Why Is ASL A Dirty Word?
The recurring theme I’ve seen all my life.. sign language is something to be avoided. Deaf people who use sign language are considered stupid and inferior. Speech equates intelligence.
As oral students attending a boarding school , we were told repeatedly not to sign. We were punished rather harshly if we used sign language. We were told constantly deaf people who use sign language are bad and stupid. Any student who was known to sign was expelled without delay, since we had to be protected from corruption by an evil villain. The school was so fanatical about sign language that we were forbidden to look at the manual alphabet drawing in any encyclopedia and if anyone was caught with an open book displaying the picture, they were punished. It didn’t even matter if the student wasn’t looking at the picture. This method was very effective in deterring us from learning sign language.
Later after I transferred to hearing schools, my mother stressed to all teachers that gestures would be completely unacceptable. The message was conveyed to the students, firmly. Parents spoke to each other with pity about other parents of my former oral school classmates who went to residential deaf schools.
When I first went to Gallaudet College, I encountered a severe culture shock. Even though I was eager to learn sign language, I had trepidations for some reasons. Several weeks later, I finally figured it was the old negative message burned into my brain: sign language was bad. Afterwards, learning ASL wasn’t hard.
But how can ASL be bad? How can a language be bad? ASL is a beautiful and vibrant language. As a language, it is more expressive and dynamic than any other, involving body language and facial expression. For a Deaf person like me who isn’t able to benefit from listening, this language is truly 100% accessible. With me, ASL opened a new world and my life has been enriched tremendously ever since. I didn’t lose my oracy skills. In fact, my lipreading and speech improved as I understood better everyday conversations and lectures. ASL expanded my world. I felt whole. My regret was that I didn’t have exposure to ASL when I was a kid.
America is monolingual. It frowns on any other language except English, even though its ancestors came from all over the world. It’s ironic that a country completely filled by immigrants is intolerant of a second language whereas countries where these ancestors originally came from embrace multilingualism.
However, now that the benefits of second and third languages are recognized, young children are exposed to more languages at home and schools. ASL is now the third most popular language in this country, with courses offered at both high schools and universities. Hearing people beam with pride as they master sign language.
Yet ASL is still ‘taboo’ with the majority of deaf children. Oralism promotes the hypothesis that sign language harms the development of speech and listening, but this has been disputed by others. There have been formal studies in this, but their validity is questionable, because they compared the speech of oral and manual kids, but not those who had received the same amount of aural and verbal therapy and exposure. With the increasing popularity of cochlear implants rapidly changing deaf education, ASL is seen more and more as unnecessary. I truly believe that no one template applies to all. So yes, some deaf kids don’t need ASL, if they are able to listen well, with cochlear implants or hearing aids. However, there are some kids who do benefit from ASL as a supplement or as a primary language if they cannot hear well and miss out a lot. Yet they are discouraged from using it .
I am not trying to criticize anyone. I’m just thinking wistfully….
Why is ASL a dirty word?
Please no bashing 
The recurring theme I’ve seen all my life.. sign language is something to be avoided. Deaf people who use sign language are considered stupid and inferior. Speech equates intelligence.
As oral students attending a boarding school , we were told repeatedly not to sign. We were punished rather harshly if we used sign language. We were told constantly deaf people who use sign language are bad and stupid. Any student who was known to sign was expelled without delay, since we had to be protected from corruption by an evil villain. The school was so fanatical about sign language that we were forbidden to look at the manual alphabet drawing in any encyclopedia and if anyone was caught with an open book displaying the picture, they were punished. It didn’t even matter if the student wasn’t looking at the picture. This method was very effective in deterring us from learning sign language.
Later after I transferred to hearing schools, my mother stressed to all teachers that gestures would be completely unacceptable. The message was conveyed to the students, firmly. Parents spoke to each other with pity about other parents of my former oral school classmates who went to residential deaf schools.
When I first went to Gallaudet College, I encountered a severe culture shock. Even though I was eager to learn sign language, I had trepidations for some reasons. Several weeks later, I finally figured it was the old negative message burned into my brain: sign language was bad. Afterwards, learning ASL wasn’t hard.
