What is Reddit's opinion of Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language: Hereditary Deafness on Martha’s Vineyard?

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It implies to Deaf (remember different culture, different norms) that they are impaired and that hearing is super integral. To Deaf, deafness is a very, very, very positive trait to the point that Deaf aim to have deaf children. To them, deafness is not a disability. Much like how in Martha's Vineyard generations ago (read: Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language), deafness was a simple trait that was forgotten about like handedness

I mean, to them, it is their defining trait that does not make their experience of the world better or worse. It just is their experience. The reason deafness is a "disability" is because society is set up for hearing, but that does not need to be the case. Read this.

Manual languages = oral languages in their abilities, they are just different. Can you communicate with your friends from the outside of a glass building and them up on the 7th floor? Can you communicate with your friends underwater? Can you communicate with your friends when you are on a bus and they are on the sidewalk? It is just differences, but our society is built by and for hearing, so it is obvious not being able to hear would be a massive disability, but many societies are built by and for deaf&hearing like Ka'apor in Brazil or Adamarode in Ghana or Martha's Vineyard in the States. :)

if you're looking for more material of research on generational deafness, this is a really good one. https://www.amazon.com/Everyone-Here-Spoke-Sign-Language/dp/067427041X

Yes, this is a great one to bring up.

A few good books I’ve read about Deaf history-

Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language
A Place Of Their Own
Deaf In America

There's a really good book called "Everybody here spoke sign" https://www.amazon.com/Everyone-Here-Spoke-Sign-Language/dp/067427041X

It was a need in that community as hereditary deafness was common.

To get back to your question - Why doesn't everyone have to learn Spanish? And French? And Mandarin? To try to teach the basics of ASL and BSL universally would be a huge undertaking and I don't know that everyone would even benefit from it. Some people go an entire lifetime without knowing someone who signs.

Seseame Street tried to mainstream it. I started learning to fingerspell as a kid from PBS shows. I don't know anyone else who knew how to fingerspell as a kid... or cared to learn.

My biggest advantage of knowing ASL was being able to have a private conversation in a public place.

Deaf Gain, or a history of Deaf addition to American, Canadian societies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5UwLDDMc0A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQMITsJ2NhE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5W604uSkrk https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/deaf-gain/201411/introduction-deaf-gain https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/deaf-gain https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195390032.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780195390032-e-014 https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-humanities/2016/04/08/the-reading-room-deaf-gain/

Deaf stories from ASL: http://aslhub.com/category/truasl/aslstories/ https://www.pinterest.ca/_ellie_bean_/asl-stories/

Deaf books: https://www.amazon.ca/Everyone-Here-Spoke-Sign-Language/dp/067427041X/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?keywords=everybody+here+spoke+sign+language&qid=1557172565&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmr1 https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/deaf

Yeah, what I am saying is

>What you are claiming is equivalent to saying that the following is cultural genocide ‘hey you can speak French but you’re in America and without speaking English as well you’re going to have a real tough time why don’t you take some classes’

That is genocide. Genocide is the destruction of the group in whole or in part and that is a genocidal policy: the restriction of language is the first and most potent tool in any genocide

Who is pushing to oust sign languages? Literally since 1880 every government has been! Partly, it was in response to Indigenous populations relying upon sign languages; partly, it was the standard American/Canadian/British assimilation tactics. Same goals, except how it manifests in d/Deaf circles when attempted assimilation to an oral majority means a lot of people lose access to their languages and cultures, and many children/individuals are deprived of language totally. How is that humane?! How can you defend that?!

Your thing is about hearing-deafness. That is NOT at all what this is about and I do not know how to make that more clear than I already have. There is a difference between the physical trait of hearing/deafness and the cultures that attach themselves to that trait. YOU are medicalising, YOU are forcing the disability=culture narrative

edit: go to Gallaudet and try to say there is no such thing as Deaf history or Deaf culture. go to Očhethi Šakówiŋ (aka the Great Sioux Nation) and try to say their sign languages are not under threat.

You are using the same argument for why queerness should be called a disability. When people who are queer say they do not have a disability but are disabled by society, you should listen. When folks who are d/Deaf say they do not have a disability but are disabled by society, you should pay attention. Society disables, but what is inherently wrong about not receiving sound waves except that which other humans make more difficult in easily solvable ways?

There are a lot of options with this topic. The one I chose when I went through my program came from my own personal experience.

There are a lot of times that there are suggested topics about "living with someone who is deaf" or "deaf for a day" or "what is out there to fix deaf people" - the normal suggested topics made me ill.

This is what I did.... I went to doctors and audiologists and speech therapists and interviewed them about their attitudes to the Deaf community. I then went to the Deaf community and asked them what they thought about audiologists and doctors and speech therapists.

(Don't worry if you haven't jumped into this society - just look for a meet up and go ask questions - someone will interpret if you can't make do with the skills you have. GO ASK QUESTIONS of people in the Deaf community. They will let you know what they think!)

I learned a lot. I learned that there is a clinical view of deafness that views deaf as something to be fixed. I learned there is a cultural aspect that surrounds being Deaf that no one will ever really understand unless you've lived that life.

There are two points of view - a victim and a fixer - vs - a community member and someone who wants to "un-do a wrong."

If you want controversy? Talk to someone who is Deaf (and learn the difference between Deaf and deaf) and talk to someone who 'treats and fixes' deafness.

Deaf is an identity. It is like being born Chinese or Russian or American. It's a matter of fact. It is who you are.

Being deaf is an affliction - a medical condition - something that is wrong with you.

The people who 'fix' the Deaf are going into this with the best of intentions but often don't understand the culture and the community that exists.

The Deaf don't always understand this isn't about trying to 'fix' someone. It's about opening up another opportunity and another option.

Everyone goes in with the best wishes but the upbringing of the child decides which side will win.....

Need a starting point for Deaf culture? Check out a book Everyone here Spoke Sign It's in most libraries.

Are you near a major metro area? Are you near a "Deaf/deaf school"?

There are a lot of things you can explore with this.... welcome to a wild crazy passionate world. :)

It. is. not. a. disability. Read literally anything I have written. It is a trait. You are the one calling it a disability, but to them, the world just is set up to target d/Deaf, but that is not how it needs to be. Please read this as it shows what American society could look like.

Please read this book for an idea oh how American society was once set up to accomodate Deaf. It is not that hard....

Deafness is a trait, one that is integral to the Deaf communities, but it is akin to left-handedness and should be treated as such (read: manual language education should be the norm). It is your society that is demonising Deaf, not theirs nor many others such as Ka'apor in Brazil or Adamarode in Ghana