CLERC SCAR 19.4
29 December 2009

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THOUGHTS ON ASL AND DEAF CULTURE
Angela C. Orlando
Words: 1,251
[Essay]

As you read this, keep in mind that I don’t identify myself as Deaf culture. I grew up hearing. Even after I began losing my hearing, I was still hearing culture. I got a cochlear implant. I didn’t know any ASL.

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There are a few reasons for this. My whole family is hearing. That means they are hearing culture and so am I. I was educated in the public school system with no special education support at all. I had no contact with the Deaf community or ASL. The oralist professionals who worked with me wanted to make sure I didn’t learn sign language. They believed that would make me too lazy to listen and speak.

When I became totally deaf-blind in my late twenties, I had no choice but to switch to some type of sign language. My family and I began using tactile fingerspelling. Some members of my family think this means they speak ASL. I know better than that.

My ex-husband bought an ASL book so we could learn some real signs. We did not get far with it. He rolled his eyes as he read the introduction about Deaf culture and their “so-called” language.

“It’s all bull,” he told me. “Deaf people are in denial so they pretend they aren’t disabled. They hide behind their stupid culture and language. None of it’s real.”

He reminded me that I will never fit into the Deaf community. “You have a cochlear implant. You are a traitor. They hate you because they are jealous that you can hear now.”

He tossed the book aside and that was the end of it. Still, I’ve been struggling to learn a better way to communicate for years. I’ve tried working with a private tutor. Since no one else in my family knew the signs I was learning, I couldn’t ever seem to remember them. I had no opportunities to practice or use the signs. The lessons were meaningless with no real life experience.

Finally, I enrolled in the ASL program at my local university. I just completed ASL III. There are six classes in the program so I am halfway through.

What a difference this has made in my life! I’m not just learning signs that stand for English words. I’m actually learning ASL. With classes twice a week, practicing in the ASL Lab, signing to students and friends outside of class, and attending Deaf socials and community events, I’m finally really learning something. I’ve found myself in a new world–enriched with language and culture and people who accept me for who I am. This is more than I ever expected to achieve from a college education.

Now I have some thoughts about ASL and Deaf culture that I would like to share. First, I’ve discovered something shocking. They’ve been teaching us this since the beginning but I didn’t really understand until now. The idea was lost on me in ASL I, where we learned mostly vocabulary. ASL ii hinted at this as we studied sentence structure more in depth. ASL III finally drove the concept home. My eyes have opened. I understand! I get it now!

Here’s the truth–ASL is a language. It is actually a real and true language. It’s not a signed form of English. It’s not just gestures and slang. It’s a language!

I remember one day when I felt overwhelmed by all the rules and requirements of learning ASL. I naively proclaimed, “It’s like learning a foreign language.”

Now I know the truth. It IS a foreign language. ASL is a language with its own grammar structure and linguistic rules. I’m not learning to sign. I’m learning to “speak” a new language.

I am fascinated by ASL in comparison to English. Of course, hearing people think that English is superior to ASL. It amuses me to realize that ASL can often convey more information than English. Using classifiers, directional verbs, inflections and more, ASL can describe nouns in more detail and give better information about how things are spatially related.

English can tell you that the boy is standing beside a tree. ASL will tell you exactly where the boy is standing in relationship to the tree. Is he very close to it or a little away? Is he in front of it? Is he to the left or the right? ASL will give you that info and more. It can even tell you the size of the tree and in which direction the boy is facing.

English will tell you that the girl is walking down the street. ASL will tell you how she is walking. Is she moving fast? Is she walking slow? Is she staggering from side to side? Is she walking a little then stopping and walking again? ASL will show you in what direction she is walking and if she’s in the middle of the street or on the side.

Sorry, all you English speaking folk. ASL scores way more points in this area.

I may be learning ASL but I’m still not part of the Deaf community. I admire Deaf culture and sometimes I’m even jealous of it. But I’m still living in a hearing world and identifying myself as hearing culture. I don’t know if that will ever change. Only time will tell.

I now understand Deaf culture better. I realize that Deaf people are not in denial. It’s not fake or stupid. They share something very special that binds them together as a community. It’s the language.

It makes sense that a group of people speaking the same language would form their own culture. They have something unique in common with each other. It’s also something very vital and basic in life and society. It’s the ability to communicate with others, share values, history, goals, and needs. It’s a community centered around a language. It’s just like any other culture.

There is one final thing I would like to comment on. Cochlear implants. Do people in the Deaf community really hate me because I have a cochlear implant? I don’t think so. They seem to respect my right to make that decision. I can visit people in the Deaf community and attend their social events. I may have a cochlear implant hanging on my ear but they still give me a chance. It’s not like wearing some giant scarlet letter that marks me as a disgrace. My ex-husband was wrong about that one.

On the other hand, I can see their side of the issue. I recently read a book that talked about the “anxiety of Deaf culture.” We now live in a society that focuses so much on identifying “bad” genes, fixing, repairing, and curing anything that is not normal. Children receive cochlear implants when they are babies. They never have the chance to learn ASL or discover the Deaf community.

Of course that makes people who are culturally Deaf nervous. Do they fear the end of their culture? It must feel a little bit like genocide.

Is ASL at risk of becoming extinct? I don’t think so. Even as children receive cochlear implants at very young ages and doctors try to cure deafness, more and more people are learning ASL. The language is alive and thriving. I suspect that will never change. Something as beautiful and precious as ASL will never die out.

As George W. Veditz so eloquently put it, “As long as we have Deaf people, we will have sign language.” Amen to that.

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