INTRODUCTION TO DEAF

CULTURE AND AMERICAN SIGN

LANGUAGEA Culture within a Culture

HISTORY AND ORIGINS

While many believed that the Deaf could not be educated because they could not speak or hear, Spanish Monks were some of the first to teach the deaf through manual communication. Juan Pablo De Bonet, 1620.

The first formalized signing systems were introduced in France in the late 1700’s by Abbe Charles Michel de L’Epee.

HISTORY CONTINUED

American Sign Language is most closely related to French Sign Language.

Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet traveled to France after meeting a young girl named Alice who was deaf. He wanted to study teaching methods for the deaf in Europe.

Upon meeting Laurent Clerc in France, the two traveled back to America and eventually began the first formalized education of deaf children in the United States in 1817.

HISTORY CONTINUED

Gallaudet University was chartered by President Abraham Lincoln in 1864.

Gallaudet University remains the only Liberal Arts University in the world for the Deaf.

Gallaudet made world news in 1988 when the students staged a protest against the BOT for electing “another” hearing president. The university was shut down for a week until the student’s demands were met and I. King Jordan was elected the first Deaf President in the school’s history. This was known as the Deaf President Now movement.

A FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT TO SIGN Through the years, Deaf Americans

have fought for the right to use their native language. Well meaning educators often misunderstood ASL and did not recognize it as a language.

During the early part of the 20th century deaf children were often punished for using ASL and forced to use oral communication.

Finally in the 1960’s American Sign Language is researched and proven to have the required characteristics of a language.

LOOK AT US NOW Today, some researchers say ASL is the

third most widely used language in the United States only behind English and Spanish.

Some public figures that have helped to increase awareness of ASL are: Marlee Matlin, 1987 Academy Award Winning actress; Heather Whitestone, 1995 Deaf Miss America; TV shows such as Switched At Birth.

A CULTURE WITHIN A CULTURE In 2011 Johns Hopkins University

published several journal articles estimating that 20.3% of all Americans, age 12 and older, have a hearing loss. (NCDSDHH website)

In 2010, 16.2% (1,182,610) adults in North Carolina had a hearing loss. (NCDSDHH website/2010 Census)

By 2030, the number of adults in North Carolina with hearing loss will increase by 41% to (1,669,518). (NCDSDHH website/2010 Census)

WHAT IS DEAF CULTURE? Big “D” Deaf refers to the group of individuals that

identify themselves as being Deaf, have shared values, beliefs, behaviors and institutions of communities that use American Sign Language as their preferred mode of communication.

Little “d” deaf, refers to the medical aspects of hearing loss. This group normally has a severe to profound hearing loss.

Hard of Hearing can refer to a mild to moderate hearing loss but also can be an identity for a person with hearing loss but is not a member of the Deaf Community.

THE TWO SHALL BE ONE You cannot separate American Sign

Language from Deaf Culture.

ASL is a visual perceived language based on a naturally evolved system of articulated hand gestures and their placement relative to the body, along with non-manual markers such as facial expressions, head movements, shoulder raises, mouth morphemes and movements of the body. (Bill Vicars, ASL University)

HOW DO I LEARN IT???

The best way to learn ASL is with a “Qualified” instructor.

There are a lot of online resources, but many may incorporate English or Pidgin signs.

THE ABC’S OF ASL

INTRODUCING YOURSELF Hi, my name is ____________________

What is your name?

Nice to meet you.

I am a student at ECU.

I am learning American Sign Language.

RESOURCES ASL Pro

ASL University

YouTube

ASL Teachers

Deaf people in your community