How do deaf people think? (page 5)

Lady Lee

Scott I agree the movie To a Lesser God (have the movie and saw the play) opens a door on the lives of people who are deaf. Attitudes need to change. And interestingly I think shows like Sesame Street that introduced characters with disabilities into the regular show went a long way towards opening some of those sealed tight doors.

The truth is that most people don't want to think about people with disabilities as sexual beings. Unless they can be taken advantage of. And the greater the disability the less they want to think about it. Sadly many people with disabilities believe no one would ever think of them as a sexual being so they often put themselves off the market before even trying.

I have to agree with iamallcool/s assessment of Marlee Matlin though. And here is why. I have met a few well educated people who are deaf. They have succeeded when most of the people around them have not, by their definition. I found it appalling that a teacher who was deaf and working in the school believed that most of the kids they taught would never amount to anything. No point in giving them a good education. let's just push them through the system. What?!!! She had gone to Gallaudet College in the US and returned with this attitude of "I can do it but I am special and you aren't". To find this in a teacher was unbelievable.

People will live up to or down to the expectations of those around them. This woman had no business teaching these kids

kurtbethel

My great deafness experience - I was in Budapest and in the evening I walked by a meeting place that had about 60 or so people outside on a patio. The crowd was silent and they were all signing to each other. They were outside what appeared to be a public building so I went inside and there werre many rooms and maybe a couple hundred people signing to each other. It appeared like a normal large party of people except for the silence and signing. I realized that I could run into several simultaneous communications barriers in that I could not recognize what they were signing and would be unable to sign to any of them. If someone was able to speak or read my lips, it would be to no avail because they would likely be speaking in Hungarian, and the same would apply to any writing. So I wandered around and took in the experience of being among a tribe of humans that were very different from me in how they communicate, and hoped that no issue would arise. It didn't. It was a surreal experience in a day of surreal experiences, as there were large groups of people protesting in the streets that day.

Budapest protest

Hungarian cash

Scott77

kurtbethel,

We are told that there are two worlds, the Deaf world and the hearing world. Others speaks of a Deaf Culture and a hearing Culture. I know there is no such things as 'hearing culture' but the 'culture of hearing people' I think, your experiences may fit into this box.

Scott77

Lady Lee

Wow I have never been ina group of people who are deaf and it was quiet. Most often they are smacking their hands together as they sign (if they are emotional) about something. Those who were taught the oral method of communication or had any trainign in lip reading make all kinds of sounds - not words just sounds. They are alos stomping feet to get someone's attention.

Not far from where I live now there is a group of people who are deaf that get together on Tuesday to socialize and play cards. Those who are sitting playing cards are pretty quiet but there is always someone roaming around who not quiet. And most people who are considered deaf may not be totaly deaf so there are many who do try to verbalize their words.

But quiet? That would have been very strange to be in.

Scott77

"...Not far from where I live now there is a group of people who are deaf that get together on Tuesday to socialize and play cards..."
Lady Lee

Socialization of Deaf people where story telling, ASL chat etc are done, has been identified as one of the most effective way of developing, preserving and spreading new American Sign Language. Unfortunately, many Jehovah's Witnesses who are Deaf faces the most isolation imaginable. The Watchtower Policy of 'us alone as separate from the world' undermines the very tenet of Deaf people in which gathering and coming together is an intergral to their Deaf Culture. Because Br. John Doe and Sr. Jane Does who are hearing know ASL does not mean they are good Model for deaf people in the congregation. Alot of asl signs the Watchtower call 'theocratic signs', are manufacuturd in Watchtower Bethel at Peterson, New York using two CODA children. Yet CODA chidren are not authorized by Deaf Community to do that. Its against their ethos.

Scott77

Diest

I was at a strip club once when there was a bachelorette party for two deaf lesbians. They were very cute togeather, and watching them sign about stippers was pretty fun to watch.

Magwitch

Diest - you are so bad!

Diest

I am not bad, they were having a blast and it was fun to see such a close love. Imagine the most exagorated version of sign language....I am guessing that they were doing the sign equivilent of yelling.

Glander

My cousin was at Bethel in the late fifties, early sixties. He was not hearing impaired. He was, in my opinion, a savant in some ways. He spoke a couple of difficult languages as I recall. Japanese and Tagalog. He also became a master of sign language, though I couldn't tell you the discipline or method. He also learned Braille. He was instrumental in developing braille for Watchtower publications. He also convinced Knorr to supply signing sections for district assemblies and helped to train signers.

By the way, he was abruptly dismissed from Bethel and the JW's when his homosexuality became known.

Lady Lee

The JWs who were deaf were a pretty large group at the hall I was at. Sometimes close to 20 in the group. They had the luxury of not only the English deaf group but also the smaller French group.

Plus Montreal has a school for children who are deaf.

I taught sign language there for a while to hearing parents and other interested people. And I did a 1 year internship there for my college diploma.

And they had a reverse integration program where children who had no disability attended MacKay with children who were disabled. The school is split oin 2 with children with physical disabilities on one side and those with heariung impairments on the other side but many of the kids had boith physical and auditory problems so there was a lot of back and forth between the two sides. My daughter was placed in a class with children with physical disabilites but she was very comfprtable talking with her friends at the school who were in our congregation. We say that sign language was her first language. It certainly was her first expressive language (she could sign before she could talk)

So we had a strong connection to the school and because I worked there I often learned new signs and brought them back to the hall with me. Most people were happy with the new signs. Saved them from spelling them out if there was no sign for it. But 1 of the elders who was deaf (we had 2 of them) really didn't like ME bringing in new signs. One day he called me ion a sign and wanted to know where I got that from. So I told him I got it fromt he school. He turned to his 10 yr old son and asked him. When his 10 yr old told him they used it at the school then it was OK for me to use it. Funny that even though he didn't like me he made sure I was given most of the important talks to interpret. I really didn't like this man. He was the lord-it-over-everybody kind of elder. No one really liked him. I really don't know how he got to be an elder - desperation perhaps. The other elder who was deaf - I learned to sign from him and his wife - great people and I still miss them.

How do deaf people think?

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