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An Introduction
The Land of the Deaf
The Language of the Deaf
Deaf President Now Movement
Deaf Organizations
The Arts
Literature
Shared Oppression
CODAS (Children of Deaf Adults)
Conclusion

An Introduction
Over the last few years there has been much written about Deaf Culture. I find the information in A Journey into the Deaf-World, chapter 5, to be concise and thorough. I also appreciate the different perspectives and backgrounds of the authors. Harlan Lane is a hearing specialist in the psychology of language who has written many books championing the Deaf point of view in the hearing world. While Harlan looks at the Deaf-World from an intellectual standpoint, Bob Hoffmeister  has experienced Deafness directly because he is a CODA, the hearing child of Deaf adults. Lastly is the author Ben Behan, Deaf with Deaf parents. He went to Gallaudet University in Washington, DC and has taught ASL at several colleges including California School for the Deaf at Fremont and at Gallaudet University. Ben offers unique insight of one who is Deaf from Deaf family.

Carol Padden has defined Culture as a set of learned behaviors of a group of people who have their own language, values, rules of behavior, and traditions (1988). The Deaf-World is bonded by a common language-American Sign Language, as well as common mores and values. Like most people with a common language, there is a territory that they share as well. All of these components of culture revolve around shared experiences. So then, where is the land of the Deaf?

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The Land of the Deaf
The foundation of the Deaf-World in the U.S. comes from residential schools for the Deaf. It is in the residential schools that the vast majority of the Deaf-World acquire their shared language and culture. Nine out of ten Deaf people in the U.S. come from hearing homes where Deaf culture and Deaf language are rarely to be found. This speaks powerfully of the role of the Deaf schools in American Deaf culture.

Once a Deaf person graduated from the residential schools for the Deaf there was still a need for community. This lead to the establishment of Deaf clubs, tiny reservations of Deaf culture, where Deaf people govern, socialize, and communicate fluently in ASL after the workday ends.

Historically, residential schools and clubs have served to bring groups of Deaf people together, ending isolation. Throughout the years these institutions served to promote a sense of pride as a social group.

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The Language of the Deaf
Nothing is more central to the culture and dearer to the hearts of Deaf people than their language. In the past few decades, linguists have uncovered a wealth of information about ASL and other signed languages. That knowledge is just beginning to be incorporated into educational practices. Perhaps the most astonishing and fundamental discovery of that research is that ASL is a language--a complete natural language, quite independent from English. These recent findings have done much to substantiate ASL as a language, it has not always been recognized as such. Read on to discover why.

1800's - 1850's: Golden Era in Education of the Deaf
In the early 1800's schools for the Deaf emerged in America and internationally. ASL developed during this time as a blend of imported French Signs (thanks to Laurent Clerc), indigenous signed languages and home signs. As early as 1834, a single signed dialect was recognized in the schools for Deaf in the United States. Deaf children were instructed in their national language, that of ASL. Forty-two percent of the teachers were themselves Deaf. The first college of the Deaf in the world, Gallaudet University, was launched in 1864 as Deaf children completed their education in growing numbers. The founder of this college, Edward Miner Gallaudet believed in bilingual education of Deaf students, using ASL to teach written English. Ironically,  we've come full circle, presently accepting this philosophy again after over 140 years of oppositional struggle.

1860's - 1970's: Oralism
ASL flourished in the schools for the Deaf until approximately 1860, when  the first Oral school for the Deaf was established in Massachusetts. In 1870, Alexander Graham Bell founded the Oralist Movement. The Oral schools exclusively required spoken English.

The biggest blow to signed language came at the Milan Convention in 1880. It was here that 164 delegates, all of them hearing, voted in favor of "disbarring" the signed language in whatever nation it was presently used in. The effects of the Milan Convention in Italy was a death sentence for sign language. Deaf teachers were fired en masse and sign language outlawed. Oralism received a great boost after this convention and became the dominant educational system for the Deaf. Teaching English to the Deaf via oral training and extensive speech therapy became an obsessive concern in Deaf education and did not wane until the 1970's.

In a culture that cherishes its language so dearly, and in which Deaf children come into their linguistic heritage in the schools, no more crushing blow could be struck than to banish sign language from the schools.  This time period when a Deaf person's language was not accepted, was extremely influential in shaping Deaf identity.

1970's - Present: Total Communication
What took the place of oralism as the dominant philosophy of Deaf Education was Total Communication. In principle, subscribing to TC meant using all the means of communication with Deaf people at your disposal, including ASL, spoken and written English, fingerspelling, mime, etc. In practice, TC came to mean accompanying one's speech with a certain amount of signing.

