Deaf Culture: Then and Now

LARRY MEDWETSKY, PH.D

GALLAUDET UNIVERSITY
LARRY.MEDWETSKY@GALLAUDET.EDU
 AGENDA
Brief Overview of Audiometric Interpretation
Deafness as Viewed Over the Ages
History of Sign Language Use/American Sign Language
Distinguishing Audiologic Deaf from Culturally Deaf
Deaf Community/Culture: A Background
Interacting with Deaf Individuals
Helping to Ensure Access
 Prevalence of Hearing Loss

Estimates from the Better Hearing Institute indicate

that @ 11.5% of the general population having a
hearing loss (@ 40-50 million individuals)

Number of deaf Individuals likely around 900,000

90% of deaf children are born from hearing parents

90% of children born to deaf parents are Hearing

Deafness Viewed Through the Ages
Throughout history, deaf people have faced a gamut of perceptions and
attitudes, that in turn, influenced the quality/type of educational opportunities

During the 1700s, varied views on the abilities of deaf learners were presented
for example in 1751, Comte de Buffon examined the potential of deaf youth
to learn and expressed the notion that these children have no ability to
acquire knowledge of abstract ideas

Yet, even earlier, Dalgarno (1680) made a provocative comment about the use
of signs with deaf infants. Might be successful if parents had as nimble a hand
as they had with a tongue
History of Signing Among Deaf
Community
Historical records indicate that deaf people have used sign language for at least
7, 000 years
Historical example of a signing deaf community in the USA:
Members of deaf population of Kent, England immigrated to Plymouth
county in Massachusetts in 1600s, and then settled in Marthas Vineyard
(with intermarriage, led to high rates of deafness and signing was accepted
form of communication)
 History of American Sign Language (ASL)

ASL can be traced back to early Spain in the 1500s

Signs and fingerspelling were taught to deaf children of nobility to help
them learn to read/write (i.e., if they were to keep property in the family)

Signs ultimately spread to France in the early 1800s where it began to be used
by French monks working with deaf children

Michel Abbe de lEpee (France) saw sign language as a natural way for deaf
people to communicate

Through signs and written characters he believed it was possible to teach deaf
students to think logically
 History of American Sign Language (ASL)
By late 1760s, lEpee established the worlds first government-sponsored school for
deaf children

In the United States at around the same time (early 1800s), Thomas Hopkins
Gallaudet began teaching Alice Cogswell- a deaf daughter of neighbor Mason Fitch
Cogswell

Cogswell eventually gained enough financial support to send Gallaudet to Europe to

study the methods of deaf educators
While in France, Gallaudet convinced Laurent Clerc (one of the French monks) to
accompany him to Hartford, Connecticut, where they established the Connecticut
Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb in Hartford (now named the American School for the
Deaf) in 1817
 History of ASL- contd
Deaf students came from all over the country to this school and brought signs
from their own communities

Combined with the French signs that Clerc taught, ultimately led to the
standard use of signs and its grammatical features now known as ASL

Important to note that residential schools for the Deaf that have been the
foundation of the Deaf community

Deaf children of deaf parents bring their knowledge of ASL and through their
interactions, help teach deaf children with little or no knowledge of ASL
 Brief Overview of ASL
Research in the 1960s and 1970s led to the acknowledgement of legitimacy of ASL as
an actual, naturally occurring language (Stokoe, 1960)

ASL not only involves the use of signs, but how the signs are oriented and moved
combined with non-manual markers (i.e., specific facial features that convey
grammatical information), these define the specific meaning of the signs being
conveyed

Although signs require greater motor movements than that required for speech, the
use of the spatial dimension and other grammatical aspects allows ASL to be
produced in a similar time scale as Verbal Speech

One of the main ways in which ASL has been passed down over the years is via Deaf
Children of Deaf (primarily via schools for the Deaf)
FYI re ASL
Similar to any other language, ASL takes thousands of hours/immersion to become
truly fluent in ASL

This does not mean that an individual should not enroll in ASL classes
Not only can an individual obtain basic working knowledge of signs (still be
primarily of a signed English mode, even though taught ASL grammar), but will
learn about Deaf History and Deaf Culture

** Although ASL is the predominant sign language in the USA and some other countries,
similar to oral languages there are also many different sign languages- such as British
Sign Language, or Langue des Signes de Quebecois
 The Deaf Community
Who exactly are the members of the Deaf community?
Includes anyone who identifies themselves as a member of the Deaf community,
using American Sign Language (ASL) as the primary means of communication
Estimated that there are @ 200,000 Deaf individuals in the United States

* Note that the Deaf community views being Deaf as a positive attribute, not
something needing to be fixed.
** May or may not wear hearing aids
 A Background to Deaf Culture
Before proceeding to discuss Deaf Culture/Community, everyone should be aware of the
little d versus the Big D

That is, we must distinguish between deaf and Deaf

o Little d refers to ones hearing acuity, that is, someone who has thresholds within the
profound hearing level in both ears

o Big D is used whenever one discusses Deaf culture or the Deaf Community

The defining characteristic of Deaf culture is the use of ASL among its members
An individual can be deaf, hard-of-hearing, or even a CODA (child of deaf adults) and
belong to the Deaf community as long as they communicate effectively in ASL
 Deaf Culture/Community
The Deaf culture consist of people either born into it or who joined later (such as oral deaf
individual who joins later after meeting culturally Deaf people)

