Deaf Sisters: ASL Expands Our World
While reading other stories on DeafRead and this blog, we noticed that the issue of “missing opportunities” and “being in a box” often came up when discussing deaf people who grew up using ASL. We thought this over and spent a good time discussing it. We realized that we truly do not feel as if we missed out on anything because of our upbringing – in fact, we feel our lives have been enriched by it. We cannot think of any opportunities that we have missed due to being part of the Deaf community. We thought we would grab this opportunity to share our story and share our success in a bilingual environment.
We are sisters, both in our twenties and attending college. We grew up in a four-generation deaf family. We have a younger hard-of-hearing brother who is bilingual as well. Because of his early language acquisition with ASL; he is making great progress in ASL and spoken English. We never once experienced any negativity towards being deaf. In fact, deaf members of our family were well educated and successful. For example, our grandfather was the oldest of eight children and the only one to attend college. He went on to earn four master degrees at various universities and received an honorary doctorate from Gallaudet. He always attributed this success to his being deaf; as the rest of his brothers and sisters stayed behind to work on the family farm while he went to the state school for the deaf and eventually to college. He also worked his way throughout college, sending money back home to support his family. We grew up hearing stories such as this and always felt proud of being deaf for it opened many opportunities for people like our grandfather. Our parents also have post-secondary degrees and were excellent bilingual models for us. Most importantly, they provided us with early and full access to both languages, ASL and English.
We grew up attending an excellent state school for the deaf where we were taught bilingually. We were always told that we knew two languages and that we were fortunate to be successful in both. Our parents always pushed us to excel in school, reading with us every night. That really helped us to develop strong English skills. We also took speech classes throughout Elementary school at the insistence of our parents. We were never pressured to speak perfectly or made to feel that we were less of a human being because we couldn’t hear or speak. Speech classes were always fun. We were able to choose whether we wanted to continue with speech classes once we entered middle school, and both of us opted not to. Many of our peers did continue and succeeded with their speaking skills. We both also wore hearing aids throughout elementary school but we decided to stop when we realized we did not really want or need them. We could communicate just fine with anybody, either through ASL or written English. Our negative encounters with hearing people did not happen because we could not speak, but because they were not willing to try to communicate with us.
Growing up, we participated in sports, girl scouts, student government, Junior National Association of the Deaf, deaf camps, international studies, yearbook… you name it, we probably did it. We had a rich and active social life, including friends from coast to coast. Through various competitions, we were able to travel and meet all kinds of people, both deaf and hearing. Our school played against local public schools, along with deaf schools from different states. That exposed us to parts of America we would otherwise not have seen. Our hearing cousins are always mentioning how lucky we were to be deaf and experience those things because they didn’t have the same opportunities.
Both of us have traveled to several countries and in each one of them, we met local deaf people who were more than willing to share their cultures with us. It was fascinating for us to see different deaf communities and sign languages in every country we visited. We feel fortunate to be deaf, because we feel it makes us “global” citizens, able to connect with deaf people all over the world. That is what we would have missed if we did not know about the deaf community and how closely intertwined it is.
Our positive experiences growing up as deaf individuals have enabled us to truly become productive citizens of the world. We are passionate about many issues that face our world today such as global warming, war, world hunger, social injustice, AIDS, deaf education, politics, environmental issues, animal rights, and the list goes on. Yes, we sometimes take opposite positions on issues and debate away in ASL! We act on those passions by participating in community events, rallies, and activities in solidarity with our hearing peers. One of us is currently actively involved in a state youth environmental alliance where universities are banding together to work on educating the public on environmental issues. We volunteer whenever we can through local volunteer organizations. One of us did an internship with a federal agency and the other will travel to a third world country to work with young children. One of us is planning to join the Peace Corps upon graduation. One of us dreams of being an advocate for social equality and the other dreams of working in developing countries to create educational opportunities for deaf people. To date, we have not experienced any barriers to our abilities to make a difference; however, that does not mean we have not faced any challenges.
