Deaf Culture Research Paper

From antiquity, being deaf was looked upon as an undesirable and a culture which was disconnected with the rest of mainstream society. Often members of the community found themselves ostracized by members of other cultures, who viewed them with suspicion, and were thought to be possessed, or in communion, with undesirable “spirits”, particularly during the advent of the Christianity that was in practice during the Middle Ages. During this period, before the advent of Gutenberg’s metal, movable type printing press, the populace was mostly illiterate and religious texts and spiritual obligations/instructions were verbally transmitted to the people by the literate clerics of the day. Thus, the deaf were believed to have no access to “Fides

This also discouraged some parents from enrolling their child because they did not want them to be away for such long periods of time. Now schools for the deaf are more common, and deaf children can attend mainstream public schools also; making it apparent that just because a child is deaf does not mean that they are dumb by any means.

A movement had happened at a Deaf college, known as the Deaf President Now movement. This happened at Gallaudet which is the first Deaf school in the U.S. named after Thomas Gallaudet. For over 124 years Gallaudet has had a hearing president to represent the school, on March 6, 1988 that all changed. A angry mob of Deaf college students had have enough and a protest against the College for electing a hearing president began. The Deaf students of Gallaudet had had enough and started a protest leading to a movement. Finally, it seemed, the world’s only liberal arts college for the Deaf would have a Deaf president.

The legacy of Laurent Clerc is long withstanding. As the first teacher for deaf individuals, he pioneered a system of teaching the deaf that carries on today. Without him, the American School for the Deaf may not have come to fruition. By offering classes in sign

For those who were deaf in the United States during the 1800s, it was very difficult to get any education, and higher education was practically

Thomas H. Gallaudet started wanting to teach deaf children way back when he was young and lived

education of children who were deaf, dumb and blind expanded to children who required education

During the late 1800’s a fundamental movement towards deaf people had begun. The world started to become more understanding of deaf people. Instead, of treating them as if they were lower beings, they were now seen as equals. New Jersey founded its first deaf school in 1882, called New Jersey's State Institution for the Deaf and Dump. Later in 1965 the school had changed its name to Marie H. Katzenbach school for the deaf and has kept the same name. From the moment it first opened the school became a second home to many deaf people. A home that raised incredible athletes, writers and articles. The school being one of New Jersey historical monuments, parts of the school had been converted into a museum to show the hearing world what deaf people have accomplished.

Although it has been suggested by Ladd (2003) that the humans used gestures to communicate since the inception of the humanity, the notion to practice unjust authority over the Deaf people began with Aristotle who stressed Deaf people were unable

Clec was from the Paris Institution for the Deaf and had been deaf since infancy. He bought to the United States a nonverbal form of communication known as French sign language.

From 427 B.C until at least the Middle Ages, those who were deaf were treated poorly. It was believed that without speech there was no intelligence. Therefore the deaf were not capable of intelligence or ideas. Aristotle believed that because the deaf could not hear, they could not reason and were viewed as barbarians. He thought that learning was impossible without hearing. Parents were told that their children were born deaf because God was punishing them for their sins. Deaf were committed to insane asylums because they were accused of being possessed by demons (Shaner, 2008).

While reading " Deaf in America: Voices From A Culture " I notice the purpose of this book was to wrote about Deaf people in a new and different way. The book main focus is that Deaf people have a condition that they can't hear. The culture of Deaf people is what both authors want to begin yo betray. What I found interesting while reading is that the majority of indidivauls within the community of Deaf people do not join it at birth. While reading these chapters I've seen both auhtors try to present the culture from the inside to discover how Deaf people describe themselves and how they think about their lives.

According to an online journal by Carla A. Halpern, in 1817, a Connecticut clergyman named Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, opened the first permanent school for the deaf in Hartford (Halpern, C., 1996). This deaf school was for American children which only had seven students and a head teacher by the name of Laurent Clerc. Clec was from the Paris Institution for the Deaf and had been deaf since infancy. He bought to the United States a nonverbal form of communication known as French sign language (Halpern, C., 1996).

“You have to be deaf to understand the deaf”’ is a deaf poem by Willard Madsen, and he was written at 1971’s. He was a professor of journalism and former Associate Professor of Sign Language at Gallaudet University. He was born from Peabody, Kansas in 1930s. He lost his hearing to scarlet fever when he was two age. He attended public junior high school before he transferring to Kansas school for the Deaf at Olathe. He went on to study at Gallaudet. He graduating in 1952s with a degree in the education. He do taught at the Louisiana school for the Deaf for five years after, he received a master’s degree from Louisiana State University. After he joined to Gallaudet faculty in 1957s, and he taught at gallaudet for 39 years when he have retirement at 1996s. His career was spent to teaching journalism and english to preparatory students. He was a founding member of American Sign language Teachers Association, which provided certification for sign teachers across the country. He wrote two text book for sign language but, he was well known as a poets in both American Sign Language and English. Classics of Deaf cultures are “You have to be deaf to Understand” and “NO!”.

Although oralism was encouraged and taught in schools, the natural language of the Deaf continued outside its walls. The main problem stood because Deaf people did not have a say on how they wanted to be educated. Olaf Hanson was the president of the National Association of the Deaf at this time and made a statement saying that while most deaf people were not opposed to oral instruction, they were deeply opposed to the exclusive use of the oral method for all the deaf, and... to the abolition of the sign language (Baynton, 1996). Though the Deaf community wanted to be able to use sign language, oralism continued to be brought into their schools and became the only choice of education.