During this same time period, Deafness was categorized as a disability. Because of this, Deaf children become subject to the 1975 Education of All Handicapped Children Act, placing all children with disabilities into public schools. This resulted in mainstreaming Deaf children out of schools for the Deaf and into public schools.  Many schools for the Deaf  lost funding and were forced to close due to the implementation of this law. The vital cultural education centers for Deaf society were forced to close down. This resulted in much isolation for the Deaf child who found themselves labeled as "disabled" and with few if any other Deaf children in the classroom. Now that the deaf child was mainstreamed into the classroom an interesting dilemma presented itself: the need for qualified interpreters. This continues to be a struggle in the public school system to this day. During this time, ASL was not used in the classroom but forms of Signed English.

The ostracism of signed language from the schools continues to the present, although certain developments in linguistics are leading to change. It may be that the United States is now on the threshold of an era in which ASL will again flourish. Many Deaf feel that the implementation of English-like signs and obsession with lip-reading is a convenience for hearing people, but not the Deaf. To not accept one's language is a very disabling process.

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Deaf President Now Movement
Deaf pride came to a head in 1988 at Gallaudet University, an event known as Deaf President Now (DPN). Gallaudet University was founded in 1864 and has become one of the world's foremost educational centers for Deaf people. Yet it had never had a Deaf president. Students and staff felt this perpetuated the myth that Deaf people cannot govern their own affairs. In 1988, a new president was hired. For the first time in Gallaudet's history, two of the three final candidates were Deaf; both were accomplished administrators and scholars working in Deaf education and the university system. The one hearing candidate was an administrator at another university, who had no prior experience with Deaf education. The board had chosen the hearing candidate. Students and faculty began an eight day protest, resulting in heavy media coverage, attracting much support and contributions to the students' cause. Rallies were held at Deaf schools all over the United States. Through media coverage, many hearing people became aware of Deaf cohesiveness and signed language for the first time. On the steps of the capitol, Congressmen stood in line to address the rally. The students' determination for independence and behavior in the struggle won them praise.

On the eighth day of the protest, the board announced that the seventh president of Gallaudet, and its first Deaf president, would be Dr. I. King Jordan. The board had agreed to all the students' demands. The Deaf President Now movement was above all a reaffirmation of Deaf culture, and it brought about the first great worldwide celebration of that culture. As a result, Congress called The Deaf Way to be held in Washington, DC, the following year. Five thousand spokespersons from Deaf communities around the world, including scholars, artists, and political leaders, participated in lectures, exhibits, media events, and performances. This yearly event continues today.

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Deaf Organizations

Athletic Organizations
Sports are one of the powerful bonding forces in the Deaf-World. The love of sports is nurtured in the residential schools by rivalry among other schools. Sports rapidly become a vehicle of acculturation for the Deaf child, a shared experience, a source of Deaf pride. Something similar could be said about the acculturation of hearing children in a larger society.

In 1924, six national federations of the Deaf sent contingents to the first World Games for the Deaf. During the games, the International Committee for Silent Sports was founded to forge a union among all Deaf sports federations. In 1955, the International Olympics Committee gave formal recognition to the committee as a federation with Olympic standing.

On April 13, 1945, representative of several Deaf clubs met and founded the American Athletic Association of the Deaf  (AAAD). The AAAD is still in existence today and publishes Deaf Sports Review and supports the Deaf sports Hall of Fame on the Gallaudet University campus.  Its affiliates include a score of national Deaf sports organizations from aquatics to wrestling.

Institutions for the Deaf, as well as Deaf Athletic organizations are in danger of serious deterioration as increasing numbers of young Deaf people attend mainstream schools where Deaf sports are not offered.

Political Organizations
At the same time that hearing educators of the Deaf were decreeing an end to signed languages at the Milan Congress of 1880, Deaf people in America representing twenty-one states were gathered in Cincinnati. They, too, sought to improve the welfare of Deaf people, but they had an entirely different conception. This group of educators, engineers, businessmen, and so on, decided to form a permanent association of the Deaf and set about drafting a constitution. Today, the National Association of the Deaf (NAD), which is a federation of state associations of the Deaf, is a vigorous advocate for signed language and the rights of Deaf people.

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The Arts
The arts also play a critical role in bonding the members of any culture, and the members of the Deaf-World are no exception. In fact, in at least two respects, the arts have a privileged relation to Deaf culture. Deaf people are visual people, so it should be no surprise that there has always been a substantial number of Deaf artists.

