Yesterday's comments gave me a giggle. I imagined you all saying Wednesday over and over again!
A quiet day today. A bit of weaving and Himself took the dogs to the park.
I have my Auslan class tonight.
Our teacher is, obviously, very passionate about Auslan and deaf culture. She strongly believes that all deaf people (children, especially) should be given the opportunity to learn to sign. She struggled as a child being forced to lip read and wear hearing aids, none of which she found easy or successful.
There is a long and fascinating history of deaf people in Australia if you're interested - just google it.
There seems to be a divide between those who think deaf people should be able to sign and signing should be accepted in our society, and those who think deaf people should learn to communicate verbally using spoken English and lip reading and/or hearing aids. If you have ever had blocked ears you will understand how hard that can be.
The invention of the cochlear implant certainly changed things for a lot of people but I have yet to meet anyone who has one and really thinks it is a wonderful thing. Sister in law was an audiologist and worked a lot with people with these implants and she said they weren't really satisfactory. I know a lot of kids hate them. The expectation is that these kids need to learn to speak and function in a hearing world or will otherwise fail. Isn't this a form of discrimination? Deaf people don't consider themselves handicapped or less than whole.
Auslan and signing were developed by the deaf for the deaf. They are proud of their language and their culture.
Surely it should be up to the deaf themselves to decide how they want to communicate and they should be given the choices and the access to ALL methods. Yes, even children.
I am very mindful of Audism and am shocked to hear what deaf people experience day to day. Even writing this I had to bring myself up and challenge my thinking - we have been well and truly indoctrinated as a hearing society. We accept (well, most of us do) that migrants, refugees and tourists don't always speak or understand English and we do our best to accommodate them. Why not with the deaf community, then?
I would never expect everyone to learn Auslan (or whatever the sign language of your country is - yes, surprise: sign language is not universal any more than spoken language is) but I would ask you to think about how you think about deafness and be an advocate for change.
I would be interested to hear your thoughts.
Thought provoking. It is always interesting to see the kids from the deaf school in St Kilda Road on a tram on the way home from school and to watch (and hear a bit) how they communicate.
ReplyDeleteOnly guessing but I think deaf people from other countries who don't know Auslan can communicate better with foreign deaf languages than those who aren't deaf but don't have a common language.
My partner learnt some Auslan many years ago.
In the very early days of the internet on a message board I mentioned about the disabled who were deaf. I was crushed by a ton of bricks. They/we are not disabled, it was strongly said.
You are probably right, Andrew. Deaf people rely hugely on facial and body expression so even without a common language they would be able to make themselves understood. But like you, I am guessing.
DeleteI think a bit of both. Learn to lip read and speak as much as they are able but also sign. Being able to communicate whatever way a person can to the best of their ability. I can't comment on an implant as I have no knowledge or experience with that.
ReplyDeleteLip reading is a very hard skill to learn and most people don't speak clearly enough for even an experienced lip reader. It must be hard to speak when you can't hear your own voice. I know when I have a cold and my ears are blocked I seem to shout or whisper as I have no idea how I sound!!
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