Reddit mentions of Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language: Hereditary Deafness on Martha’s Vineyard

As a late-deafened person, I understand your point. But if you have never spent a significant amount of time with culturally deaf (i.e. born deaf or deafened early in life), you will never understand why some people in the Deaf community refuse to have cochlear implants.

Also, many deaf people do not consider themselves to be "sick" or disabled, hence the reason why they don't think they need to be fixed.

If you'd like a really good book to read about how deafness can be seen as just a trait and not a disability, read the book, "Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language," by Nora Groce.

In a nutshell, it tells of a time on Martha's Vineyard before it became a big fancy tourist/vacation spot. The island was populated by a small community, and about half the inhabitants were deaf. No one considered them disabled, and everyone on the island learned sign language and English. Therefore, no communication barriers existed, and they were treated like normal human beings.

Now, I challenge you moving0target to think of the Deaf (yes, with a capital D) as normal, functioning human beings and try to communicate with them.

http://www.amazon.com/Everyone-Here-Spoke-Sign-Language/dp/067427041X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395707074&sr=8-1&keywords=nora+groce+everyone+here+spoke+sign+language

my parents (and most of the deaf folks i've met) have a fairly dim opinion of these idiots.

yes, deafness is a big part of their identity and they've (mostly) never known what it's like to hear so the idea of suddenly being able to hear is somewhat frightening to them. it's a disability, regardless of the community having this disability grants them access to, and none of the deaf parents i talked to would wish the affliction on their kids if they had a choice. whenever we would talk about cochlear implants (when it was on the news or whatever), my parents were of the opinion that it was interesting technology but wasn't right for them...they're both in their 60s and pretty used to being deaf by now, so why bother. they also both said that, were this technology available when they were teenagers, they'd both be first on line to get the implants.

the deaf community is awesome because it's full of awesome people, not because it's full of deaf people.

source: hearing child of deaf parents.

p.s. you don't need to be deaf to share their language. there's a kickass book, that i highly recommend, called "Everyone Here Spoke Sign" that deals with this topic

There's a great book about it: Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language by Nora Ellen Groce

Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language, a look at how hereditary deafness on Martha's Vineyard led to a situation where most hearing people were bilingual in English and sign.

Right. I guess one the thing that makes deafness so interesting to me is the ways in which deafness is a transcendent disability. To be sure, it is a physical condition that renders individuals cut off from most other people. It is indeed a disability. Yet, we can imagine a world where deafness is not a disability. Suppose that all people--hearing, deaf and in between--learned and used sign language as part of daily life. Is deafness still a disability? This is an interesting book which illustrates this point.

yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!!!

HOKAY SO!

First of all, you should look at the cultures struggling at the hands of Deaf Residential Schools because it is better to understand the cultures first rather than looking first at the horrors and terribleness

Sign Language Peoples can be sub-categorised into three: Deaf, signing Indigenous and non-Deaf/non-Indigenous signing

Deaf cultures are those that maintain, love and wish to pass down the trait of deafness and the cultural elements of Deafhood. There is a bit of similarity between Indigenous cultures and Deaf cultures in that Indigenous cultures are tied together by indigeneity despite many disparate and unique cultures within. Same for Deaf cultures: tied by deafness/Deafhood but ultimately home to hundreds upon hundreds of cultures.

There are four Deaf cultures (to my knowledge) in Canada: ASL Deaf, LSQ Deaf, Atlantic Deaf and DeafBlind

Atlantic Deaf speak a mix of ASL, MSL (Maritime Sign Language) and LSQ with unique dialects therein. ASL and LSQ Deaf speak American and Québec Sign Languages, respectively. ASL and LSQ have grammars more similar by crazy random happenstance to Japanese than to English or French. There is no "to be," no plural and about seven or eight words for we/us to give you an idea. DeafBlind will speak a mix of Tactile ASL, Tactile LSQ or ProTactile. The shift to ProTactile seems to be the shift towards more unique culture rather than a subculture of ASL Deaf or LSQ Deaf

There are many signing Indigenous cultures across Canada. There are the Nations who speak Hand Talk or languages descended from Hand Talk (note: the name of the language comes from an approximate of "HANDS" and "TO TALK TO" in the language). The countries where this is present: Niitsítpiis-stahkoii (Blackfeet Country), Ĩyãħé Nakón mąkóce (Stoney Nakoda Country), nêhiyaw-askiy (Plains Cree), Anishinaabewaki (Ojibwe), perhaps both ińiniwiaskiy and ililiwaskiy (Central Crees) and bits of Dakota Country on this side of the 49th. Perhaps historically, Eeyou-Istchee, Omàmiwininiwak, Haudenosauneega and even Nitassinan and Naskapi-aschiiy all might have spoken Hand Talk or related sign languages.