But how can ASL be bad? How can a language be bad? ASL is a beautiful and vibrant language. As a language, it is more expressive and dynamic than any other, involving body language and facial expression. For a Deaf person like me who isn’t able to benefit from listening, this language is truly 100% accessible. With me, ASL opened a new world and my life has been enriched tremendously ever since. I didn’t lose my oracy skills. In fact, my lipreading and speech improved as I understood better everyday conversations and lectures. ASL expanded my world. I felt whole. My regret was that I didn’t have exposure to ASL when I was a kid.
America is monolingual. It frowns on any other language except English, even though its ancestors came from all over the world. It’s ironic that a country completely filled by immigrants is intolerant of a second language whereas countries where these ancestors originally came from embrace multilingualism.
However, now that the benefits of second and third languages are recognized, young children are exposed to more languages at home and schools. ASL is now the third most popular language in this country, with courses offered at both high schools and universities. Hearing people beam with pride as they master sign language.
Yet ASL is still ‘taboo’ with the majority of deaf children. Oralism promotes the hypothesis that sign language harms the development of speech and listening, but this has been disputed by others. There have been formal studies in this, but their validity is questionable, because they compared the speech of oral and manual kids, but not those who had received the same amount of aural and verbal therapy and exposure. With the increasing popularity of cochlear implants rapidly changing deaf education, ASL is seen more and more as unnecessary. I truly believe that no one template applies to all. So yes, some deaf kids don’t need ASL, if they are able to listen well, with cochlear implants or hearing aids. However, there are some kids who do benefit from ASL as a supplement or as a primary language if they cannot hear well and miss out a lot. Yet they are discouraged from using it .
I am not trying to criticize anyone. I’m just thinking wistfully….
Why is ASL a dirty word?
Please no bashing
January 14th, 2008 at 11:39 am
It’s an oralist theme dating back to Alexander Graham Bell. Oral kids were drilled that sign language proved a lack of intelligence. “We don’t make ugly signs with our hands.” It was treated as swear words–with a figurative washing out with soap.
Even hearing people criticized it to each other. “Only ignorant people talk with their hands” and looked down their noses at Italians, etc. It just wasn’t polite to gesture while talking. It was a faux pas to even point in public.
As a child, I was told “When you grow up, you will never talk with your hands, you can talk so well with your mouth!” It was a daily litany that never was omitted. Even in my early teens when I first attended the Rochester School for the Deaf, the theme was still stressed: Signs are ugly. Better to talk (and fingerspell.) On the other hand, my speech was always praised even though it was a lie.
This affected even my parents. To the very end, they were psychologically unable to sign even when I begged them to learn. The divide between my family and my friends can be traced to this insidious oral brainwashing.
Thanks, MZ, for helping expose this lingering cultural prejudice. Maybe talking about it will help hearing people recognize it for what it is–an unneccessary lie perpetuated about sign language.
January 14th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
If Thomas Gallaudet still alive would be pissed like this dirty ASL? What about Italian gestures with hands mmmm?
January 14th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Take heart: it’s not always the case that ASL. When my daughter was diagnosed with profound sensorineural hearing loss, no one brought up CIs or oral education: Children’s Hospital in Boston immediately set us up with appointments at the Deaf and HOH program, where they gave me all kinds of packaged information — including where and how to begin ASL, and contact info at the Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and HOH, which I had already contacted. That organization set us up right off the bat with family sign language classes (in my home!), a list of colleges offering ASL, and most importantly, an amazing Deaf advocate (Rosa Lee Gallimore), who offered personal tours of the educational facilities within 3 hours of our home. It took just one visit to the Learning Center for the Deaf in Framingham, with a director of the parent-infant program who is deaf, and a program of teaching with ASL as primary and English as a second language, and we were convinced our daughter could be part of both the Deaf and hearing communities without that divide that Dianrez encountered. Our early intervention services also offered an ASL-using contact to work with Li-Li. Our CI-focused audiologist is HOH and a board member of AG Bell, and she consistently uses ASL with our daughter throughout their mapping sessions. So for us, ASL was recommended right off the bat by everyone we encountered, but I think that may be unique.
