[Becky]

Originally Posted by SecretAgentRat

All of my ASL teachers (I was previously in a program preparing me to be an ASL interpreter) have been deaf. I even had a deaf teacher for lecture classes about Deaf culture (that was rough).

You'd be suprised how many Deaf teachers will--unknown to their students--wear a hearing aide to catch people who talk in class. Since most Deaf people have a small percentage of residual hearing, they can still utilize a hearing aide if they feel the need.

And...the terms "deaf and dumb" or "deaf mute" are rather incorrect. The majority of Deaf people have the capability to speak, they only lack the aural reception in order to integrate speech into their lives. It's incredibly difficult to learn how something is supposed to sound when you have never heard the sound you are trying to achieve.

Gavin is right. Whether or not a Deaf person is pre- or post-lingually deaf has a huge effect on whether or not the person can speak. It's becoming less common for Deaf people to speak as awareness for ASL is growing. Oralism (the instruction of speaking and lip/speech reading) is a dying practice.

I kinda feel that's very very wrong. Here I am trying to learn there language, why wouldn't they try to learn mine? I have actually felt this way for a while, hearing more about the deaf culture. I guess it's just.. I feel like we should ALL do our part to learn how others communicate, whether it's me learning signlanguage, spanish speakers learning english, teaching kids spanish, or deaf learning to speak and sign. Their culture, as I've learned, seams to be very... wrong. It is the kind of culture that WANTS there children to be born deaf too, and discorages the others in their culture from reaching out to non deaf.

*sigh* sorry, that's just been on my mind alot lately.

[bobthecockroach]

It's a little easier for someone who speaks English to learn Spanish than for someone who has never heard a sound to speak a language. (Or someone who could hear for a while but never learned a spoken language.)

[SecretAgentRat]

Originally Posted by Becky

I kinda feel that's very very wrong. Here I am trying to learn there language, why wouldn't they try to learn mine?

They do. Deaf people have to learn how to read and write English (or the Native tongue of their country) to survive in a predominately hearing world. They simply cannot speak it--which is something that, if you really think about it, is out of their control.
Speech without first having the aural capability to hear the speech is incredibly difficult. You try to correctly produce a complex sound without first hearing it.
English has approximately 46 different sounds (give or take a few)...but an alphabet of 26 letters. These sounds are formed in 6 different places in your mouth and there are 4 different ways in which they are produced, using those places of articulation. You try explaining to them how to produce the nasal sound "ing."

I have actually felt this way for a while, hearing more about the deaf culture. I guess it's just.. I feel like we should ALL do our part to learn how others communicate, whether it's me learning signlanguage, spanish speakers learning english, teaching kids spanish, or deaf learning to speak and sign.

To an extent, I agree. But you have to remember--it's not as if Deaf people (in general) are being stubborn about learning our language: They can't hear our language! And they use English every single day of their lives. They, daily, use a language that doesn't make sense to them. English is an extremely difficult language: we have homonyms, synomyns, homophones. But the Deaf people read and write every day in order to communicate with hearing people. Don't tell me that they're not doing their part.

Their culture, as I've learned, seams to be very... wrong. It is the kind of culture that WANTS there children to be born deaf too,

Wouldn't you want your children to be hearing?
Deaf people don't view deafness as something negative. Most Deaf people don't even know that they're "deaf" until they enter school. It's who they are and they want to be able to share that world with their children.

and discorages the others in their culture from reaching out to non deaf.

That's a generalization and not true. Some older Deaf people do have strong feelings against the hearing--but for the most part, we asked for it. Are you aware of some of the cruel tactics used on Deaf children in the earlier 1900's in order to force them to speak? Are you aware of how many Deaf children are alone in their family, excluded from dinner conversation and general socialization with their family because their parents won't learn ASL or a form of sign--the language that makes sense to their children? A lot of Deaf people have horrible experiences with ignorant hearing people that taints their views. Have you never disliked a culture because of a poor experience in it?

Don't generalize. Don't stereotype. Don't make accusations without understanding.

I suggest you read the book "Deaf In America." It's an excellent view of the world from a Deaf person's place.

[danalyn]

Originally Posted by SecretAgentRat

Wouldn't you want your children to be hearing?
Deaf people don't view deafness as something negative. Most Deaf people don't even know that they're "deaf" until they enter school. It's who they are and they want to be able to share that world with their children.

This is an interesting topic as my father and 2 of his brothers were born deaf so we're trying to at least partially prepare ourselves for the possibility that the baby will also be deaf. My doctor says that they will do a hearing test at the hospital so we'll know before we get home...

[LoudRocker]

The Best way to learn Sign is to hang out with people that have to sign to communicate.
The way I learned and taught myself was

1) Learn the alphabet and fingerspell (soon they will get tired of spelling everything out and show you the sign)
2) Start with basic sentences and then go from there
3) I picked up a ASL Dictionary and trained myself to learn 5 signs per day and then tested them out in sentences. If they look at you wierd then fingerspell the word they do not understand and they will show you the sign as they know it. usually if one person in the community knows that particular sign generally they all will.

I did sign language for about 2 years. then i did not have a need to use it.

[MtlMom]

2 1/2 year old thread.