Deaf community: working for acceptance
Imagine a world of silence.
No constant background noise. No birds chirping or cars honking. Just silence.
You can see people’s lips move as they speak, but nothing comes out.
For members of the deaf community, this is a part of everyday life. Some people are born deaf, others lose their hearing due to disease, nerve damage, or injury.
Deafness is often thought of as a disability or a handicap. It is a common belief that deaf people would never be able to be a fully functional member of society.
Senior Johnny Crespin has a cousin who is deaf, and communicates with him through sign language.
“I don't think my cousin is limited because there are so many things that this country has done to help them. From having schools for the deaf, to having tools in movie theaters that are used to help them watch the movie,” said Crespin.
Many people assume that deaf people communicate by reading lips and learning to speak.
However, it is extremely difficult for deaf people with significant hearing loss to learn to mirror sounds. Forcing deaf people to speak and read lips instead of signing is forcing them to assimilate into the rest of society, instead of embracing their own.
Oscar winning deaf actress Marlee Matlin is a strong advocate for the development of a more empowered deaf community.
Matlin said in her autobiography, “I’ll Scream Later” saying, “We aren’t handicapped in any way, except by what other people think. Focus on people’s abilities. I can’t be on American Idol, but there’s all kinds of stuff I can do.”
Currently on season 22 of Dancing With the Stars is Nyle Dimarco. He also was the winner of the 22nd season of America’s Next Top Model, as well as being the only deaf contestant to compete on the show. He is a successful model, actor, and activist.
Dimarco’s achievements further prove that deaf people can overcome what might be seen by some as a disadvantage in society.
Hearing loss is prevalent at Carlmont as well.
Carlmont student Isabel Mayoss, a sophomore, dealt with slight hearing loss as a younger child. Up until age seven, Mayoss had partial hearing. However, her parents never considered teaching her sign language, and her hearing has improved over the years.
“[My hearing] has made my life more dangerous because in the past, haven’t heard fire alarms when they went off. I don’t know anything about the deaf culture, but if my hearing was worse I would want to learn sign language because it seems easier than hearing aids,” said Mayoss.
In the past few decades, deafness has emerged as a diverse and accepting culture in America.
Like any other culture, the deaf community has its own language, American Sign Language (ASL).
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet founded the first school for the deaf in America in 1817, where he developed ASL, based off of French sign language.
However, not all people, both back in the day and now, believe that sign language is the best way for deaf people to communicate.
Alexander Graham Bell was one of the biggest supporters of the oralism method. He believed that deaf people should be taught orally, and trained to speak instead of signing.
This outlook on deafness caused many members of the deaf community to face oppression as they were forced to read lips and learn to speak, instead of using sign language.
Currently, there are 61 schools for the deaf across the United States, with at least one in almost every state. Gallaudet University, located in Washington D.C., remains the only deaf university in the country.
According to the Gallaudet University Library, there are currently between 500 thousand and two million people who use ASL in the U.S. today.
Heather McClure is an ASL teacher at CSM and Hillsdale High School. She is hearing, but has deaf friends and co-workers, granting her an insider’s perspective to deaf culture.
“The most common misconception about the deaf community is that sign language is the same as English. It is its own language, just with signs that match English word order,” said McClure.
There are two kinds of deaf people. Deaf with a capital “D” is when a person has a loss of hearing and communicates using sign language, while associating themselves with the deaf community. Deaf with a lowercase “d” refers to those who are deaf but do not sign, and are not part of the deaf culture or community.
Allison Alhadas is a student of McClure’s at CSM currently taking ASL 1. She is learning sign language in order to be able to communicate with her boyfriend’s parents, who are both deaf.
“There is a controversy when you have a deaf child, because you have the choice of giving them a cochlear implant, but you are taking them away from the culture by doing so,” said Alhadas.
A cochlear implant is a medical device that functions in a way that allows the hearing impaired to have an electronic semblance of a functioning cochlea.
With technology developing, cochlear implants are becoming a more popular option for the deaf.
However, many deaf people have little or no interest in getting a cochlear implant, and continue to embrace and show pride in their culture.
ASL has begun to gain recognition as a foreign language, and the deaf community and culture is starting to become more widely recognized in the U.S.
“There’s a huge deaf community and people should embrace it,” said Alhadas.
Hearing people are not always aware of the deaf culture that is present around them. ASL is often overlooked as not being a real language, and is not offered as a language at most high schools.
However, deaf culture is just as important as any other culture, and deserves to be more widely recognized and celebrated than it currently is.
Deafness causes people to interpret the world differently than hearing people. America is known for its diversity and acceptance of different religions, cultures, and ideas. The same acceptance and acknowledgement should be extended to the deaf community.
