Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
Opening up the deaf world - Metro
In today's world, closed captioning and sign language often go unnoticed. But throughout history, this was not the case.
From the end of the 19th century until the 1970s, sign language was often banned from schools and society, and oralism - the teaching of lip-reading and speaking - was forced upon deaf students.
The controversy of oralism and how to best educate deaf children was the topic Monday night in the Iowa City Public Library, as UI Associate Professor Douglas Baynton and Shane Marsh of the UI American Sign Language Program led a discussion on deaf culture and oralism after screening clips from a PBS documentary, Through Deaf Eyes, to which Baynton contributed.
"It's an awfully good story of how deaf people have maintained their language over the years," he said. "It tells us a lot about human diversity."
In 1997, he began researching and writing the museum exhibit History Through Deaf Eyes, which toured the country and was featured at the Smithsonian in 2002. One year later, PBS approached Baynton about creating the documentary.
Kimela Nelson, a lecturer in the UI American Sign Language Program, said she appreciates the documentary's style.
"It's told from a deaf perspective and you don't get that perspective with any other people," Nelson said.
The film, which will air March 21 on PBS, features interviews with deaf people on issues ranging from schooling to deaf movie stars.
"The deaf community is really fascinating," Baynton said Monday night. "They are very much like an ethnic group. [American Sign Language] is a distinct language."
But sign language was only accepted until the end of the 1800s, when attitudes changed. Baynton said the key question is: Why did attitudes morph?
In today's world, closed captioning and sign language often go unnoticed. But throughout history, this was not the case.
From the end of the 19th century until the 1970s, sign language was often banned from schools and society, and oralism - the teaching of lip-reading and speaking - was forced upon deaf students.
The controversy of oralism and how to best educate deaf children was the topic Monday night in the Iowa City Public Library, as UI Associate Professor Douglas Baynton and Shane Marsh of the UI American Sign Language Program led a discussion on deaf culture and oralism after screening clips from a PBS documentary, Through Deaf Eyes, to which Baynton contributed.
"It's an awfully good story of how deaf people have maintained their language over the years," he said. "It tells us a lot about human diversity."
In 1997, he began researching and writing the museum exhibit History Through Deaf Eyes, which toured the country and was featured at the Smithsonian in 2002. One year later, PBS approached Baynton about creating the documentary.
Kimela Nelson, a lecturer in the UI American Sign Language Program, said she appreciates the documentary's style.
"It's told from a deaf perspective and you don't get that perspective with any other people," Nelson said.
The film, which will air March 21 on PBS, features interviews with deaf people on issues ranging from schooling to deaf movie stars.
"The deaf community is really fascinating," Baynton said Monday night. "They are very much like an ethnic group. [American Sign Language] is a distinct language."
But sign language was only accepted until the end of the 1800s, when attitudes changed. Baynton said the key question is: Why did attitudes morph?