Deaf have strong opinions based on

Cheri

Prayers for my dad.
Premium Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2003
Messages
22,757
Reaction score
7
Deaf have strong opinions based on how they were taught to believe. Some believe in ASL, Some believe in oral, Some believe in both.. What do you believe in and Why?
 
I believe in whatever works on an individual basis; in other words, NO ONE SIZE FITS ALL. Anything else is usually pure political bull-pucky! LOL!
 
Yes, some deaf people have those kind of beliefs. It's usually called "Deaf Pride". A lot of students here at NTID show it too much and it pisses others off. There was one guy who bluntly told this deaf girl that she's not for him because she's a RIT student and her parents aren't deaf. She was offended by that. There was another gal in the elevator who made faces at some other deafies in the elevator because they were signing SEE. Jeez!
 
Vampy, I wouldn't call that Deaf Pride. I'd call it "Deafer then thouism" Saying that that's Deaf Pride is like saying that jokes that bash males are "feminist" or that "Girl Power" (VOMIT) is "feminist" I am proud to be Deaf, but I don't go around bashing English. I think they are equally good and equally of value!
I also think that the debate really isn't about methodology anymore. Research has clearly indicated that most if not all, orally educated deafies do learn Sign as a second language. Even some auditory-verbal kids (the kids who tend to be most integrated into the hearing world) learn sign as a second language. The debate now is about which language should be a dhh kid's first language. There's no "one size fits all philosophy" Even ASL doesn't work well for everyone! I remember reading on a list that I'm on, that a professor has conducted research on deaf kids who don't understand ASL! (that is the syntax, grammer etc) I do know however, that the gross majority of oral sucesses are the direct result of the "private school" effect. I think also that oral skills are important, and a very vital skill.....but I also think that kids should be able to function both WITH aids or CIs and WITHOUT them as well!
 
It's up to the parents and the individual to decide what works best for them.
 
Although I grew up being an oralist and mainstreamed all my school years...now that I'm much older (and wiser--heh heh), I believe that it's very important how we are able to 'communicate' with anyone, whether if it means to use ASL, written format or by voice...as long as we're comfortable being able to communicate constructively with one another, then there shouldn't be any problem whatsoever as long as there isn't any communication barriers....

I was raised in a 'hearing world' until I was into my late teens when I discovered the world of sign-language and I was soo interested and quickly became involved in the Deaf Community and even joined the local Deaf Club, then quickly did I realized there was more than to just being able to speak with my voice, being able to associate myself among other Deaf individuals who shared the same common problems or situations associated with everyday living...learning sign-language allowed me to utilize this wonderful language when I attended college out in New York...yeah, where Vampy is at now and perhaps a few other members here likewise....now I'll exuse myself here before this becomes a book! :laugh2:
 
I believe I'll have a beer on this subject. Hahahahahah!

Richard
 
I believe in Total communication is the using any means of communication (sign language, voice, fingerspelling, lipreading, amplification and writing) Some people feel that the problem with the total communication method of communication is that the effort to sign and speak at the same time results in a poorer quality of sign language.


Of course everyone has the right to make a choice what is best for his/her deaf child. Their future are in their hands.

When going out in a Hearing world you would want your child to be able to use their voice instead of writing everything down on a pieces of paper wherever they go. I think that most important for a child to learn speech and language development. It is just my opinion. :)
 
I beleive is me!!! I believe what I choose what I like... I use DGS (Deutsche Gebärdesprache) = German Sign language & BSL (British sign language). I know little about ASL.


My hubby grow up being an oralist but he feel comfortable with DGS. He said that it´s stress for him to watch teachers´s lip to neglect his education which it´s no good. He´s not only one who says this.

I beleive is:

Deafie should use their own languages whatever they feel like instead of get the force from their parents. The languages would help them to understand anything to improve their education.

It´s up to people either they are interesting to being oralist or sign languge.

I noticed that most oralists become aggressive because it´s too stress for them to watch teachers´s lip all the time which it´s no fun.

I learn to respect hearing world what they are as the same as they should learn to respect our deaf world, too.
 
dhw5320 said:
It's up to the parents and the individual to decide what works best for them.

The parents made often the mistake decision what they thought the best interest for their child. They often never notice how their children feels. I know an exactly what I say through my hubby because his parents want him being oralist to be like them. They never realized how he feels. That´s why I would never do that to my children if they are deaf.
 
because his parents want him being oralist to be like them. They never realized how he feels.
Yes, I think that going pure oral really does mess up social-emoitional development. There's nothing wrong with trying to develop oral skills...I think many of us here are glad that we can "hear" and talk somewhat, and I think it's a very useful and vital skill. I always encourage parents to pursue BOTH avenues of commuication. You would not educate a kid who was a whiz in English but somewhat defiencent in math, by concentrating exclusively on their deficts in math would you? Of course you would offer some remedial assistance in math, but you wouldn't concentrate exclusively on their math defiects. Exactly, so why do we educate dhh kids orally or raise them orally without benifit of Sign? One of the prime objections that I have to those who push oralism is that far far too often, the people pushing oralism couch it in ways that make it seem more "normal" or in ways that are very audist (eg the hearing world is the best and there's no value in the deaf-world)
I think that sign gives a kid a cool skill....and in addition they can function both with AND without their listening devices (CIs and hearing aids)
 
"Yes, I think that going pure oral really does mess up social-emoitional development."