No constant background noise. No birds chirping or cars honking. Just silence.
You can see people’s lips move as they speak, but nothing comes out.
For members of the deaf community, this is a part of everyday life. Some people are born deaf, others lose their hearing due to disease, nerve damage, or injury.
Deafness is often thought of as a disability or a handicap. It is a common belief that deaf people would never be able to be a fully functional member of society.
Senior Johnny Crespin has a cousin who is deaf, and communicates with him through sign language.
“I don't think my cousin is limited because there are so many things that this country has done to help them. From having schools for the deaf, to having tools in movie theaters that are used to help them watch the movie,” said Crespin.
Many people assume that deaf people communicate by reading lips and learning to speak.
However, it is extremely difficult for deaf people with significant hearing loss to learn to mirror sounds. Forcing deaf people to speak and read lips instead of signing is forcing them to assimilate into the rest of society, instead of embracing their own.
Oscar winning deaf actress Marlee Matlin is a strong advocate for the development of a more empowered deaf community.
Matlin said in her autobiography, “I’ll Scream Later” saying, “We aren’t handicapped in any way, except by what other people think. Focus on people’s abilities. I can’t be on American Idol, but there’s all kinds of stuff I can do.”
Currently on season 22 of Dancing With the Stars is Nyle Dimarco. He also was the winner of the 22nd season of America’s Next Top Model, as well as being the only deaf contestant to compete on the show. He is a successful model, actor, and activist.
Dimarco’s achievements further prove that deaf people can overcome what might be seen by some as a disadvantage in society.
Hearing loss is prevalent at Carlmont as well.
Carlmont student Isabel Mayoss, a sophomore, dealt with slight hearing loss as a younger child. Up until age seven, Mayoss had partial hearing. However, her parents never considered teaching her sign language, and her hearing has improved over the years.
“[My hearing] has made my life more dangerous because in the past, haven’t heard fire alarms when they went off. I don’t know anything about the deaf culture, but if my hearing was worse I would want to learn sign language because it seems easier than hearing aids,” said Mayoss.
In the past few decades, deafness has emerged as a diverse and accepting culture in America.
Like any other culture, the deaf community has its own language, American Sign Language (ASL).
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet founded the first school for the deaf in America in 1817, where he developed ASL, based off of French sign language.
However, not all people, both back in the day and now, believe that sign language is the best way for deaf people to communicate.
Alexander Graham Bell was one of the biggest supporters of the oralism method. He believed that deaf people should be taught orally, and trained to speak instead of signing.
This outlook on deafness caused many members of the deaf community to face oppression as they were forced to read lips and learn to speak, instead of using sign language.
Currently, there are 61 schools for the deaf across the United States, with at least one in almost every state. Gallaudet University, located in Washington D.C., remains the only deaf university in the country.
According to the Gallaudet University Library, there are currently between 500 thousand and two million people who use ASL in the U.S. today.
Heather McClure is an ASL teacher at CSM and Hillsdale High School. She is hearing, but has deaf friends and co-workers, granting her an insider’s perspective to deaf culture.
“The most common misconception about the deaf community is that sign language is the same as English. It is its own language, just with signs that match English word order,” said McClure.
There are two kinds of deaf people. Deaf with a capital “D” is when a person has a loss of hearing and communicates using sign language, while associating themselves with the deaf community. Deaf with a lowercase “d” refers to those who are deaf but do not sign, and are not part of the deaf culture or community.
Allison Alhadas is a student of McClure’s at CSM currently taking ASL 1. She is learning sign language in order to be able to communicate with her boyfriend’s parents, who are both deaf.
“There is a controversy when you have a deaf child, because you have the choice of giving them a cochlear implant, but you are taking them away from the culture by doing so,” said Alhadas.
A cochlear implant is a medical device that functions in a way that allows the hearing impaired to have an electronic semblance of a functioning cochlea.
With technology developing, cochlear implants are becoming a more popular option for the deaf.
However, many deaf people have little or no interest in getting a cochlear implant, and continue to embrace and show pride in their culture.
ASL has begun to gain recognition as a foreign language, and the deaf community and culture is starting to become more widely recognized in the U.S.
“There’s a huge deaf community and people should embrace it,” said Alhadas.
Hearing people are not always aware of the deaf culture that is present around them. ASL is often overlooked as not being a real language, and is not offered as a language at most high schools.
However, deaf culture is just as important as any other culture, and deserves to be more widely recognized and celebrated than it currently is.
Deafness causes people to interpret the world differently than hearing people. America is known for its diversity and acceptance of different religions, cultures, and ideas. The same acceptance and acknowledgement should be extended to the deaf community.