One thing I noticed, though, the printed and online materials that came to us from AG Bell were much better produced, more informative, comprehensive, and more easily available. Once you add yourself to their mailing list, you feel like part of their a community with many resources. It would be nice if their was something comparable for those who might like to explore ASL as a language approach. If you want to reach new hearing parents of deaf children, a few leaflets made with bad photocopiers aren’t the best approach to instill confidence. I would never have given them credibility if I hadn’t the great experience of seeing for myself how Rosa Lee and the teachers and students at Li-Li’s school use ASL.
It would be great if more thought and resources could be put into preparing informative materials about ASL, maybe something NAD could consider now that they are reemphasizing the importance of ASL in recent position statements.
January 14th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Sorry, little one like to type along with me: first line shd be: not always the case that ASL is not promoted.
January 14th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Yeah, it was typical back then. Not your fault but that was what your parents wished for you in order to survive in the hearing society. Luckily, you turned out just fine in spite of it! I remember a long time ago that people would associate sign language to crazy people. Talking about “STIGMA”! Since then, things have changed because people are not ignorant anymore. Hooray!
Lois
January 14th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Amen.
January 14th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Deaf people are intelligent, and they can speak too, I can. I had a hearing/oral education, I went deaf. So long as those who pursue the Anti-sign people who attack them fair enough, but leave us out of it. It’s important you define WHO you are talking about, lest WE deaf, take offence !
January 14th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
MM, FYI, these messages about deaf people not being intelligent, etc, when they sign were drummed into us by hearing people, including audiologists and teachers.
Who say that the Deaf people cannot talk?
Please read carefully before you jump into conclusions
January 14th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
[...] After you have read MZena’s blog, please read the comments below it, ESPECIALLY Beth’s comment (post # 3) because it relates to the point being made here regarding the medical community. We should find out how Massachusetts pulled that off. Mishka Zena
January 14th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Mishkazena, I hope you don’t mind that I have posted this blog in it’s entirety over at a deaf discussion forum I freguent. As soon as I did that, I realized that I should have gotten your permission first. I did it for the cause; however, I apologize still…..
January 14th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
That is ok, DT. It is public information, as long as I’m given the credit
January 14th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Speaking as a public policy major, I think it’s because the Deaf Community as a whole has not been able to reach that level where they can efficiently and effectively change legislative procedures and rules regulating on how parents get the information. Not enough of us are educated, have the money and resources, and the key hearing allies to pull it off.
Beth’s case in MA is not very common, sadly. It’s certainly not common here in Michigan. It does start at the top, and once you change the laws to force equalized, impartial and unbiased information to get out there, public perception of ASL will change. And that will influence individuals’ perceptions on ASL as well.
Back then, when this happened to you, MZ, harsh discipline was acceptable. That’s no longer true today, because again, it came from the top that it wasn’t acceptable.
So we need to do the same thing when it comes to sharing information on ASL. Just my two cents on that.
January 14th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Deaf Pundit has pointed out that it takes public policy by starting at the top with legislative procedures and rules regarding info to parents of deaf children to alter overall public perception about ASL.
Much legislative work is based on after-the-fact public recognition of a problem, and it’s the politicians who make a mess of trying to come up with a solution. I’m not saying I disagree with DP, but we all know the tortuous path that the ADA took to get legislative action done on it, and it became a law without any teeth in it. Hopefully the ADA Restoration Act will rectify that lack of enforcement.
And enforcement of a procedure is another ball of wax.
Public perception begins where the public is, with marketing. AGBell dominated public perception of deaf communication modes by aggressively marketing oralism to what it knew would be a majority of hearing parents as their market and by enforcing a policy of banning ASL during a deaf child’s oral education. It’s an organization that is well-funded, has the marketing experience and savvy built up over the years they’ve been in operation.
Grassroot organizations that want to change public perception of ASL would do well to take a look at HOW AGBell markets itself and keep in mind their own marketing efforts are competing with, not attacking, a Goliath with a weak spot.
Remember Avis’ “we’re number 2, but we try harder” marketing scheme when Hertz owned the rental car market? That campaign broke the rental car market wide open. It increased public perception that there are now other options. I’m just using this example to illustrate how marketing is an effective tool in changing public perception.
That’s my two cents’ worth.
