Deaf culture
When used as a label for the audiological condition, it is written with a lower case d.[1] Carl G. Croneberg was among the first to discuss analogies between Deaf and hearing cultures in his appendices C and D of the 1965 Dictionary of American Sign Language.
Additionally, hearing family members may need to learn sign language in order for the deaf person to feel included and supported.
Especially in the past, the medical perspective discouraged the use of sign language because they believed it would detract from the development of auditory and speech skills.
They believe that this perspective asks Deaf people to fit and find their own way in a predominantly hearing society, instead of recognizing their own abilities and culture.
This standpoint is believed to promote Deaf people's right to collective space within society to pass on their language and culture to future generations.
[12] The community can provide support, easy social interaction, and "refuge from the grinding frustrations of the hearing world."
[14] As educator and American Sign Language interpreter Anna Mindess writes, "it is not the extent of hearing loss that defines a member of the deaf community but the individual's own sense of identity and resultant actions.
[17] Marla Berkowitz, a Certified Deaf ASL interpreter, describes it as "a coined word from two languages – Su – your; main – hands".
[21] Though racism is not greater than audism, the intersection of race and deafness (and other identities) can increase the barriers to success and compound hardship.
[22] Therefore, it is crucial to acknowledge the intersectionality of Black Deaf students as it plays a significant role in their educational success.
Racial discrimination is also noted: Deaf schools in the USA did not admit black students for a long time.
He also points out that his analyses focus strongly on the USA and the UK, and that the situation and self-definition of d/Deaf people in other countries can differ greatly.
Some argue that by improving the recognition of ASL, better access to school materials, deaf teachers, interpreters, and video-telephone communication would take place.
Brazil has several institutions, including Instituto Santa Tersinha and Escola para Crianças Surdas Rio Branco.
"Sign languages are based on the idea that vision is the most useful tool a deaf person has to communicate and receive information".
Some prominent performers in the United States include Clayton Valli, Ben Bahan, Ella Mae Lentz, Manny Hernandez, CJ Jones, Debbie Rennie, Patrick Graybill, Peter Cook, and many others.
[55] Daily Moth was established by Alex Abenchuchan in 2017 to make the news accessible for Deaf ASL users.
[59] This effort resulted in pressure around the world to abandon sign language in favor of the oral approach exclusively.
The Milan conference recommendations were repudiated in Hamburg a century later,[60] and sign languages in education came back into vogue after the publication of Stokoe's linguistic analyses of ASL.
Films were made from the Los Angeles Club for the Deaf and included styles of performances such as Vaudeville show and short comedy skills.
Wolf Bragg, a popular Deaf club performer through 1930 is known for interpreting sign language into "The Monkey's Paw" and Auf Weidersehen.
Today there are only a few spread-out deaf clubs found in the United States and their attendance is commonly small with a tendency to the elderly.
[19] Others attribute the decline of deaf clubs to the end of World War II and a change in the job market.
When World War II ended and the civil rights movement progressed, the federal government started offering more jobs to deaf men and women.
The RAD hosts an annual conference "to encourage and promote the educational, economical, and social welfare of Deaf LGBTQ individuals.
[71][72][73][74] In 2011 the Conservative Movement unanimously passed the rabbinic responsa, "The Status of the Heresh [one who is deaf] and of Sign Language", by the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS).
[75] This responsa declared that, among other things, "The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards rules that the deaf who communicate via sign language and do not speak are no longer to be considered mentally incapacitated.
"[77] There is also Pink Wings of Hope, an American breast cancer support group for deaf and hard-of-hearing women.
[89] Over the years, library services have begun to evolve in order to accommodate the needs and desires of local Deaf communities.
[91] In Nashville, Tennessee, Sandy Cohen manages the Library Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (LSDHH).