Ahem...I grew up pure oral as you call it but I dont consider myself screwed up socially and emotionally.

There are many people who grew up using ASL and are socially/emotionally screwed up.

It all boils down to EACH individual, regardless of her/his communication tools.
 
I guess I'll get booted out of AllDeaf...but I think oral communication is important...

I grew up in a hearing family - I was the only deaf kid for 12 years until my dear cousin was born...*laugh evilly*... but I do thank the Lord that my mother saw fit to put me in an oralist school for the deaf...even though they did fail big time to get my drawl out...heh heh. I know I didnt learn ASL til I was 28, and even then its still more like PSE than ASL...but guess what? As long as my friends understand me, Im satisified.

Without oralism, I wouldnt have gotten this dream job...do you know Im on this forum while at WORK???

Get it?

Smiles!
 
Ahem...I grew up pure oral as you call it but I dont consider myself screwed up socially and emotionally.


It all boils down to EACH individual, regardless of her/his communication tools.
Sorry I guess I should have put that on AVERAGE many oral-only-oral-first dhh kids have poor social-emoitional development. There are some dhh kids who are socially-emoitionally with it (aka popular) but on average many oral-only kids have poor social-emoitional skills. That is b/c social-emoitional issues are a pragmatic-language(social) concern. It's b/c most orally raised kids do not master the meat and potatos of spoken language. Research has indicated that dhh orally raised kids(even many of the "superstars") have difficulty with figures of speech. This includes things like detecting inflection, tone of voice etc, which can lead to social-emoitional difficulties. I'm not saying that all dhh kids have the same social-emoitional concerns as would a kid with severe Asperger's Syndrome, but most of them do have social-emoitional of note. (sort of like the same concerns that a lot of kids with learning disabilties have) It's sort of the way the average reading level of a dhh kid is 4th grade, but there are dhh students who read at FAR above that level, and there are some who are below that level.
I guess I'll get booted out of AllDeaf...but I think oral communication is important...

I grew up in a hearing family - I was the only deaf kid for 12 years until my dear cousin was born...*laugh evilly*... but I do thank the Lord that my mother saw fit to put me in an oralist school for the deaf...even though they did fail big time to get my drawl out...heh heh. I know I didnt learn ASL til I was 28, and even then its still more like PSE than ASL...but guess what? As long as my friends understand me, Im satisified.

Without oralism,
You won't get booted out of alldeaf by me. I haven't really noticed any hardcore radical Deaf seperatists here who insist that ASL-only is the only way. I think a lot of us are saying that while we apprciate our oral skills and they are very important to us, we wish that we'd been able to learn ASL and be exposed to Deaf culture early on in our lives. There is value in ASL and Deaf culture, and hearing parents need to understand that! I am VERY glad I can function somewhat in the hearing world, but at the same time, I wish I'd had access to ASL to grease the skids a little. I just find ASL and Deaf culture to be extremely valuable and a very useful skill just as much as oralism and immersion into the hearing culture!
 
im happy with my life i dont think that's not critical to know about between them i think they've enjoy with their own individual comfortable with mutual feeling self-esteems :|
 
I think some Deaf people are too extreme when it comes to having opinions. I have had some Deaf people push their political crap down my throat. It all comes down to one point: Communitcation. It doesn't matter if a d/Deaf person is oral or use ASL, what matters is the willingness and ability to communicate with other people. It's like that phrase: "You scratch my back and I will scratch yours." So, you learn to communicate with me and I will communicate with you!"
 
Deaf258 and Meg's basically correct.

As for me, I believe in using every means of communication and then see which will benefit you the most and put them to good use.

If I ever have a deaf child, I'd use speech, and sign language. Which one SEE or the other? not sure at the moment. :)
 
Miss Delectable, would you consider Cued Speech? That helps with visually seeing speech sounds. Some people use sign language and Cued Speech. It helps with pronunciation. Cued Speech is easy to learn in like a week. I wish I had known about that a long time ago. All interpreters should learn this for pronunciation purposes. There were times that I didn't know how to pronounce things and the terp would just say it, and I'll be like, "what?" Would have come in really handy for speech purposes such as vocabulary (no you can't cheat).
 
TiaraPrincess said:
Miss Delectable, would you consider Cued Speech? That helps with visually seeing speech sounds. Some people use sign language and Cued Speech. It helps with pronunciation. Cued Speech is easy to learn in like a week. I wish I had known about that a long time ago. All interpreters should learn this for pronunciation purposes. There were times that I didn't know how to pronounce things and the terp would just say it, and I'll be like, "what?" Would have come in really handy for speech purposes such as vocabulary (no you can't cheat).

Hello TiaraPrincess,
To tell you the truth, I never thought about the Cued Speech option. It's not commonly used and I have never seen it. Gives me a food for the thought, though :)
If I ever had to look into pursuing communication methods, I might give Cued Speech a go only if it'll be benetifal with other reasons.
 
Back
Top