We do recognize that the world out there isn’t always a welcoming and accepting place. We are well aware of the injustice and oppression deaf people face on a daily basis. We have experienced sympathy from well-meaning hearing people upon discovering that we are deaf and cannot speak. We struggle sometimes to get interpreters provided at public events. We have been patronized and looked down on because of our ASL usage. We even have been told by other deaf people how shocked they are that we have good English because we use ASL as our primary language. We have friends, even those who can speak, who struggle to get jobs because they are deaf. We know that it probably will happen to us once we get out of college. In spite of all this, we still have a rich and fulfilling life because we are confident in who we are and where we are going. We are part of a linguistic minority here in the United States of America along with many other ethnic groups. We will have to fight harder to educate the majority to assure them of our intelligence and humanity. Every minority group has struggled to gain equal rights and respect – many of them have a long way to go. We are here to educate and enlighten, rather than to conform and wait for the world to change.
Due to all the discussions on DeafRead, we had to ask ourselves if we are missing out on anything because we grew up bilingual in the Deaf community in a mostly deaf family? The conclusion we reached was that the only times we might have missed out is due to the ignorance of other people about the capabilities of deaf people. This is probably true for every person who is different from the majority culture, either by birth or by choice.
To sum it up, our lives have been enriched by our involvement in the deaf community and that has helped us form strong identities as Deaf Women, but more importantly, as global citizens. We look forward to continuing making a difference in this world.
The Deaf Sisters
Commentary: I know these sisters as well as their dad. I can asset that they all are doing extremely well. Any parent would be so proud of these girls. *hands waving* MZ
While reading other stories on DeafRead and this blog, we noticed that the issue of “missing opportunities” and “being in a box” often came up when discussing deaf people who grew up using ASL. We thought this over and spent a good time discussing it. We realized that we truly do not feel as if we missed out on anything because of our upbringing – in fact, we feel our lives have been enriched by it. We cannot think of any opportunities that we have missed due to being part of the Deaf community. We thought we would grab this opportunity to share our story and share our success in a bilingual environment.
We are sisters, both in our twenties and attending college. We grew up in a four-generation deaf family. We have a younger hard-of-hearing brother who is bilingual as well. Because of his early language acquisition with ASL; he is making great progress in ASL and spoken English. We never once experienced any negativity towards being deaf. In fact, deaf members of our family were well educated and successful. For example, our grandfather was the oldest of eight children and the only one to attend college. He went on to earn four master degrees at various universities and received an honorary doctorate from Gallaudet. He always attributed this success to his being deaf; as the rest of his brothers and sisters stayed behind to work on the family farm while he went to the state school for the deaf and eventually to college. He also worked his way throughout college, sending money back home to support his family. We grew up hearing stories such as this and always felt proud of being deaf for it opened many opportunities for people like our grandfather. Our parents also have post-secondary degrees and were excellent bilingual models for us. Most importantly, they provided us with early and full access to both languages, ASL and English.
We grew up attending an excellent state school for the deaf where we were taught bilingually. We were always told that we knew two languages and that we were fortunate to be successful in both. Our parents always pushed us to excel in school, reading with us every night. That really helped us to develop strong English skills. We also took speech classes throughout Elementary school at the insistence of our parents. We were never pressured to speak perfectly or made to feel that we were less of a human being because we couldn’t hear or speak. Speech classes were always fun. We were able to choose whether we wanted to continue with speech classes once we entered middle school, and both of us opted not to. Many of our peers did continue and succeeded with their speaking skills. We both also wore hearing aids throughout elementary school but we decided to stop when we realized we did not really want or need them. We could communicate just fine with anybody, either through ASL or written English. Our negative encounters with hearing people did not happen because we could not speak, but because they were not willing to try to communicate with us.
Growing up, we participated in sports, girl scouts, student government, Junior National Association of the Deaf, deaf camps, international studies, yearbook… you name it, we probably did it. We had a rich and active social life, including friends from coast to coast. Through various competitions, we were able to travel and meet all kinds of people, both deaf and hearing. Our school played against local public schools, along with deaf schools from different states. That exposed us to parts of America we would otherwise not have seen. Our hearing cousins are always mentioning how lucky we were to be deaf and experience those things because they didn’t have the same opportunities.
