Should ASL be reserve to culturally Deaf people only?

deafbajagal said:
I'm glad faire joure is on here. While most of us might be baffled at some of her views and comments, it's clear she has passion for doing what's best for her child. Her child is in a deaf school, exposed to ASL. She also chose to implant her child with a CI, but she did her share of extensive research. Some of the things she has said has made me cringe, yes. But some things she has said makes perfect sense, too.

There's nothing wrong with a deaf child learning speech, as long as it doesn't hinder the language process. The best way to teach spoken language, ironically, is to use manual communication to support the child in the learning process.

If you want your deaf child to have the best possible chance at good speech, then expose them to manual communication such as ASL. Ironic, isn't it?
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I suppose we just have to keep saying it over and over and over...
 
While we deafies are quick to point fingers at hearing parents who want their child to be so hearing like them, we also need to pause and consider that many deaf parents are guilty of the same thing.

I've seen my share of deaf parents who have not done their job to make sure the deaf child (and come to think of it, the hearing child/CODA) is exposed to English in some form, especially written English. I think that some deaf parents are not comfortable with English, so they don't bother with it. I get really frustrated when I get a child in my classroom who should be fluent in both languages, but aren't because he's trying to catch up. However, I've seen that a child with any language base such as ASL picks up another language way more quickly than a child with no or little language base.

There are two sides to a coin.
 
deafbajagal said:
There's so much more than just speaking, articulating words. You have to have social skills with it...and verbal cues, etc. Conversation skills are really complicated...everything from precise word choice, use of figurative language, informal vs formal words/phrases, tone, inflection, eye contact, etc. are involved...

And we're trying so hard to figure out if the person is saying coat or boat? Yeah, it's easy to lose track of the other stuff. No wonder I was "shy" when I was growing up...and when I started to be involved with the deaf world, my parents said I had a personality changed...I started to talk nonstop! I told them, I was never shy...I was withdrawn and isolated. Conversations were just too damn hard.
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And what you describe is exactly what I am referring to when I say that the deaf child in an aural-oral environment misses the incidental and peripheral learning that a hearing child just absorbs.
 
Well it depends on what you mean by schools. There are very few auditory oral preschool to 8th grade schools. Most of the private auditory oral programs are more like early intervention.
Oh, and I wonder if the popularity of oral only is kind of like the way parents of hearing suburban children gravitate towards the Ivy League as the Ideal College, Ideal Path to Sucuess. The reason why the Ivy League is so popular is b/c kids/parents at the Ivy League feeder schools (eg the private prep schools like Phillips Andover) placed a very high value on having an Ivy League/Instantly Reconizable Name Brand education. Suburban parents thought that b/c they were so hyped, they were the Key to Suceuss.
 
BecLak said:
Jillio, God is not responsible for audist views.....it is a human misinterpretation of what God and the Bible says. ;)
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Are you vacationing in Australia and still taking time to post here?
 
I actually thought most didn't, were oral-aural programs.
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That's if you count those "outreach" programs from the homebase of an oral aural program. According to Listen Up, most of the ed programs were ASL using. Most public programs are ASL using, with a smattering of oral only programs. Private programs (except for St. Rita's) tend to be oral only
 
deafgal001 said:
Just wondering because I get the impression from many parents that they don't want us to talk about ASL at all.

Don't worry, interpreters, CODAs/family, and friends, I'm not talking about you... Just deaf children.
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I want to respond to this as a linguist and not a person with an opinion. Rather an observer with a hope.

I studied linguistics and logic along with everything else I could in college, and I am no expert but I believe that ALL people should know a speech language and a sign language (if they can). It is good for the brain. If someone has the ability to learn a language, they should try and I don't believe many hearing people have a good excuse for not knowing both. Deaf people have a pretty good excuse for not learning vocal language but I believe all hearing people should at least be at a conversational level of ASL. My children are going to be raised to be fluent in both ASL and English no matter how good there hearing is. If that was how most people were, we wouldn't need to think about this stuff so much and be "deaffies" or "hearries". We would all just be people, and we would all be able to communicate with one another.

I hope in the future children will ask "If hearing people didn't used to know ASL then does that mean most hearing people couldn't interact with Deaf?" and when we explain yes that is correct they will say "Why was it like that?" we will give the same answer we must give our children when they ask about so many things in our cultural history and we will tell them..

"Because back then, we didn't know any better"

*The first human languages, were sign languages, like the use of alcohol, it pre-dates the written word.
 
Wirelessly posted

Is there any proof in history that hearing don't bother with gestures or homesigns to communication with someone who can't hear or talk?
 
BecLak said:
Then what may I ask is your reason for coming on AD in the first place if you deliberately avoid the experiences of those of us who are d/Deaf? Do you think we enjoy sharing the difficult experiences just to have a pity-party? I think most of us are sharing because we want to make sure this does not happen to children today. You can't say that it doesn't happen, or that all the old methods and attitudes have been eliminated. There is still a lot to gain from the experiences of the past, we learn what to carry on with and what to be wary of.
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Yep...

To whoever is concerned,

Pls do not come in here and change our own viewpoints on being deaf. Thank you.

Thank you,
Shel90
 
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