January 14th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Before my son was born, I had no idea of the level of feeling about ASL! He has a moderate level of loss (not sure what communication route he’ll take, but I’m learning ASL to cover all the bases). I was amazed when some of my family was aghast that I was learning ASL, and others were for it. It won’t be his first language (obviously, since I am just learning and he is only in the moderate range), but I want it in the communication toolbox. I actually had to start learning it for my first son, who hears just fine but can’t speak (we think he has verbal apraxia).
Anyway, to make a long story longer, there aren’t any resources made available for parents of deaf or hoh kids with regard to learning ASL. If you want to learn it- you’re on your own. So far my only source has been the “Signing Time” videos- I plan on taking ASL from the community college but I’ve heard these classes move slowly and don’t focus on the signs you need for young children.
January 14th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Ann_C,
If you study history, you’ll find that laws were often passed against a majority of the public’s sentiment. Look at the 1960′s Civil Rights Movement. People did NOT want to integrate, but the laws passed, forcing it to happen.
It only takes a moderately small and dedicated group to accomplish that.
And the reason ADA lost its teeth was not because of how the law was written. It was because of the case law – the courts made a series of rulings on that law and weakened it.
January 14th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Miska,
You said it exactly what I had been through when I was growing up about oralism and ASL! It’s good that you’re opening it up as it needs to be discussed, dissected and analyzed so that it will be made more accessible and user friendly.
Sadly a lot of hearing parents have a hard time learning ASL. Why? Is it because it is not user-friendly? time consuming? uncomfortable for hearing parents to gesture? or what?
January 14th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Michele,
“Sadly a lot of hearing parents have a hard time learning ASL. Why? Is it because it is not user-friendly? time consuming? uncomfortable for hearing parents to gesture? or what?”
I think it’s a general language thing, especially American. MZ made a good point in her post that America is monolingual. I think most Americans have a fear of learning other languages in general. But not only that, they don’t really love their own language.
Something about learning another language (or at least being exposed to it) really brings out one’s sensitivities to the way languages work. I never really English grammar until I took another language. The more languages I have studied (I have a reading knowledge of 4 beyond my native English), the more subtleties I begin to see in how languages are formed and used. Who knew that verbs could be so exciting? In short, learning more languages has helped me not only love my own better but the language process in general. But if you never leave your neighborhood, you’ll not only miss the beauty in the town next door, but you won’t know the things that makes your own neighborhood distinctive and beautiful, know what I mean?
When our son was born profoundly deaf, it never occurred to my husband and I not to learn ASL. We both have studied other languages, spent time immersed in other languages and cultures, and always had hoped that we could teach our children other languages, as well. And here we were presented with an opportunity so essential to life that, in some sense, learning ASL has been an almost exhilirating experience. We struggle with the basics still, but, honestly, are much better signers that a lot of other hearing parents we’ve met.
I feel like I was able to pick up a lot really quickly, because my mind has already gone through the process of learning another language. I need to learn so, so much more, but the facets of the language are like any other language: there is a word order, a verb structure, and an experiential style (the little things like how one holds one body that can’t really be written down, but are learned through immersion/experience).
Yes, there is definite historic baggage to the ASL problem. But I think we should also note the lack of confidence in language in general in America. Hope I make a modicum of sense.
January 14th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Jeanette, you make a lot of sense.
Also with this language, arms, hands, and facial expression are required. This is something Americans aren’t used to.. being expressive in a different facet than using voice. I think that makes learning ASL more difficult than mastering a foreign language.
January 15th, 2008 at 5:39 am
Jeanette, glad you posted it (also on Mishka’s recent blog about parents of CI children not being listened to. What you said exactly echoed my thoughts yesterday. Jean Boutcher said a few times that Europe was more multilingual than America, due to Europe being surrounded with many countries (French, German, Spanish, Danish, Swedish, etc…more exposure), compared to America which next door neighbor is Central/South America, heavily Spanish, nothing more. So it is a challenge and I don’t know if the majority of us is aware of this fact.
)
January 15th, 2008 at 5:47 am
Besides, there are more Hispanic people living here in America THAN Deaf people who use ASL, so it is no brainer that more hearing people study Spanish than ASL, despite the claims that ASL is 3rd most widely used language (I am sure, but the majority of hearing people take ASL classes for a short time… it does not make them fluent and after completing the classes, they don’t bother use ASL except for the ones studying to become interpreters and who themselves are parents/relatives of a deaf child.) Like my son who is taking Spanish this year… it does not make him fluent in Spanish… he is bilingual, in English and ASL, for being exposed to them since birth, but he is NOT trilingual, despite he is taking Spanish now. One would need to immerse himself/herself in the language and culture to become more multilingual… on the average it takes 5 to 7 years to become fluent in ANY languages.