Both of us have traveled to several countries and in each one of them, we met local deaf people who were more than willing to share their cultures with us. It was fascinating for us to see different deaf communities and sign languages in every country we visited. We feel fortunate to be deaf, because we feel it makes us “global” citizens, able to connect with deaf people all over the world. That is what we would have missed if we did not know about the deaf community and how closely intertwined it is.
Our positive experiences growing up as deaf individuals have enabled us to truly become productive citizens of the world. We are passionate about many issues that face our world today such as global warming, war, world hunger, social injustice, AIDS, deaf education, politics, environmental issues, animal rights, and the list goes on. Yes, we sometimes take opposite positions on issues and debate away in ASL! We act on those passions by participating in community events, rallies, and activities in solidarity with our hearing peers. One of us is currently actively involved in a state youth environmental alliance where universities are banding together to work on educating the public on environmental issues. We volunteer whenever we can through local volunteer organizations. One of us did an internship with a federal agency and the other will travel to a third world country to work with young children. One of us is planning to join the Peace Corps upon graduation. One of us dreams of being an advocate for social equality and the other dreams of working in developing countries to create educational opportunities for deaf people. To date, we have not experienced any barriers to our abilities to make a difference; however, that does not mean we have not faced any challenges.
We do recognize that the world out there isn’t always a welcoming and accepting place. We are well aware of the injustice and oppression deaf people face on a daily basis. We have experienced sympathy from well-meaning hearing people upon discovering that we are deaf and cannot speak. We struggle sometimes to get interpreters provided at public events. We have been patronized and looked down on because of our ASL usage. We even have been told by other deaf people how shocked they are that we have good English because we use ASL as our primary language. We have friends, even those who can speak, who struggle to get jobs because they are deaf. We know that it probably will happen to us once we get out of college. In spite of all this, we still have a rich and fulfilling life because we are confident in who we are and where we are going. We are part of a linguistic minority here in the United States of America along with many other ethnic groups. We will have to fight harder to educate the majority to assure them of our intelligence and humanity. Every minority group has struggled to gain equal rights and respect – many of them have a long way to go. We are here to educate and enlighten, rather than to conform and wait for the world to change.
Due to all the discussions on DeafRead, we had to ask ourselves if we are missing out on anything because we grew up bilingual in the Deaf community in a mostly deaf family? The conclusion we reached was that the only times we might have missed out is due to the ignorance of other people about the capabilities of deaf people. This is probably true for every person who is different from the majority culture, either by birth or by choice.
To sum it up, our lives have been enriched by our involvement in the deaf community and that has helped us form strong identities as Deaf Women, but more importantly, as global citizens. We look forward to continuing making a difference in this world.
The Deaf Sisters
Commentary: I know these sisters as well as their dad. I can asset that they all are doing extremely well. Any parent would be so proud of these girls. *hands waving* MZ
January 25th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Great blog. The key to anyone’s success lies in the parental involvement… this blog cannot stress enough of this fact alone.
Read, read, read!
January 25th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
[...] Dvanula.com wrote an interesting post today on Deaf Sisters: ASL Expands Our WorldHere’s a quick excerpt…world today such as global warming, war, world hunger, social injustice, AIDS, deaf education, politics, environmental issues, animal rights… [...]
January 25th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Beautiful!!!!!!
January 25th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Beautiful! This echoes my experience and that of many other Deaf people, and eloquently expresses the feeling that being Deaf is no hindrance to a full and satisfying life. Thanks!
January 25th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Nathie Marbury is another example…she is the only college graduate of her big hearing family…she credited herself being deaf and using ASL that “saved” her, if I interpreted that correctly from watching her DVD.
http://www.nad.org/site/pp.asp?c=foINKQMBF&b=2276527
January 25th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
I really enjoyed reading this! You wrote: “The conclusion we reached was that the only times we might have missed out is due to the ignorance of other people about the capabilities of deaf people.”
Beautifully said!
January 25th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
*smiles* You guys are living proof that a Deaf person’s life can be just as rich as any other’s.
Very eloquent and evocative post.
