Facts?

[Carl Erickson]

I have been an interpreter for the Deaf for 17 years, I was certified
by the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf 15 years ago. Unlike many
of my more recent colleagues, I was never interested in the "job" of
interpreting, my primary focus at University was
initially Deaf Ed./Early Childhood, it later became Macro-sociology.
During my early University days I was very much into the "politics" of
Deaf Ed, during this time I also assisted in the redevelopment of a
English based Sign System (SEE 1).

I grew tired of the infighting in Deaf Ed., went into practicing Early
Childhood Education, and interpreting quite a bit on the side.
Eventually I took up the study of sociology of large groups (Macro-
Sociology). I found a unique job that incorporated all
my fields of study.

I am a Primary level Interpreter/ tutor.

I have remained outside the bickering, until now. There seems to be
far too much misinformation being handed to the parents of deaf
children, prospective teachers of the deaf, and the deaf population in
general. The misinformation stems from several misconceptions about
American Sign Language, and a studious disregard for the precepts of
anthropology, which define culture.

First, language and culture are not intertwined, language can be a
part of culture, but many cultures survive without the benefit of a
common language. An example of language not being intertwined with
culture would be the english speaking countries of the world. England,
the United States, and Belize would hardly be said to have a common
culture, they do however, all use english. The Jewish culture
survives, irregardless of centuries of attempts to wipe out the
language of Hebrew and Yiddish, and regardless
of the fact that many Jews do not know anymore Hebrew than they did at
the time of their bar or bas mitzvah.

Culture is defined as that body of knowledge, norms, conventions,
rituals etc... that we pass from generation to generation (Primitive
Culture,Edward Burnett Tylor 1871). It goes without saying that one
must be of the culture in question to pass it on. Thus at the early
ages only deaf children of deaf parents would be getting the "deaf
culture" passed to them, later on it would be only the deaf students
of deaf teachers who would receive the benefit."Deaf Culture" is
really a sub-culture, a group of beliefs, attitudes, etc... which are
assumed within a unique social group, not learned generationally. The
deaf population has a culture, it is the culture of their parents and
teachers, they have FORMED a sub-culture for reasons of comfort and
necessity.

Secondly, language. American Sign Language is a language ( W. C.
Stokoe. 'Sign language structure',Studies in Linguistics 8, 1958).
SEE1, SEE2, L.O.V.E., Signed English, are NOT languages, they are
visual coding of the english language. Cued Speech is NOT a language,
it is a visual coding of speech. Pidgin Signed English is Not a
language, it does not even represent english morphology, it is and
never will be a language of any kind, by it's very nature.

There is no such thing as "natural language", languages by their
nature are contrived. They must be agreed upon by those using them in
order to convey meaning. The term "natural language" was coined many
years ago to identify the predominate language in any given area.

The history of American Sign Language is purely that of a sign method,
Clerc brought with him from France and taught to Galludet and hence
the students of that first school a very structured method of signing,
not at all like the manually coded english systems we see today.(
Manual Communication: implications for education, Bornstein. 1990 pp.
2-5)

It evolved with time to what it is now, and will continue to evolve,
assimilating signs from other systems as dictated by need.

English is not ASL, and ASL is not english. I we expect a child to
read english we'd best make sure they have a background in the
language BEFORE we open the book and tell them to read!

Carl Bradley Erickson
"We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one dirrectly, affects all indirectly." Dr. Matin Luther King Jr. 'Letter from Birmingham Jail' April 16 1963

The greatest work upon this earth, is not always to make real your own dream, it can be more noble to encourage the fruitation of another's dream.

[Quaxo]

I really enjoyed your entry. I am an ASL student who has always admired
and appreciated sign language, but am torn between the history of politics
and prejudices that seem to be embedded into the brains of all "hearing"
students. I do not feel I am hearing, nor do I care if a person is deaf,
Deaf, HH, or has a CI. I feel they are simply people who I would love to
meet and be able to communicate better with for my own knowledge.

I want to become an interpreter because I feel hearing people do take
advantage of Deaf. I want to give my friends that I meet the chance to
understand what people are speaking around them just as much as I wish I
can learn the beautiful "physical" language that most Deaf people I meet
"speak". But at the same time, the schools teach me that Deaf people hate
Hearing people and I don't want to be placed in a category where I cannot
defend myself. I have never met a person who has hated me because I hear,
whether they be Deaf or Hearing.

I wish we could all just get along!!

Thank you for your time and encouragement. I think if the students in my
classes could understand the basis of "language" and the attitudes,
ethics, ettiquette, and most importantly, Culture, "we" could learn to be
the first Hearing people that Deaf actually like and could learn to
appreciate.

Sincerely,

Quaxo

[Barbara Garrison]

Please don't think that all deaf people hate hearing people. That
absolutely isn't true. Keep on trying. It's a joy to be bilingual and
bicultural.