Positive Benefits of Deaf Community
Paula: Show us why our kids should want to be part of the deaf community. What are the benefits? Saying that ASL is their natural language and they should be members of the community because they’re deaf is not enough.
From a commenter, Brenster:
i’ll mention a few examples of positive aspects of the deaf community.
- “a place of our own” – on the contrary to typical belief, the “members” of deaf community actually live in the hearing world; we deal with many various hearing people daily; we adapt in the best way we can. naturally, we want a place of “our own” where we can gather and feel “at home” without any barriers in communication! Not only that, we come together for supportive system, sharing our talents and skills for whatever purposes. thus, a long time ago when deaf people gathered frequently, a culture was born… and it continues to pass on over years, and still today!
those deaf people with good level of hearing or got CI and grew up orally managed to live, as some called it, “in the mainstream.” many of them didn’t feel the need to go to a deaf club. many of them didn’t feel the need to learn sign language. that was their choice. however, many of them did go to deaf clubs out of curiosity; not everyone felt they fit in but many of them said that they “found” a home! again, not always true for all though.
So, that also can be in response to Paula’s comment: “Show us why our kids should want to be part of the deaf community. What are the benefits?” I believe that MZ has already pointed out on that in her blog: “rich language, heritage, traditions, and folklore, and so forth.” yes, that is general because all experiences are different. a person has to want to go there and see for themselves; then decide if they want to continue attending and how often, etc.
- “language!” it is already obvious! people have discussed, so i will not repeat. VLOG posts generally have much higher views than BLOG posts, of course with some exceptions of certain popular bloggers or certain posts consisting controversial titles. sign languages, such as ASL here and sign languages in other countries, have their own vocabulary and grammatical rules that are completely separate from spoken languages. Another valuable tool used in sign languages is: CLASSIFIERS that do not even exist in spoken languages – impossible! SEE, SEE2, etc are not sign language – they are manual coded systems for a certain spoken language, e.g. English.
- “literary traditions!” storytelling, jokes, poetry and creative use with signs or sign plays and other forms are very popular in our culture.
- “making connections” – like many have acknowleged that deaf community is very small, sometimes it looks like we are much bigger than that because we live in all over the country and the world. when there is a festival, a conference or a big gathering, many people from all over came together, meeting “old faces” and making friends with “new faces.” because of that, i have friends from all over in U.S. and typically have a place to stay when visiting certain cities/states.
- “shared information” – that is part of our culture; we like to share information, news, etc to keep each other informed. yes, we read newspapers, watch news with cc and so forth but sometimes, even silly small details shared from inside can turn out to be beneficial. because we are a small community, the news can travel quite fast from coast to coast! we don’t need deafread for that! 
- “unity” – oh yes, it is true! there is still a STRONG unity within the deaf community! Negative comments on the DeafRead almost got me discouraged by the lack of unity until i talked with many people. then i realized that those negative comments, usually by small number of same people, gave a wrong overall picture of our unity; thus, misleading us into thinking we have lost the unity. not true. looking back in the history, the first DPN actually started out with a small number of people but as they consistently got together during rallies, the crowd grew larger and larger. When the protest occurred, the crowd became incredibly large! So, the unity is always there and don’t estimate that!
OK, I have given out more than a few examples. Now, why haven’t we seen that on the DeafRead? you may ask. First, the DeafRead DOES NOT replace Deaf Culture! It takes place usually “face-to-face” settings only. also, i have learned from talking with many people that there are actually not very many deaf people visiting DeafRead, and i can understand that. most of them prefer face-to-face interactions. Don’t get me wrong; I think that DeafRead is an excellent place for us to “meet” and exchange information, ideas, opinions, etc – making more connections with other people like myself, but also with other people from different backgrounds.
in closing, if you feel that you do not fit in the deaf community, that’s fine. some prefers to live exclusively in the hearing world; some prefers both worlds. I just ask people to refrain from making non-constructive criticisms on the whole deaf community based on bad experiences with a few or several or even many deaf people you encountered. i have plenty of bad encounters with certain bad-ass deaf individuals, but it’s a poor excuse for putting all blame on the deaf community!
yes, deaf people are angry and reserved – we are entitled to that! However, i agree that there are better ways of channeling our anger into something more productive. i have already seen many deaf people doing that, e.g. DBC (again, it’s brand new organization set up from a scratch with little or no money to begin with! give time, give support!), deaf and asl vloggers, etc etc. yes, some deaf people vented out and that sure got off on the wrong foot with hearing parents. that’s not really their fault. so, instead of sitting around and criticizing, why not we as a new DeafRead community reach out to each other and support each other in finding better ways of channeling those years and years of repressed anger?