January 15th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
#20.
Research show that it takes a bit longer time for bilingual children to become fluent in two languages than monolingual children. Bilingual children do mix up rules of both languages for while and at average of about 10 years, they finally smoothen out. In general girls tend to be faster.
It is normal and bilingual children should not never be compared with monolingual in language and literacy development at all. It is important to be aware of this when you are at an IEP meeting.
January 15th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Now I want to share you a huge piece of news from this morning.
My Deaf son Noam saw his doctor, Dr. Mehl who is a chair of Early Hearing Detection Intervention committee for the Colorado state. An intern pediatrician was with us. First thing Dr. Mehl asked, what is Noam’s first sign if he has signed yet? Wow. I explained that Noam is still signing prototypical signs. The doctor expanded on that and explained in more details about ASL language how it differs from English to the intern. Then he asked us about Noam’s use of digital aids and if he receives speech – auditory stimulation since we all are mostly ASL signers in our house. I said Noam is wearing high ended digital aids and receives auditory speech training three times a week. He is now vocalizing with syllables and can articulate few two sounds. He really enjoy listening to many different music on CD and watch cartoon with aids on.
Then the doctor said he already read books about ASL and Deaf identity issues and gave me his e-mail address for links to Deaf blogs.
This is how things work both ways..
January 15th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
#22
Thank you, Anne Marie. I find the professionals (outside the Deaf school my son attends) are always having to readjust how they talk about my 2.5yo’s language abilities. If he were judged by how much he spoke and auditorially understood, he’d be 6 mos old, but with ASL his language skills are at least age appropriate, if not higher. It becomes so common in parent circles to equate language development and speech/auditory development, which is simply not true in our (bilingual) case. His speech therapist, I think, is intrigued.
that’s amazing that your dr has read ASL/Deaf books.
January 15th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
I read you, DP, in your #15 response. The problem with public perception of ASL is that it has some unfounded negative notions about sign language to begin with because of a very dominant organization, namely AGBell, which has the deaf communication modes market cornered.
To force change via public policy or laws doesn’t necessarily create positive public acceptance of the change overnight. For example, it took more years of civil rights protests after the Civil Rights Act became law to get rid of Jim Crow policies. OTOH marketing can change public acceptance of an idea in a more positive way.
As doctors and audiologists are the first contacts that parents of a deaf child see regarding their child’s deafness, it’s logical to target the doctors/ audiologists first thru ASL and Deaf culture awareness seminars at medical schools, conventions, etc. There are other targets as well, but this is the first target that I’m thinking about, as one example. Anne Marie in her above comment said her doctor was informed about ASL and the Deaf culture– how did he learn of it?
This is what I’ve been saying in some of my blog comments:
Instead of blaming AGBell, the government, or hearing people, or other generalizations, do positive marketing of ASL and its benefits instead. Leave the anger at home, it tends to cloud the ASL message you want to convey.
January 15th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
yo all- not sure if you all were noticing, or not noticing that deaf people are taking actions. for example, dbc just was founded last summer. hey, it’s a brand new organization and you all are already wanting to rip it apart? why not give encouragement with your support, offer your participation, give your time to do something productive instead of sitting around in front of computer screens moaning and bickering with all negative comments about the deaf community. i noticed some people carried some baggages, and i suggest them to resolve their personal disputes with whoever and do not pull the entire deaf community down for someone’s baggage!
January 16th, 2008 at 2:13 am
Jeanette and Leah both make good points. Those who WANT to learn often find a difficult time finding appropriate instruction, because the community colleges are geared toward people interested in becoming interpreters or fulfilling their language credit requirements– not towards people who are going deaf or living with a deaf child.
These are NOT appropriate classes for either the late-deafened or parents of Deaf children who want to learn ASL. We need to use this language right now in our homes TODAY. We come to class with so many questions. It is an interruption to the class for me to keep asking questions during class when they need to get through a lesson plan.
