Understanding Deaf Culture - Term Paper Example

Letter to Ladd Dear Ladd, I don’t want to imagine the feeling in your heart or expression on your face by the time thisletter gets to you. I am even not sure if, in the first place, that this letter will get to you. It is a strange letter from a total stranger. However, as someone deeply touched by your book, Understanding Deaf Culture, I still choose to write down my reflections on the subject matter expressed therein. But before I begin my account please allow me to be a little bit courteous by introducing myself. I am a student who was tasked to study your book. Reading not being part and parcel of my hobby, I felt this was a toll order for me. Unfortunately, the inevitability of the assignment and seriousness of my instructor compelled me to set aside some evenings to study your book. I never knew that it would have such a lasting impact in my life. A couple of pages down from the cover page were enough reason to capture my attention in totality. It was beyond my wild imagination that a deaf person like you could be superbly gifted to come up with such a piece. As demeaning as this previous statement may sound, I must say that I personally do not read much from it as you have taught me to appreciate your coined concept of “deafhood.” And since your book sought to convince radical sectors, I being included, that deaf communities are far from being objects of pity and benevolence, I choose to regard the deaf culture just as any culture as I even dig deeper into your book. As a child I have always tried to figure out what life as a Deaf person is all about. Walking down the streets you meet countless people with varied facial expression. Some of them have smiling faces; others frowned, while others show no emotion. Also, you encounter people with different disabilities such as blind, lame, among many others. However, there is this special group you may never know their disability not unless somebody whispers to your ears or you see them constantly making some “funny” gestures. I am talking about the deaf people. Indeed the plight of the deaf is unimaginable. It is hard for them to communicate with majority groups as the majority group does not understand their language and neither do they understand the language of the majority group. Noteworthy, though, the majority groups have the ability to understand the language of the deaf, but the dead do not have the ability to understand the language of the majority. It is at such instances that I always pause and ask myself why our policy makers have failed to recognize sign language just at the rest of the other linguistics? Perhaps a reflection in your book, Understanding the Deaf Culture, would be critical in helping me gain insight in some of these questions that I constantly ask myself. It is very unfortunate that majority societies have for so long failed to appreciate the deaf culture. For this reason, the deaf people have been subjected to a liberation struggle in a bid to help ‘others’ appreciate them and what they can offer to them. As you rightly submit, the big question that the deaf communities have sought answers from their society is the reason as to why they are overburdened with proving the existence of their culture. They have also had to contend with the idea of raising funds in order to accumulate evidence which “proves” that their sign languages are bona fide languages, and that the collective sign languages are bona die languages, and that the collective lives of Deaf people are bona fide cultures. Something unique about your book is that it targets a broad range of audience including deaf communities, parents of the deaf, people who care for the deaf, as well as the radical sectors. Also, to help others appreciate your arguments and submissions, your coined the term “Deafhood” that alluded to the process of becoming – the struggle by each Deaf child, Deaf family and Deaf adult to explain to themselves and each other their own existence in the world. So far so good, you command of language impressed me that I could not help other than long to have deeper understanding of the points you sought to express in the subsequent chapters. The problem facing the deaf community can be traced to the 20th century upon the “defeat” of the Deaf discourses. During this period, there was a significant reduction in the number of Deaf teachers and trade trainers, as well as decline in Deaf literacy and pride. This was further accompanied by concomitant reduction in the number of quality professional Deaf discourses. Also, further attempts to design a radical Deaf discourse was hampered by the emergence of orally educated hard of hearing Deaf people that was mostly reserved for the offspring of the wealthy. Such co-option worked against Deaf consensus on language, education, and so on. I now understand why you were particularly unhappy with the idea of oralism and its negative effects of the establishment of Deaf culture. Undoubtedly, the people who purport to be helping the Deaf have simply worked to suppress the development of their own identity. As a community, the Deaf need to be allowed opportunity to develop their language through a sense of association and participation in various activities. I particularly take an issue with situation where some companies and organizations exercise prejudice and discrimination when it comes to the selection of their workforce. On pages 144 and I45 of the Twentieth Century discourse you give recount some of the experiences the Deaf people undergo at the work place. For instance, a situation is presented where school principal instructs the manager of a department store that a former student working in that store is not allowed to use sign language or communicate with others in the sign language. This was clearly oppression to the deaf culture. One thing is evident from the entire discussion in your books: Deaf communities need to be empowered to operate under similar principles and political plan as the rest of linguistic minorities. The idea of language planning, its social and cultural significances and agendas must be prioritized. A shocking statistics presented in this book by World Federation of the Deaf is that approximately 80% of the World’s Deaf children hardly access any education. While hearing children also suffer from lack of education, this problem adversely affects the deaf. For example, failure to educate deaf children denies them the opportunity