January 25th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
You want to know about cochlear implant poll.
http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/320907/results
turn off topic
January 25th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Eloquently and beautifully expressed, you two young sisters! Deaf children love reading and have a flair for writing because their SIGNING parents read stories to them whereas deaf children of NON-SIGNING parents have the aversion to reading.
I shall, therefore, take the liberty to say:
ASL is to stay! Yes, ASL is to stay even if babies were implanted.
Jean
January 25th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Jean… my HEARING parents read books to me every night. I am an avid reader despite the fact that my parents were hearing.
Be careful with your words. Not all deaf children of hearing parents hate reading.
January 25th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Beautiful and very true. The bottom line, being deaf doesn’t doom one’s life but it actually could open up more doors to the world! The story told by two sisters is a great example! I can completely relate to that. Thank you for sharing!
Interesting, low number of comments.
I’m trying to figure out where did Jean say about deaf and hearing parents, hmm. The signing and non-signing parents do not mean deaf and hearing. Hearing parents could be signers or non-signers. Deaf parents could be signers and, in some case, non-signers. That’s what I understand from what Jean said in her comment.
As long as there is clear communication between parents and their children, that’s what is important in language development (e.g. reading, critical thinking skills, etc etc).
January 25th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
What a wonderful story by these two sisters!!! As a hearing parent whose daughter was also raised bilingually, I am so proud of this generation of young adults. Keep speaking out. It is time that more hearing parents learn that there is so much more to being “deaf” than just “hearing”. You said it so perfectly.
January 25th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
brenster,
What I meant in my comment (vid. supra) is that parents, be they deaf or hearing, should learn sign language (see Amy Cohen-Efron’s “The Greatest Irony”). Sign language is deaf children’s natural language. Once they acquire sign language, it is much easier for them to acquire a second language.
I was exposed to sign language and English by Mom and French by Daddy. By the time I entered an oral school at St. Francis Xavier, I read Latin. The teachers, nuns themselves, who were extremely well-educated, noticed la différence between myself and my classmates whose parents had no knowledge of sign language. What happened? The nuns realised that teaching speech would be time-wasting and therefore abandoned speech training and used sign language in the classroom. Results were that the progress was much faster via sign language. We became bilingual in this approach.
Language is numero uno to me because language is the next step to learning (education).
Unfortunately, AGB does not see any value in sign language that helps deaf children make a smooth transition to English. Speech, or oralism, is numero uno to AGB.
When oral children go home, parents, who do not know sign language, do not communicate with them. I have a plethora of anecdotes about non-signing parents and their deaf children, but I will show an example as follows:
1. Isabelle: “Mom, what did Uncle Henry say?”
2. Mom: “Later.”
3. 30 minutes later
4. Isabelle: “Mom, you forgot to tell me what
Uncle Henry said.”
5. Mom: “Oh, I cannot remember.”
6. Isabelle felt left out by her non-signing
family — be the family deaf or hearing.
January 25th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Deaf Sisters,
I know many deaf people like you. Thank you for setting an example. Best wishes in continuing to make a difference.
God bless you.
January 25th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Jean- I completely agree with you. That’s cool about how they changed in method to teach yall at that school!
What I tried to say is that when you said signing parents, you didn’t mean they are deaf, but they could be hearing, too.
all in all, i agree with what you said in last comment.
January 25th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
brenster – I thought the same thing about the low number of commentators here!
Interesting observation, yes…
You’d think there would be a bunch of people rooting here.
*shrugs*
January 26th, 2008 at 12:11 am
Inspiring story! It seems a lot easier for Deaf children to grow up with Deaf parents because they share a natural language, ASL and have Deaf culture. I grew up in a hearing family with spoken English as the primary language and it wasn’t easy being only one deaf family member. Now our children are using ASL beautifully with me and my husband!
Deaf Parent
January 29th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Extremely well told. Your story represents so many deaf people in this world. Your story also shuts the mouth (even hands) of many clueless and oppressive people who view us with a limited mind.
Thank you for bringing us to the spotlight and opening the eyes and minds of many as to the success that they, too, can have.