Just like what Kim has been asking for better outreach to late-deafened people and others. Good idea, and why not go both ways? Why is it always expected that we, deaf community, always reaching out to all people. Why not late-deafened people and CI users connect with us, making us better in that area; it is not necessary that we have to completely relate with each other.
clearly, it’s now late and i am tired, so pardon me for the lengthy and incoherency (if any, ha) but the bottom line: you, the people, can offer more constructive thoughts and ideas and at the same time be part of solutions. For example, instead of telling the deaf community to raise fund, they can tell the deaf community different ways they can raise fund BIG and FAST, and take actions.
Commentary: Thank you, Brenster.
The biggest draw of the Deaf Community is the feeling of kindred among us. We all know what it is like to be Deaf.. something that no hearing person can understand, no matter how much they try. In the Deaf Community, we all are equal, with no feeling of inferiority based on the status of our hearing. In the Hearing Community, some of us receive ’second-class’ treatment because in their eyes, we are not equal since we may not hear well. We may be looked with pity or paternalism, both which are unwelcome. Being very sensitive, we know whenever we are being condescended. In the Deaf Community, we face none of these. We are welcomed with open arms and invited to learn sign language, if we are interested. So many of us go through the same struggles…. no words are needed to describe what our struggles are. We can relax and be ourselves. Overall there is a feeling of belonging. MZ
Paula: Show us why our kids should want to be part of the deaf community. What are the benefits? Saying that ASL is their natural language and they should be members of the community because they’re deaf is not enough.
From a commenter, Brenster:
i’ll mention a few examples of positive aspects of the deaf community.
- “a place of our own” – on the contrary to typical belief, the “members” of deaf community actually live in the hearing world; we deal with many various hearing people daily; we adapt in the best way we can. naturally, we want a place of “our own” where we can gather and feel “at home” without any barriers in communication! Not only that, we come together for supportive system, sharing our talents and skills for whatever purposes. thus, a long time ago when deaf people gathered frequently, a culture was born… and it continues to pass on over years, and still today!
those deaf people with good level of hearing or got CI and grew up orally managed to live, as some called it, “in the mainstream.” many of them didn’t feel the need to go to a deaf club. many of them didn’t feel the need to learn sign language. that was their choice. however, many of them did go to deaf clubs out of curiosity; not everyone felt they fit in but many of them said that they “found” a home! again, not always true for all though.
So, that also can be in response to Paula’s comment: “Show us why our kids should want to be part of the deaf community. What are the benefits?” I believe that MZ has already pointed out on that in her blog: “rich language, heritage, traditions, and folklore, and so forth.” yes, that is general because all experiences are different. a person has to want to go there and see for themselves; then decide if they want to continue attending and how often, etc.
- “language!” it is already obvious! people have discussed, so i will not repeat. VLOG posts generally have much higher views than BLOG posts, of course with some exceptions of certain popular bloggers or certain posts consisting controversial titles. sign languages, such as ASL here and sign languages in other countries, have their own vocabulary and grammatical rules that are completely separate from spoken languages. Another valuable tool used in sign languages is: CLASSIFIERS that do not even exist in spoken languages – impossible! SEE, SEE2, etc are not sign language – they are manual coded systems for a certain spoken language, e.g. English.
- “literary traditions!” storytelling, jokes, poetry and creative use with signs or sign plays and other forms are very popular in our culture.
- “making connections” – like many have acknowleged that deaf community is very small, sometimes it looks like we are much bigger than that because we live in all over the country and the world. when there is a festival, a conference or a big gathering, many people from all over came together, meeting “old faces” and making friends with “new faces.” because of that, i have friends from all over in U.S. and typically have a place to stay when visiting certain cities/states.
- “shared information” – that is part of our culture; we like to share information, news, etc to keep each other informed. yes, we read newspapers, watch news with cc and so forth but sometimes, even silly small details shared from inside can turn out to be beneficial. because we are a small community, the news can travel quite fast from coast to coast! we don’t need deafread for that!
- “unity” – oh yes, it is true! there is still a STRONG unity within the deaf community! Negative comments on the DeafRead almost got me discouraged by the lack of unity until i talked with many people. then i realized that those negative comments, usually by small number of same people, gave a wrong overall picture of our unity; thus, misleading us into thinking we have lost the unity. not true. looking back in the history, the first DPN actually started out with a small number of people but as they consistently got together during rallies, the crowd grew larger and larger. When the protest occurred, the crowd became incredibly large! So, the unity is always there and don’t estimate that!