Then there are the non-Hand Talk languages found in Secwepemcúl̓ecw (Secwepemcékst is the language name), Ktunaxa ɁamakɁis (ʾa·qanⱡiⱡⱡitnam = language) and possibly other Plateau sign languages. There is Atgangmuurniq of Inuit Nunangat. And there is OSL or Oneida Sign Language from Onʌyote'a•ka within Haudenosauneega

Finally, there are the non-Indigenous, non-Deaf signing cultures. There are none in Canada currently, nor any in the States to my knowledge. However, historically, three substrate languages for ASL were in this category. One great, easy book is "Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language" about the MVSL-English bilingual/bimodal community on Martha's Vineyard. After the expulsion of Wôpanâak, the euro-descendant community had a high rate of deafness and thus everyone on this island was bimodal/bilingual. The same happened in Sandy River Valley and Henniker

The manual Indigenous languages are critically important here, not least of which because of the high, high rate of connection between pictography and Hand Talk (here is a shitty source to start)

The way people to this day talk about Hand Talk and other smaller or Indigenous sign languages is awful. Even linguists will denigrate sign languages right and left. There is this whole spiel about "village" versus "urban" and "home sign" and other bullshit terms trying to call many languages "not full languages" and the like. It is just audism and discrimination playing out, so beware. There are like two maybe three researchers in the world looking at manual Indigenous languages, despite the fact there are ~50+ alone in North and South America

How they talk about Hand Talk ("primitive communication system" "savage gestures" "uncivilised" "pre-civilised language" etc.) mirrors the way they talk about pictography ("primitive pictures with meanings" "stylised artwork and nothing more" etc.) historically and kinda to this day. Big ol' yikes

NEXT COMMENT: Westward Invasions and Residential Schools

I mean, to them, it is their defining trait that does not make their experience of the world better or worse. It just is their experience. The reason deafness is a "disability" is because society is set up for hearing, but that does not need to be the case. Read this.

Manual languages = oral languages in their abilities, they are just different. Can you communicate with your friends from the outside of a glass building and them up on the 7th floor? Can you communicate with your friends underwater? Can you communicate with your friends when you are on a bus and they are on the sidewalk? It is just differences, but our society is built by and for hearing, so it is obvious not being able to hear would be a massive disability, but many societies are built by and for deaf&hearing like Ka'apor in Brazil or Adamarode in Ghana or Martha's Vineyard in the States. :)

There are a lot of options with this topic. The one I chose when I went through my program came from my own personal experience.

There are a lot of times that there are suggested topics about "living with someone who is deaf" or "deaf for a day" or "what is out there to fix deaf people" - the normal suggested topics made me ill.

This is what I did.... I went to doctors and audiologists and speech therapists and interviewed them about their attitudes to the Deaf community. I then went to the Deaf community and asked them what they thought about audiologists and doctors and speech therapists.

(Don't worry if you haven't jumped into this society - just look for a meet up and go ask questions - someone will interpret if you can't make do with the skills you have. GO ASK QUESTIONS of people in the Deaf community. They will let you know what they think!)

I learned a lot. I learned that there is a clinical view of deafness that views deaf as something to be fixed. I learned there is a cultural aspect that surrounds being Deaf that no one will ever really understand unless you've lived that life.

There are two points of view - a victim and a fixer - vs - a community member and someone who wants to "un-do a wrong."

If you want controversy? Talk to someone who is Deaf (and learn the difference between Deaf and deaf) and talk to someone who 'treats and fixes' deafness.

Deaf is an identity. It is like being born Chinese or Russian or American. It's a matter of fact. It is who you are.

Being deaf is an affliction - a medical condition - something that is wrong with you.

The people who 'fix' the Deaf are going into this with the best of intentions but often don't understand the culture and the community that exists.

The Deaf don't always understand this isn't about trying to 'fix' someone. It's about opening up another opportunity and another option.

Everyone goes in with the best wishes but the upbringing of the child decides which side will win.....

Need a starting point for Deaf culture? Check out a book Everyone here Spoke Sign It's in most libraries.

Are you near a major metro area? Are you near a "Deaf/deaf school"?

There are a lot of things you can explore with this.... welcome to a wild crazy passionate world. :)