to unite together and begin to form their communities which forms the foundation of their global citizenship. As if that is not enough, lack of education for the deaf automatically condemns them to life of isolation and denigration just as you say in page 436 of your book. Deaf education reform is another aspect that policy makers need to look into when addressing the plight of this minority linguistic group. I find it rather shocking that our able governments watched with no intervention as proponents of Oralism infiltrated the education discourse of the deaf and watered down all efforts previously made to empower deaf communities. As such, it is imperative for expeditious action be undertaken to reconstruct the education system. In a agreement with the concern that you have raised in page 439 of your book, I also envision that time when Oralism would be regarded as an institutionalised form of child abuse which, like any other, should be rendered illegal and anybody practicing it should be liable to not only prosecution but also severe punishment. It is encouraging to for me to learn that some societies have come to the realization of the negative implications of Oralism and, in fact, are more than ready to tender their apologies. Perhaps I should cite the case of formally oralist schools you mention in the same page of your book. The staff from these institutions located in Ireland and Netherlands issues an Apologia for their past activities. Deaf model schools need to be instituted as soon as possible so that our brothers and sisters in the minority can also feel like equal citizens of this planet earth. Bilingual secondary school can be a convenient way to addressing the educational challenges that have beleaguered the deaf children since time in memorial. Those children graduating from the primary bilingual stages should have the absolute opportunity to continuously receive better education. For this to be a reality there is need to incorporate Deaf Studies as an integral part of the school curriculum such that the Deaf child can have confidence and security of knowledge. This further forms the basis for such children to remember where they have come from their potential against other non-disabled persons. Such an environment is fundamental in ensuring that they guard against elitism and do not stray away from their Deaf communities. Hearing Studies is also necessary for the Deaf in bilingual schools to help the Deaf people learn to understand how majority culture works. On page 149 of your book you bring forth another critical issue that needs to be done to address the plight of the deaf – that is media reconstruction. It is rather sorry state of affair that most of programming in mainstream media hardly recognizes the presence of the deaf within the society. This problem does not only affect developing world, but also developed world in places such as United States of America and United Kingdom. It is almost a usual occurrence to visit a household and find people glued on a television screen. However, the shocking bit is that among the viewers is a deaf child silently watching the pictures and trying to connect the dots of what the speaker could be saying. My bone of contention on this is that there is an urgent need to reconstruct our media by at least coming up with one programme per week for each group on each channel, to be run by Deaf people from a Deaf nation perspective. This perspective offers the best platform for Deaf communities to dialogues with each other, hence speeding up the process of reconstruction. Furthermore, it is a laudable idea for media houses to incorporate a sign translator in some of their major programmes so as to make the Deaf communities active participants. Another benefit of incorporating translators in major programmes is that it helps the majority groups to appreciate the presence of the Deaf in their midst and also learn some bit of the sign language. It is undeniable that the Deaf Children, and by extension the entire deaf community, encounter a myriad of challenges in majority societies that hardly recognize the linguistics of the deaf people. It is so unfortunate that members of this community have further been denied the opportunity to access quality education thanks to government neglect and the concept of Oralism. This trend puts them at a rather vulnerable position as they are not able to access knowledge that would fortify their belief in themselves and further guide their efforts in seeking maximum recognition from majority societies. It is a shocking phenomenon to notice that the deaf are denied opportunities to be part and parcel of developments within our societies. This is informed by the reason that they are regarded as individuals difficult to communicate with and, as such, cannot effectively lead an organization to progressive heights. While this limitation bears some truths, it is unfortunate for a society of able people to ignore those who are in one way or the other disadvantaged. This calls for urgent measures that would see serious reforms and incentives being rolled out in the work places. The deaf have absolute rights, just as the rest of the citizens, to participate in the developmental agendas of their societies. As I draw to the end of my letter, I wish to commend you, Mr. Paddy Ladd, for rising above the confines of disability and being true to the premise that “disability is not inability.” I want to believe you are among the few who refused to buy into the idea of Oralism and decided to pursue education to highest of heights and against all the odds. Your command of language can hardly be paralleled by any individual. It was hard even hard for me to realize that you are among the minority group until that instance where you said that, being part and parcel of the Deaf, you take the pleasure to represent their plight and views. Your book has been an eye-opener to what the Deaf need in order to be significantly equal citizens of the planet earth. I noted that the concept of Oralism was a total misconception that immensely contributed to the grounding of deaf communities. It is a total abuse to subject deaf children in this concept and expect them to cope on equal ground with colleagues and others from majority groups. Furthermore, I am in agreement with the ideas you raise regarding reforms in the education sector and media. Reference Ladd, P. (2002). Understanding Deaf Culture: In Search of Deafhood. New York: Tonawanda Read More