A man in Turkey had an unforgettable day when his town learned sign language for him. Yes, this is ultimately an ad for Samsung but it hit me quite hard as I was deaf for part of my childhood and am still hearing impaired. I also have a disabled father and other family members with mild to severe physical limitations. Anyone who has ever been limited physically or has a family member that has will understand just how difficult it can be to do typical daily routines.
Aw, that is a sweet surprise, but sadly so far from reality. It is not easy even to get extended family members to learn beyond a dozen or so signs. Everyone has their own agenda and few to none will actually invest the time it takes to learn a another language. (Then there is the 57-year-old mother-in-law who says it is impossible because she has arthritis.) It’s not as if sign language is magically easier to learn than any other language.
A school I once worked in had a primary student who signed ASL. Her interpreter taught her whole class about 12 basic signs — and the children quickly learned to acquire the others they wanted. Staff picked up the ones we needed (as well as the basics of hello, how’re you, etc…). I hadn’t realized before then how much context and style can effect what you are conveying.
So could staff have the same level of conversation with the deaf student as with other students? I would argue that in all fairness, “what is needed” is full access to communication,not a couple dozen signs. As the mother of a deaf child who started out signing, it becomes clear very early on how big of a hill it is to climb to actually provide equivalent language content and communication. Think if most people around you used only 100 words to communicate with you. Would you feel even a little isolated?
My son has cochlear implants and attends a mainstream school. He communicates using spoken English, but still knows some signs.
Some do learn though. I am not saying that this is reality. Most people in my extended family have learned enough basic sign language to communicate with my cousin even though we only see him once a year or so.
Then again, we highly value languages in my family so that could have something to do with it.
I wish all people could sign but the reality is that most people will never have a prolonged encounter with a severely hearing impaired individual. Many of us with hearing problems lip read (that’s what I do much of the time). I am luckily not deaf and can respond back but I know that is not always a possibility for every hearing impaired individual.
I still thought it was sweet and we can hope for a world where this is possible. I believe that we can at least move in a positive direction.
My research over the last 2 years has been in the history of disability related to mental institutions and homes for the “feebleminded”- both of which often included perfectly mentally sound individuals who had physical limitations. Before that, I worked in the Braille and Talking Book Library complete with a boss who was completely blind. When he was younger, it would’ve never occurred to him that he could have a full career and (later on) that he could be able to use computers. But then technology like JAWS was invented, the ADA was enacted, and so on. It is truly astonishing how far we’ve come in less than 100 years and it gives me hope that we can keep going.
I am truly impressed by your family, that they would learn and retain a language they use once a year. When you say enough basic sign language, do they actually carry on conversations about, for example, recent favorite movies, books, etc.? Does everyone sign at the dinner table to let your cousin follow the conversation? That is really uncommon. My family would never have gotten to that level of proficiency even though they also know multiple spoken languages.
Technology really is amazing. While my son’s hearing us far from perfect and he has the most difficulty in background noise, with his cochlear implants he can hear down to a whisper and can talk on the phone where speechreading (preferred term for lipreading) is impossible. Technology has really opened up his world.
LBowie, when I say basic sign language I mean what you would use to communicate with about a two year old because, despite him being in his 20s, he is mentally still a very young child. I do not know what would happen if he was cognitively at the same level as the rest of us but that is not the case. (He is severely cognitively and physically impaired). I don’t think we’d learn and retain that level of signing just for a few dinners a year but we know enough to make him feel included. My family knows more than other members of the extended family because they signed with me when I was little.
I have never heard the term speechreading. I will be sure to remember that.