OK, I have given out more than a few examples. Now, why haven’t we seen that on the DeafRead? you may ask. First, the DeafRead DOES NOT replace Deaf Culture! It takes place usually “face-to-face” settings only. also, i have learned from talking with many people that there are actually not very many deaf people visiting DeafRead, and i can understand that. most of them prefer face-to-face interactions. Don’t get me wrong; I think that DeafRead is an excellent place for us to “meet” and exchange information, ideas, opinions, etc – making more connections with other people like myself, but also with other people from different backgrounds.
in closing, if you feel that you do not fit in the deaf community, that’s fine. some prefers to live exclusively in the hearing world; some prefers both worlds. I just ask people to refrain from making non-constructive criticisms on the whole deaf community based on bad experiences with a few or several or even many deaf people you encountered. i have plenty of bad encounters with certain bad-ass deaf individuals, but it’s a poor excuse for putting all blame on the deaf community!
yes, deaf people are angry and reserved – we are entitled to that! However, i agree that there are better ways of channeling our anger into something more productive. i have already seen many deaf people doing that, e.g. DBC (again, it’s brand new organization set up from a scratch with little or no money to begin with! give time, give support!), deaf and asl vloggers, etc etc. yes, some deaf people vented out and that sure got off on the wrong foot with hearing parents. that’s not really their fault. so, instead of sitting around and criticizing, why not we as a new DeafRead community reach out to each other and support each other in finding better ways of channeling those years and years of repressed anger?
Just like what Kim has been asking for better outreach to late-deafened people and others. Good idea, and why not go both ways? Why is it always expected that we, deaf community, always reaching out to all people. Why not late-deafened people and CI users connect with us, making us better in that area; it is not necessary that we have to completely relate with each other.
clearly, it’s now late and i am tired, so pardon me for the lengthy and incoherency (if any, ha) but the bottom line: you, the people, can offer more constructive thoughts and ideas and at the same time be part of solutions. For example, instead of telling the deaf community to raise fund, they can tell the deaf community different ways they can raise fund BIG and FAST, and take actions.
Commentary: Thank you, Brenster.
The biggest draw of the Deaf Community is the feeling of kindred among us. We all know what it is like to be Deaf.. something that no hearing person can understand, no matter how much they try. In the Deaf Community, we all are equal, with no feeling of inferiority based on the status of our hearing. In the Hearing Community, some of us receive ’second-class’ treatment because in their eyes, we are not equal since we may not hear well. We may be looked with pity or paternalism, both which are unwelcome. Being very sensitive, we know whenever we are being condescended. In the Deaf Community, we face none of these. We are welcomed with open arms and invited to learn sign language, if we are interested. So many of us go through the same struggles…. no words are needed to describe what our struggles are. We can relax and be ourselves. Overall there is a feeling of belonging. MZ
January 16th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Yeah whatever! But still one of the bloggers do still NOT accept my “kindly appreciated” comment recently! Don’t know if that blogger accept for who I am. Oh well THAT’S LIFE!!!
Good blog, MZ! Smile and hugs, Shawn
January 16th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Brenster–The reason the Deaf need to reach out is because the Deaf community is very small and closed to the outside since you have another culture and speak a different language. We’re surrounded by Hearing people telling us what to do, who don’t know anything about Deaf people, so they push hearing technology, lipreading and oralism.
I already pointed out in another post how difficult it is to find ASL support within a Hearing environment when you’re late-deaf or raising a Deaf child, because those systems don’t adequately meet our needs.
It has already been pointed out that Deaf don’t feel like instructing Hearing or late-deaf people how to sign when they’re socializing at Deaf Coffee Time.
There is no professional group of Deaf educators to help late-deaf and parents of Deaf transition into Deaf culture. That’s what we need, and we need to find brochures in audiology/ENT offices. We don’t need a community college class geared toward Hearing students or another club for oral late-deaf. Hearing people aren’t going to provide what we need. I have personally reached out wherever I could.
January 16th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Good blog, MZ. I do enjoy reading your blogs.
Umm, can I say something?
“n the Hearing Community, some of us receive ’second-class’ treatment because in their eyes, we are not equal since we may not hear well.”
It goes the other way around too… Deaf do the same thing with other deaf too. Don’t sign good enough and they will thing you are inferior too. It has happened to me and I don’t go to any more club outings now.
