Read Online The People of the Eye: Deaf Ethnicity and Ancestry by Harlan Lane, Richard C. Pillard, Ulf Hedberg - Free Book Online
Tags: Psychology, Clinical Psychology
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we told earlier, Deaf teachers, purveyors of Deaf heritage, were dismissed and older Deaf students quarantined as both groups could easily fall into the sin of signing and were not apt in promoting spoken English. Despite the schools' fanatical efforts to eradicate ASL, Deaf people never abandoned sign language. Indeed, they became a more unified minority in the early twentieth century as a response to attempts at forced language replacement.
The return to a role for sign language in Deaf education was fueled by the American civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s, by educational policies that accorded greater status to minority languages, and by the growing scientific evidence in the second half of the twentieth century that ASL is a fully autonomous natural language. In 1965, William Stokoe, Dorothy CasterlineD, and Carl CronebergD of Gallaudet University, published a Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles. As PaddenD and HumphriesD explain in their book Inside Deaf Culture, Deaf people were cautious in taking up the idea that their sign language was equal to all other natural languages because hearing people had until then always disparaged their language and sought to replace it with English.86 Nevertheless, the concept that ASL signers had a language and a culture was validating indeed, especially appealing to the new Deaf middle class seeking to replace the old loss-based understanding of themselves and their language. With the recognition of ASL came the demand from parents, professionals, laymen, and students for instruction in the language; this drew large numbers of Deaf people into teaching ASL.
In 1971, Stokoe brought together a group of linguists to pursue the scientific study of ASL and in 1979 Edward Klima and Ursula Bellugi at the Salk Institute published The Signs of Language. The book reported on a decade of their research with Deaf collaborators on the structure and functions of ASL. Their studies went well beyond ASL vocabulary to present elements of the grammar of the language and of its art forms. This novel research focused on the language itself and not on culture, as HumphriesD explains. "Contrary to the general assumption that it was the research on ASL that alerted the world to Deaf people and their culture, it was actually cultural processes within the Deaf community that brought into public view the people behind the language." Deaf scholars and performers began "talking culture"-explaining to Deaf and hearing audiences the new vocabulary and way of thinking about Deaf language and culture.87 The National Theatre of the Deaf, mentioned earlier, also disseminated the new Deaf discourse through original plays based on Deaf culture.
When Deaf people began to think about themselves and their world in this new way, it invited comparison with the standing of other cultural groups and it raised the Deaf standard of fair treatment. Deaf young people of college age had grown up with this new understanding of the Deaf-World and were determined to work for improved civil rights and access.
In 1988 a collective action by Deaf students and Deaf leaders known as "Deaf President Now" (DPN) led to nationwide protests and greater activism by Deaf people that has endured. The event triggering the protest was the selection of the next president of Gallaudet University. Named in honor of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, the university was founded in 1864 in Washington, D.C., by Thomas's son Edward; it is the only liberal arts university for Deaf students in the world. American Deaf people have long claimed the school as their own and its campus as their land, even if its affairs were not conducted as they wished.88 Among the three candidates to lead the institution, two were Deaf and accomplished administrators, the third did not know ASL or the DeafWorld. Prior to the selection, Deaf leaders in the Washington, D.C., area and from other states, along with Gallaudet alumni, lobbied intensively
The return to a role for sign language in Deaf education was fueled by the American civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s, by educational policies that accorded greater status to minority languages, and by the growing scientific evidence in the second half of the twentieth century that ASL is a fully autonomous natural language. In 1965, William Stokoe, Dorothy CasterlineD, and Carl CronebergD of Gallaudet University, published a Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles. As PaddenD and HumphriesD explain in their book Inside Deaf Culture, Deaf people were cautious in taking up the idea that their sign language was equal to all other natural languages because hearing people had until then always disparaged their language and sought to replace it with English.86 Nevertheless, the concept that ASL signers had a language and a culture was validating indeed, especially appealing to the new Deaf middle class seeking to replace the old loss-based understanding of themselves and their language. With the recognition of ASL came the demand from parents, professionals, laymen, and students for instruction in the language; this drew large numbers of Deaf people into teaching ASL.
In 1971, Stokoe brought together a group of linguists to pursue the scientific study of ASL and in 1979 Edward Klima and Ursula Bellugi at the Salk Institute published The Signs of Language. The book reported on a decade of their research with Deaf collaborators on the structure and functions of ASL. Their studies went well beyond ASL vocabulary to present elements of the grammar of the language and of its art forms. This novel research focused on the language itself and not on culture, as HumphriesD explains. "Contrary to the general assumption that it was the research on ASL that alerted the world to Deaf people and their culture, it was actually cultural processes within the Deaf community that brought into public view the people behind the language." Deaf scholars and performers began "talking culture"-explaining to Deaf and hearing audiences the new vocabulary and way of thinking about Deaf language and culture.87 The National Theatre of the Deaf, mentioned earlier, also disseminated the new Deaf discourse through original plays based on Deaf culture.
When Deaf people began to think about themselves and their world in this new way, it invited comparison with the standing of other cultural groups and it raised the Deaf standard of fair treatment. Deaf young people of college age had grown up with this new understanding of the Deaf-World and were determined to work for improved civil rights and access.
In 1988 a collective action by Deaf students and Deaf leaders known as "Deaf President Now" (DPN) led to nationwide protests and greater activism by Deaf people that has endured. The event triggering the protest was the selection of the next president of Gallaudet University. Named in honor of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, the university was founded in 1864 in Washington, D.C., by Thomas's son Edward; it is the only liberal arts university for Deaf students in the world. American Deaf people have long claimed the school as their own and its campus as their land, even if its affairs were not conducted as they wished.88 Among the three candidates to lead the institution, two were Deaf and accomplished administrators, the third did not know ASL or the DeafWorld. Prior to the selection, Deaf leaders in the Washington, D.C., area and from other states, along with Gallaudet alumni, lobbied intensively
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