American Sign Language Sociology

Alexa Treml
Avra – Sociology
Spring – 2016
April 29, 2016
Susan
A couple years ago I began studying American Sign Language. I thought I would just be learning the language. What I did not realize was that I would be learning about an entirely different culture, deaf culture. I always thought the hearing impaired lived in a different world and turns out that is not completely untrue. The deaf have their own social norms, ideas, and way of doing things to get through day-to-day activities. I learned how the deaf culture is an incredible world in itself. A world everyone should, at least to some degree, try to understand. After several sign language classes, I found myself semi-fluent in ASL. I was still apprehensive at the thought of having

The functionalist perspective on education states that a student “must be taught to put the group’s needs ahead of their [own] desires and aspirations” (Kendall 364). The transmission of culture aspect of education is one that seems to be the most effected in this instance; the learning of culture values, attitudes, and behavior so they can be productive in society (Kendall 365). “Cultural knowledge is the language and culture to which one is exposed and learned spontaneously and naturally” (Blackwell 8). In Susan’s case, she grew up learning the culture of a hearing world and then suffers the shock of being forced into a world and culture about which neither she nor anyone around her knew anything. For example, her teacher said she couldn’t teach her anymore, that she didn’t know how to help her, and that she needed to be with special needs kids. While the hearing culture often views deafness as a disabling disability, the perspective of connecting deafness and retardation is offensive. Similar to what Susan stated in her interview, in deaf culture, “deaf individuals have experienced considerable discrimination based on the (misguided) notions that being able to hear is superior to not being able to, and that hearing (and speaking) conveys a basic humanness that is denied to people who do not hear” (Burch, Susan and Alison Kafer 107). According to Donald Moores and Margery Staman, “Tom

“Racism occurs in explicit forms…[and] is also commonly and indirectly present through prejudiced attitudes, lack of recognition of cultural diversity and culturally biased practices” (Brice). Susan stated that when she was younger there was a boy that told her she “deserved to be deaf” solely because she was black. The magnitude of a statement such as that is mind blowing. Prejudice and racism are still, embarrassingly, prevalent in today’s society. However, a symbolic interactionist view on prejudice is that if groups of people are seen as equals and are held to the same standards, then stereotyping is heavily reduced (Kendall