not only that, generally (as I've seen and heard myself), Gallaudet U graduates have a high opinion of themselves and see that other people are not important to their group. That is not what reality is.

I applaud others who have went their separate ways and become leaders, activists, and community educators in their own right. Their true heart lies in the communities they live in. They make the effort to educate the businesses, encourage deaf people to become more than welfare users, abusing government systems, and being more than deaf and putting face to and about the deaf community. It's hard. Really hard.

Why is it hard? Pro-deaf consider themselves separate from the mainstream, in a world of their own, oppressing others like them or unlike them (CI users, oralists and the like). Pro-speaking/hearing practioners effectively oppress information that hearing/deaf parents and deaf adults could use to encourage their children or themselves to become activists and independent.

Imagine the wealth and the opportunity to share, respect and accept culture and language as a part of who we are. That is where Bi-Bi philosophy comes in. I certainly hope that the concept has not been abused to meet the satisfaction of either culture/language. As Deaf people, we have no choice but to learn how to read and write English; however, we can be "told" that we can sign, speak or don't do either one. As Hearing people, they have no choice but to read and write English; however, they can make the choice of speaking (that actually is not an option), signing or do nothing of either. Why can't we have the same choice of signing (not an option) but choose to speak just as a hearing person can choose to sign. Guaranteed, not everyone can be fluent in speaking or signing - that's what language is. Again - choice.

For the pro-deaf, pro-speaking & hearing, and Gallaudet U - make your choices to include and emcompass everyone, make no limitations and we all will get along eventually.

Culture or Not Culture (Subculture)

Culture is a mixture of tangible and intangible values, mores and taboos to name a few.

The Encarta dictionary states for Culture:

• 2. Knowledge and sophistication: enlightenment and sophistication acquired through education and exposure to the arts
• 3. Shared beliefs and values of group: the beliefs, customs, practices, and social behavior of a particular nation or people
• 4. People with shared beliefs and practices: a group of people whose shared beliefs and practices identify the particular place, class, or time to which they belong
• 5. Shared attitudes: a particular set of attitudes that characterizes a group of people

For Subculture:

• 1. Separate social group: an identifiably separate social group within larger culture, especially one regarded as existing outside mainstreamed society

Cultures, known by anthropology practioners, are fluid, changeable and reflects a group's practice in society.

I recently read this article from USA-L News (www.deaftimes.com) written by John Zimmerman "Gallaudet and the perils of culture". Mr. Zimmerman presents relevant points regarding culture, as it was created by anthropologists to catergorize the differences between minorities. However, culture does exist (Z says it doesn't) because each of us have different set of mores, values and taboos, including traditions and the like.

Human culture is the main culture for all of us. As humans, we have the ability to converse in languages, practice similar traditions, religions, read and write, think and dream. It is the little differences that tout us different from others. Those are called subcultures.

Under no circumstances are we individual species, as one would consider us classified with apes, monkeys, and chimpanzees. We are biologically a different species from our distant (apes, monkeys) and closest (chimpanzees) relatives; however, we as humans are not distinctly separated from each other biologically, therefore the concept of race, gender and disability is just culture.

Z mentions that white men are bigoted and the "majority". I as a white person and fortunately a woman, would agree with the commentary. I don't know why white people would say civilization and any "superior" culture is any better than the others. Making others who are different to become like the "white men", is a disaster in the making. There are biological and environmental reasons why things are the way they are. Native Indians worshiped the land because it gave them life and took care of them, Africans have dark skin because where they live, the sun reaches the most and Deaf people cherish hands and sign language because it is one of the communicative languages that they use daily.

If we talk about subcultures - it's time to put the white people in their own subculture - they are the minority of the human culture, just like anyone else. Hearing people are a minority in their human culture because one hundred percent of the human culture is not hearing as human culture is not composed one hundred percent of white people.

What we learn to do in our subcultures - i.e. "Crab Theory", inner-suppression, discrimination of other subcultures and the like, we learned from the "white superiority". We reap what we sow. It is terrible; however, we have an opportunity - change must happen with us, within us and taught to the future generations.

There will always be changes in culture, whether technology or communicative. Deaf people take a stand now because it is in our prerogative that we equalize our subculture and language to anyone else's, thus transcending other subcultures' perspective to become truly human.
Forcing subcultures to the submission of other subcultures becomes riddled with conflicts, refusal to understand potential solutions, suppression of true subcultural contributions, prevents exchange of information and traditions and above all else, refuses us allow to be humans as we were designed to be.

The definitions say it all. Culture exists for reasons that we create, it exists because of how different we all are and it exists because Earth is bigger than we are. Take the time to look at your fellow friends, co workers, family members, and well...basically everyone. Look in their eyes, follow the rush of the blood that ties us all and transcend our subcultures to be human.

What we do now, reflects upon our children. "It takes a village to raise a child." -African proverb