Deaf Sports Research Paper

Heather Whitestone has contributed so much to deaf history. In 1995 Heather made history by being crowned the first deaf Miss America. She has raised awareness for Deaf and hard of hearing people all over the United States. She has written three books, been part of the National Council on Disability, promoted awareness for deaf issues, and ,of course, been the first deaf woman to win the Miss America title.

Quote/intro: “As a profoundly deaf woman, my experiences have shown me that the impossible is indeed possible!” Heather Whitestone won miss America in 1995 by dancing ballet en Pointe to “Via Dolorosa” (Street of Sorrows). “Despite her deafness, she pursued her dreams, and even made history as the first Miss America with a disability.” signingsavvy.com

At the age of three, Derrick Coleman started using hearing aids. His deafness is due to a genetic, incurable hearing impairment (Friend par. 9). His dream has always been to play American football, despite growing up with people telling him that he would not achieve his dream.

In 2002 Colin Allen became heavily involved in working with deaf communities on global scale working with “The Finnish Association of the Deaf” this association works to support and endorse equal access, rights and opportunities to all deaf people. In 2007 he continued his international work promoting human rights and education for deaf people.

He discusses the myths and prejudices that Deaf people frequently face, encouraging readers to reconsider their ideas about Deafness and to appreciate and celebrate diversity. Deaf Again explores the cultural disparities between the Deaf and hearing populations, which is one of its main themes. In addition to highlighting the significance of American Sign Language as a critical tool for communication and cultural expression, Drolsbaugh skillfully illustrates the extensive history of Deaf culture. He draws attention to the challenges Deaf people have navigating a predominately auditory culture by drawing a comparison between this and the hearing world's reliance on spoken language. Additionally, Drolsbaugh analyzes the subtleties of Deaf cultural norms and values, including the significance of visual communication, collectivism, and pride in one's Deaf identity.

deaf: working for the rights of all deaf people in this country, including education of deaf children.

Nyle Dimarco, what an inspirational video and individual, not only because of his deafness, but he chased his dream and succeeded! He went on the Tyra Banks’ modeling show, America’s Next Top Model, and won! He mentioned in the video that he had a strategy to win before going on the show and then a friend told him everyone already loves you-just be you. I think this applies to everyone in the Deaf community, as he mentioned in the video. If Deaf people have confidence and are themselves, they can go places and do things that they have never done before.

The beginning of deaf schools is part of my interest in deaf schools. The first permanent school for deaf children in America was opened in Hartford, Connecticut in 1817. In the beginning he started out with only seven students and head teacher from France named Laurent Clerc. Laurent Clerc was also the one who brought French sign language.

The Deaf Community in America: History in the Making by Melvia M. Nomeland and Ronald E. Nomeland is a book written to describe the changes the Deaf community, with a capital “D”, has encountered throughout time. The authors mention, “By using the capital ‘D’ to refer to a community of people who share a language and culture and the lower case ‘d’ to refer to the audiological condition of hearing loss” (Nomeland 3). In this book we are taken through a time line on how the Deaf community’s life changed socially and educationally allowing them to live normally.

Deaf Sports Australia is an organisation affiliated with the Australian Sports Commission which advocates the policies in the Disability Discrimination Act by ‘facilitating and supporting the participation of deaf and hard-of-hearing children into sport’ (Deaf Sports Australia, 2014). To learn more, email: active@deafsports.org.au

All throughout the entire "Deaf President Now" movement, the message was clear that deaf people have the self-determination and capability as any other hearing person. To watch hundreds of deaf students and supports protest from Gallaudet University to our nation's capital, using American Sign Language as their only medium of communication. Only shows the effect of the "power and intelligence" (Van Cleve p. 173) behind sign language. "With similar unity in the future, they may move into a

However, this only seemed to make him more determined. He became interested in sports, like basketball. He did not allow being deaf to deter him from

In 1880 there was an international conference of deaf educators. There were 164 members (142 of which were either British or Italian) representing eight different countries and were champions of both oral and manual methods. On one side was Alexander Graham Bell and his colleagues from around Europe supporting the oral methods and on the other side was Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet

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).

Deaf children are entitled to know that they are heirs to an amazing culture, not a pitiful defect. In order to follow through on that obligation, one of the best things I feel we can do is try to educate other hearing people about the realities of American Sign Language and Deaf culture. Language is one of the most critical aspects of most cultures, and one which sets deafness aside from other defects such as blindness, physical disability, or illness. Sign language is not universal, nor does it always correspond to the spoken language in the same country. For example American Sign Language is native to the United States and Canada. Deaf Canadians might use English, French, or both as a written language. But deaf people in Great Britain, while they may write in English, use a completely different sign language. (nad.org)