The way I see it is – it is their lost!
January 16th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
MZ
I enjoyed my life in the hearing world and when it was time to go to college, I decided to go to Gallaudet, a deaf world college.
That was a new reality for me to adventure into. It was a good thing that I was an adventure type person to see what it was like to be in the deaf world, starting at Gallaudet.
Yes, I had to learn a new language, sign language. But if I did not like it, I could go back into the hearing world reality which may be hard for me in socialization reality.
Now after learning ASL in depth rather than superficially level, I found paradise, married a deaf girl and lived happily for over 35 years in the deaf world.
Even though I am a very bi-culturally person, I am blessed that I know two language, ASL and English- verbally/reading/writing.
I can image why some are afraid to enter the sign language culture. They need to be brave just like being brave enough to try cochlear implant surgery.
Bilingual is a bigger reality to enjoy life.
I am a living proof of it.
John Egbert
January 16th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
kim- it requires a lot of money to begin with to have a well-established professional group of deaf people but it is not “impossible” – just requiring a lot of volunteer time on our part. i understand your reasoning, and i agree with you. i am simply suggesting that you offer your time to work together since you are very familiar with a group of late-deafened people.
i do not know where to begin with for that, but my thinking is that DBC would be a good to start for that. i am not involved in this, but i’m keeping eye on this and i certainly will suggest that dbc expands its outreach horizons to other people.
you mentioned that “there is no professional group of deaf educators to help late-deaf and parents of Deaf transition into Deaf culture.” I need to inform you that in reality there is NO such professional group or organization to advocate and promote positive benefits for ASL. Many deafies, including myself, could have benefited from that. Imagine that, NONE!
It looks like people in our generation are now trying to break out the cycle by taking actions. Establishing DBC just very recently is an example, but since it’s still in its infancy stage (at least in my opinion) and far from becoming well-established. however, i say: OH ABOUT THE TIME that we are doing something for ASL!
Brian- i hope that you will find a way to get over this and move on. seriously, life is too short to carry on that animosity. if you want to “screw it” with the deaf community, fine and that is up to you but it is not a good reason to drag the rest of us along with you.
yes, i have seen negative comments being thrown at you at other sites and believe me, i feel that they are unwarranted. to be fair, you did your share in this bashing toward deaf community and its culture.
nevertheless, i believe we all are unique in our own ways and nobody is perfect. my best to you and your family.
January 16th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
To John Egbert,
You see it as bravery to enter the Deaf world. Simply because that took bravery on your part does not mean that it would be the same for others. If a CI teen getting ready to enter college has no interest in or feels no need to go to Gallaudet but is, instead, excited by another college, would you then call them cowards? Perhaps bravery to them is attending a mainstream college several hours away from home where, for the first time in their lives, they are totally responsible for maintaining their CI processors, finding an in town audiologist for mappings and getting there themselves, maintaining their portable soundfield system or FM on their own and explaining to professors how to use it. Regardless of what path a deaf person chooses, reaching young adulthood, going off on their own, and independently making choices about their future takes bravery.
January 16th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
The claim that classifiers do not exist in spoken languages is not quite correct. According to some linguists, some spoken languages contain classifiers. The source to support this statement is the article titled “Visible Verbs Become Spoken” by William C. Stokoe in the Winter 2005 issue (Volume 5, Number 2) of Sign Language Studies (p. 152 to 169, subject of classifiers starts on page 156). Googling on “classifier language” gives some shallow information about the classifiers in the spoken languages.
Joseph Pietro Riolo
josephpietrojeungriolo@gmail.com
Public domain notice: I put all of my expressions in this post in the public domain.
January 16th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Melissa,
No, I would not call them cowards.
This is my journey into reality whatever it takes til the day I am buried in the ground.
I just wanted to share what I have gone through and no need for me to be selfish to keep my experience only to myself.
By all means, do whatever you feel happy to be in life. One way or another, we still be six feet in the ground regardless soon.
It is my “inter”-feelings(sp?) of not to be selfish, I want to share my realization of what I see and feel of being deaf and the alternative to enjoy life.
Please understand my limitation of explaining this to you. Disregard my grammar, please see between the lines how I want you to feel what I am trying to say.
John Egbert
January 16th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
#7- thanks. learned something new. seems like classifiers have different functions in spoken languages? i will look into this and learn more about it. i’ll rephrase to reflect what i mean, using classifiers in sign language, e.g. ASL, can involve use of space, for example, to show locative relationship between two nouns. can that be accomplished in spoken languages? maybe an expert can explain it better than i.