The Deaf community does not think of itself as disabled, unable to communicate with hearing
individuals

They view being Deaf as a difference in their experience rather than as a deficit
 Deaf Culture/Community
Some core values of the Deaf Community, include:
Solutions for Effective Communication: the Deaf community considers it very important
that they have effective access to any venue via any means- be it sign interpreters, real-
time captioning, etc.
Interpreters are preferred, as this allows the Deaf individual to look at the other
individual when signing; also, some Deaf individuals may not have sufficient written
language ability to read captions quickly

Access to Information: examples include access to TV, movies, alerts- such as at airports,
medical information

Validation of the Deaf experience: recognizing its rich culture- as typified by ASL story
tellers, actors, Deaf humor
 A Myth
MYTH:
Deaf people dont want to be deaf, they are hoping for some miracle cure that will
make them hear.

REALITY:
Deaf people actually like being deaf
Most Deaf people feel that many hearing people are insensitive and oblivious.
For example, a statement by a hearing individual upon being introduced to a Deaf person
for the first time and says, Oh, Im so sorry to hear that you cant hear. You must be so
frustrated at times and wish you could hear.
Some Tidbits re Interacting with a Deaf Individual
To get a groups attention, an individual will often turn lights off/on

To get an individuals attention, they often will either tap a person on the shoulder
or if further away will wave their hand to get an individuals attention

To show their appreciation, Deaf individuals wave their hands versus conducting
applause

However, at football/basketball games, they will stamp their feet and someone
might even bang a Bass drum
 Some Tidbits re Interacting with a Deaf Individual
Person-first language is rejected; for example, it is not an individual who is
Deaf, but rather Deaf person

If you come across two Deaf signers and your path is blocked, walk through
avoiding eye contact with either person
Deaf individuals often describe objects or go into stories in significantly
greater detail than many hearing people are used to
What are Deaf Consumers/Employees
Looking for?
Deaf individuals will obviously feel more comfortable with individuals who
exhibit an openness concerning communication approaches.

The optimum situation would be if there are staff who can sign or willing to learn
to learn at least basic signs; this would ultimately be easier than passing along
notes between each other.
 Positive Interactions with Deaf
Individuals
People always connect more with someone who they have something
common with between them
Thus, a knowledge and willingness to sign demonstrates a recognition of
the uniqueness of ASL

If an interpreter is involved, make sure to always look directly at the Deaf

consumer and not at the Interpreter
 Various Technological Solutions Used by
Deaf Individuals
Face-to-Face Communicative Situations:
1-1:
ASL Interpreter
Voice-to-Text (and text to-voice)- technology is improving all the time
Writing notes to each other

Group:
Interpreters
Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART)- contd next slide
 CART
Real-Time Captioning
Involves intensively trained stenographers

Strives to record word-for-word, what is heard

Keystrokes based on phonetic-based keys

The steno machine is connected to a computer that has software that converts the
steno code to English

Captions are then conveyed onto a computer projection panel- either projecting
onto a screen, TV, or computer
 TELEPHONE CALLS
Can communicate with others who know ASL via Skype, Facetime, etc.

Can communicate with hearing individuals via Video Relay:

The ASL signer logs in and begins to sign

There is an intermediary certified sign language interpreter who sees the signs,
then voices the information to the non-signing recipient on the other side

When the other individual voices the information, the interpreter signs the
information which is visible on the Video Relay System monitor for the Deaf
individual to see
 Electronic Media
Television Closed Captioning (CC):
CC is embedded in the TV signal- line 21 data area found in the vertical blanking
interval of the TV signal.

Two main styles of CC:

Left to-right, one line at a time; when line filled, scrolls off screen to make way for
new line

Pop-up, where a caption appears anywhere on the screen as a whole, followed by

another caption (usually used for pre-taped shows/movies)
 Closed Captioning
CC1 is the usual field for broadcasting English CC, while CC3 is used for Spanish

CC can be overlaid on pre-recorded TV shows/movies or added in real time for

spontaneous events (e.g., newscasts, sporting events)

Can access CC on new remote controls by pressing CC, or for older TV models
by accessing Captioning on the Menu
 Captioning at the Movies
There are several technologies used to provide movie captioning:

Open captioning is accomplished through burned-in captions, projected text

Sometimes a captioned display is projected above/below the movie screen

Closed Captioning involves embedding the captions in the movie projection but can only be
picked up by either using:
wireless glasses which display caption text in front of the viewers eyes (this seems to be
the predominant mode in DC/Maryland theaters)
a Gooseneck Stand, whereby captions are projected onto a glass panel, which is then
reflected to the viewer
Rear Window Captioning and CC Glasses

Rear Window CC projection

onto Gooseneck Stand

CC Glasses
Awareness to Environmental Stimuli
Alerting devices are extremely important, allowing deaf individuals to live
independently and feel a sense of control.

Examples of alerting situations include:

Getting up at a designated time (alarm clock with vibrotactile shaker)

Knowing if a phone is ringing (e.g., visual alert via lamp connected to phone

Someone knocking at the door/ringing the bell (visual alerts)

Knowing baby is crying (can have tactile pager activated when baby cries, or
visual monitor)
Various Alerting Systems
Getting up at a certain time
Attach a vibrotactile- Bed Shaker to an alarm clock
- vibrating device placed under pillow, mattress
Alerting Devices- contd

Portable Receiving Unit: Wearable Alerting

Non-Wearable Receivers