My first ASL class focused a lot on work environments for some reason. I learned how to sign “You’re improving.” “This is our schedule.”
“You’re hired!” None of this applied to my daily life, and it wouldn’t apply to either of these two moms who need to know how to sign to their toddlers.
At the community college where I’m currently taking classes, none of these people are that interested in practicing outside of school. ASL is just one class to them. Deafness isn’t their life. They can hear. So again it’s not the best place for me to learn, but I am learning slowly. Also the college classes require a lot of busy work type homework. For example, I’m auditing my grade, but if I weren’t I would have to write several reports–one would be on the history of hearing aids. This is soooooo unnecessary and NOT appropriate. I have worn hearing aids for years, but the class is geared toward people who have never had any exposure at all to anyone or anything related to deafness/Deaf culture or hearing loss.
I had to get special permission to audit the class— and then it’s a hassle to register every quarter because my pre-requisites don’t show up on my transcript. I have to get special permission again every time I want to register for the next level–EVERY time. If I transfer to another school, I’m sunk. Next quarter I many have to take a credits so it will be on my transcript because I’ll have to transfer to another college since this one only goes so far. This will mean lots of stupid homework. I’m fifty– I work and I have a family.
It’s such a pain to have to jump through all these red-tape community college hoops.
What we need is Deaf people willing to teach ASL one-on-one with families in a more individualized environment. Professionally. I don’t want to bug Deaf people to practice with me on their social time. It’s not fair to them. But I NEED someone to understand that my deafness is very real, and and classes geared toward hearing people once or twice a week won’t work because I am no longer hearing. My needs are much, much different from theirs. And the needs of parents of Deaf children are more like mine than those in community college.
Sorry for such a long comment.
January 16th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
This is what I run into- classes offered at the community college level aren’t geared for parents with small children, and there is no other avenue in most communities for learning ASL. It is impossible to learn ASL from books and videos, since the language is far more complex than learning a set of basic signs. From videos and ASL websites, I have a very limited sign vocabulary with no understanding of grammar. I plan on taking an ASL course at the local community college, but my hopes aren’t held very high for the quality of instruction.
January 16th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Leah– Don’t get me wrong. My teacher is WONDERFUL. She grew was born Deaf, was mainstreamed, but started signing as a child. There is no talking in my community college class and the teacher is well-entrenched in the Deaf community. It’s not really about the instruction. It’s just that she has a lesson plan and she clips along with 40-50 students who are Hearing. None of them have the same needs as me. I have a lot of questions and needs because I need to use ASL right now in my home TODAY. She just can’t give me her undivided attention the way a social support professional could.
It’s not about quality of instruction– though I agree there are good and bad instructors out there. It’s mostly that I think those of us who are late-deafened or parents of Deaf children need more individualized instruction than a Community College setting where we’re doing busy homework type stuff.
July 12th, 2008 at 9:18 am
Honestly I think ASL is wonderful. I understand what you mean when you say that as Americans we look down on people who speak another language. I am Hispanic and growing up with exposure to many languages (my brother speaks Italian, my mother and father Spanish, my aunt Japanese and my sister in law German and French) I grew up respecting the ability to communicate with many people and thought of it as only an advantage. When I found out me and my wife were going to have a child we decided to use sign language and our only qualm with ASL is that we didn’t learn it sooner. I find that more and more people are becoming familiar with it and honestly most of the people I know who speak it aren’t deaf at all. It does make me happy knowing I can help someone who may be at a disadvantage otherwise and from what I can tell is ASL only strengthened my son’s ability to comprehend and learn oral words and speech. He isn’t deaf, but I am amazed to see that he is more aware of people and associations with gestures. I truly thing ASL is wonderful and the only reason I can see for someone to criticize it is if they haven’t tried it.
November 6th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Hello Mishka Zena! My Name is brittani and i am hearing, but i want to learn more about the deaf that had to struggle like you (people who were not allowed to learn ASL as a child) Im writing a research paper for my ASL class about this very topic. My Boyfriend’s Aunt also learned ASL at a older age. forced to read lips and attend hearing schools struggling to keep up at times in class. if you know anyone that i may beable to interview or even maybe you that would be great! please have them e-mail. Or even if they would like to just tell me thier story i would very much appriciate it. Thank You for your time!
-Brittani