Deaf theater is an expression of Deaf culture as well. It may be one of the best opportunities for hearing people to glimpse the richness of the visual life that is the gift of the Deaf experience. In 1967 the National Theater of the Deaf was organized. NTD has sought primarily to bring hearing theater to hearing and Deaf audiences using Deaf actors. In an era when oral education of the Deaf was dominant and ASL denigrated, NTD performances presented to a large public ASL, a language of startling beauty and evident effectiveness, in addition to a Deaf cast. NTD has played an influential role in establishing Deaf theater in numerous other countries.

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Literature
American Sign Language has a rich literacy tradition. ASL is an unwritten language, so the art of storytelling is very much a part of Deaf culture. The storyteller and the story have an important role to play in the bonding of the Deaf-World and the transmission of its heritage and accumulated wisdom.

Humor plays a strong role in storytelling. The visual/manual modality of ASL creates special opportunities for humorists to play with the rules of grammar to entertain and enlighten us. Such humor also contains cultural messages and plays an important role in cementing the society. Deaf humor can be found not only in funny stories, caricatures, and absurd images, but also in cartooning. Leading Deaf-World newspapers include Silent News and the NAD Broadcaster. The leading magazines are Deaf Life and Gallaudet Today.

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Shared Oppression
Four common characteristics of minorities that underpin affiliation are:

            1)  The group shares a common physical or cultural characteristic
                 such as skin color or language.
            2)  Individuals identify themselves as members of the minority
                 and others identify themselves in this way.
            3)  There is a tendency to marry within the minority.
            4)  Minority members suffer oppression.

The Deaf -World finds unifying force in all four counts. First, it's members share a common physical characteristic and to a large extent also a shared common language--ASL in the United States. Because of their common physical characteristic, that language will never die out. Secondly, Deaf people do indeed identify themselves as culturally Deaf, and third, they marry Deaf nine times out of ten. Finally, Deaf people do suffer oppression. Oppression is a unifying force in any culture.

In ethnic minorities, one's first loyalty is often to the family, loyalty to the ethnic minority comes second. But only 10% of Deaf are born of Deaf parents, so most Deaf children cannot communicate with their parents who traditionally know little signed language (approximately 7% of hearing parents learn sign language). While the Deaf child's home may be nurturing, due to limited communication, it is often not substantially acculturating. It is speculated that those conditions engender a special measure of loyalty and commitment to the Deaf-World, where acculturation can finally take place.

Since Deaf people are found in all ethnic groups and walks of  life in the U.S. the Deaf-World is extraordinarily diverse.

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CODAS (Children of Deaf Adults)
Another important minority group within the Deaf-World are coda's, hearing people who are Children Of  Deaf Adults. When codas are growing up they commonly learn two languages and two cultures: those of the Deaf-World and those of the larger hearing society. Thus, they commonly become signed language interpreters and cultural mediators while they are still children. Most codas who learn ASL when quite young spend some time every day mediating issues between Deaf and hearing cultures. Most of these issues arise from the mutual ignorance of hearing and Deaf people concerning one another's way of life. Codas are recurrently put in the position of explaining both worlds to members of each. Almost all codas perform this function without any training except life's experiences. Those experiences of cross-cultural mediation can be rewarding, but frequently they are hurtful because of the prevailing negative views about Deaf people, the coda's parents, which are held by hearing people.

In a sense, the coda is "almost Deaf". Codas possess the cultural part of being Deaf, including Deaf-World knowledge, but they lack the physical difference. ASL is often their first language, taught to them from birth, in the same way hearing parents speak to hearing children.

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Conclusion
Considering all the powerful forces that bind Deaf people together--from language, schools and sports, to organization, arts and oppression--it is no surprise that Deaf men and women find strength in Deaf identity. The best way to become familiar with Deaf culture is to interact with the Deaf-World directly. They are your best teachers.

A note on terminology:
When you are reading any writing pertaining to deafness, you many notice that sometimes Deaf is referred to with a Big D, and sometimes it is referred to with a Little d, as in deaf. Big D refers to a Deaf individual who considers themselves a part of Deaf culture. Little d refers to the physical condition of deafness. For instance:

My friend Jake uses American Sign Language and is Deaf. (Big D - follows Deaf culture).
My grandfather is deaf. (Little d - he had a hearing loss and was not involved with Deaf culture in any way.)

Lane, Hoffmeister, Bahan (1996). A Journey into the Deaf-World. San Diego: DawnSign Press.

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