January 17th, 2008 at 1:14 am
Yeah, there are many deaf community sites.
I have joined in several
January 17th, 2008 at 1:43 am
Brenster–I’m pretty sure most late-deaf or hearing people who NEED to take ASL for Deaf family members would pay a Deaf person for their services. I am paying to take community college classes– and it ain’t cheap! I would gladly pay a Deaf person for individual one-on-one tutorings. I wouldn’t ask Deaf people to volunteer their time.
January 17th, 2008 at 3:40 am
Kim’s – HA
You just don’t know how many Hearies have taken advantage of Deaf JUST to learn signing and ASL.
It gets harder and harder to trust Hearies motivations sometimes.
We all have our own experiences and reasons for so…
That’s good you’d rather pay a Deaf person, but seems to be most unusual… In my experience anyway, as a Deaf person…
January 17th, 2008 at 5:47 am
I found it very interesting.
January 17th, 2008 at 10:39 am
MJ, about kim, she is becoming deaf. so it makes sense to want to learn sign language. kim knows about past exploitations on deaf people, etc etc. she has a blog, and talked about wanting to learn ASL, taking class at a college, etc etc. i believe that she is sincere about that.
January 17th, 2008 at 10:43 am
kim- sounds good to work with Deaf and ASL mentor/coach or whatever, and hope you find one in your area. i know that it is not easy.
i was talking about that outreach idea of yours. i believe that it can happen. it is just a matter of when and what group, etc. let’s keep that in mind.
January 18th, 2008 at 6:59 am
Responding to comment #9 made by brenster:
I don’t know the exact answer to your questions but I want to mention that the users of spoken languages do use space as well as the users of signed languages. But, the former do not use space as often as the latter and their use of space is not as sophisticated as the latter. Regardless, they do use space. We sometimes see the users of spoken languages use their hands to give directions, describe events or indicate the location of different things. For example, a captain in a football team uses his (or her, female football players do exist
hands to tell the members where they should be. A conversation like this could happen: “Tom, you go over there [use his right hand and point to the far location] Bill, you go over there [use his left hand and point to the far location] when we start, I want both of you run straight [move his hands forward] for about 10 yards then cross each other [move his hands to mimic the cross].”
The reason why we don’t recognize the use of space by the users of spoken languages is that the paradigm of linguists does not include the use of space in spoken languages. For example, the hands can’t be analyzed into morphemes or grammar. Because the paradigm excludes the use of hands, we are led to believe that the users of spoken languages do not use space in spite of the reality that shows the opposite.
On the subject of classifier, I want to quote several passages to illustrate that there are more to classifiers than we expect. The following passages come from the same article that I mentioned in my previous comment: “Visible Verbs Become Spoken” by William C. Stokoe in the Winter 2005 issue (Volume 5, Number 2) of Sign Language Studies (p. 152 to 169)
Page 156 on definition of classifier:
ASL has been called a classifier language, and writers have identified about a dozen signs of ASL that fit Keith Allan’s definition for classifiers:
[C]lassifiers are defined on two criteria: (a) they occur as morphemes in surface structures under specifiable conditions; (b) they have meaning, in the sense that a classifier denotes some salient perceived or imputed characteristic of the entity to which an associated noun refers (or may refer). [footnote 2]
Page 158 on type of classifier languages:
In his study of more than fifty “classifier languages,” Allan categorizes the languages as belonging “to one of four types – (i) numeral classifier languages, (ii) concordial classifier languages, (iii) predicate classifier languages, and (iv) intra-locative classifier languages.” [footnote 5] ASL uses numeral classifiers, but it seems to be mainly the third type, a predicate classifier language.
Page 159-160 on the categories of classification:
Allan defines seven categories of classification: material, shape, consistency, size, location, arrangement [arrangement classifiers in English are row or tier], and quanta [heap or bunch]. He writes, “The last two occur in languages like English which are not classifier languages but so far as I can judge, the first five occur only in classifier languages.” [footnote 9]
Classifier is a fantastic topic, isn’t it?
Joseph Pietro Riolo
josephpietrojeungriolo@gmail.com
February 1st, 2008 at 9:55 pm
I enjoyed the blog. Very interesting. Has anyone heard about PepsiCo’s deaf commercial that is being aired before the Superbowl this Sunday? I think it’s wonderful that they are creating more awareness to the public. Here is some behind the scenes footage for anyone who is interested. http://youtube.com/watch?v=cD7uLrjKpuY&feature=related
Enjoy!