Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language: Hereditary Deafness on Martha’s Vineyard details the history, etiology, and ethnography of deafness on Martha’s Vineyard between the seventeenth century to the death of the last inhabitant in 1952. Nora Ellen Groce, the author and principal investigator of this study, richly details the lives of both deaf and hearing inhabitants of Martha’s Vineyard by referring to the remaining documents and interviewing several current residents who at the time were in their eighties and nineties. The residents, or in Groce’s terms, “informants”, were most helpful and enlightening in that many shared stories and memories of several of the deaf inhabitants. Not only does Groce use an oral and historical approach to studying the history of deafness on Martha’s Vineyard she also includes the genetic component as well and describes certain medical anomalies such as birth trauma and the theories of Mendelian genetics. This report addresses Groce’s analysis of the medical etiology of deafness, attitudinal differences between the mainland and Martha’s Vineyard on being deaf, and the lifestyles of Martha’s Vineyard residents that coincide and contrast with the mainland inhabitants. This report will also address the improvements and .
Groce’s genetic analysis includes the use of family pedigrees and Mendelian concepts, otherwise known as the recessive gene, in tracing the etiology of deafness on the island. After tracing many family pedigrees, including the first deaf inhabitant Jonathan Lambert, Groce finds an interesting connection that plays a role in the passing of deafness from generation to generation. She theorizes that “…the genetic mutation [deafness] must have first occurred in someone who lived in the ...
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...tching” when sharing a raunchy story is also another example of “Deaf Gain”: “If there was a bunch of guys standing around the general store telling a [dirty] story and a woman walked in, they’d turn away from her and finish the story in sign language” (67). Interestingly, Groce notes in her book that, with the advanced funding of attending the first public school for the deaf in Hartford, Connecticut, “deaf Vineyarders were better educated than their hearing neighbors” (78). This observation shows how patience and acceptance towards deaf individuals within a community makes a difference in outcomes of education. Overall, the island between the seventeenth to early twentieth century carried this inclusion policy for all deaf and hearing inhabitants to follow, whereas in the mainland the majority of the population followed the policies of exclusion, unfortunately.
From as far back as 500 B.C., people viewed those with hearing impairments as nonpersons and uneducable, and wrong perceptions and mistreatment continued for years (Avery). Today, mistreatment and overtly halting attitudes toward deaf people are mostly extinct, but stereotypes and discrimination still run rampant. Furthermore, not everyone was or is fortunate enough to have the support of possibilities Kisor did. A poem written by Stephen J. Bellitz in 1991 called “Thoughts of a Deaf Child” contrasts the first few chapters of What’s That Pig Outdoors?:
I learned that the many doctors did not or maybe still do not know about Deaf culture. Also, that many of them did not approve of sign language, and expected them to be able to use speech like the majority with hearing aids and therapy. It was known as a hearing world and teachers and relatives felt this was true and would try to persuade his parents from communicating with Mark...
I learned a lot about Deaf people, ASL, and/or Deaf Culture after reading this book. Deaf people are normal just like anybody else and they should not be treated any differently. Some people treat Deafness as a disease that needs to be cured, but it's not. If a parent comes to learn that their child is deaf they react very crazily and act like their child is dying and that deafness is some fatal disease. Deaf people should be treated just like anyone else and no differently. They are not disabled and can do great things in this world.
In the following chapters, there is an extensive amount of knowledge to learn about how Deaf culture is involved in our modern world. The pages assigned give us an outlook of how Deaf people are treated in our daily life, and how we should learn from it. Its gives a clear line between what are myths and what are facts, to those who are curious about the Deaf community or have specific questions. This book has definitely taught me new things that I could put to good use in the near future. In specific chapters, my mind really opened up to new ideas and made me think hard about questions, like “why don’t some Deaf people trust hearing people,” or “do we need another ‘Deaf president now’ revolution?” I realized many new things in the course of reading this book, and have recommended this to my family.
Throughout the ITP program and the lower level ASL classes the name Gallaudet is driven into our heads. We know of the University named after him and how he was the man to bring education to the Deaf in America. What was not before mentioned is that there were two Gallaudets. The first thing I learned from this book is the importance of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and his son Edward Miner Gallaudet. I fact I had believed for some time now that E.M. Gallaudet was this extraordinary man that everyone loved and the named a university after him. It is unfortunate that this was not made clearer in the past. Now all I see is a man who took the only path that he knew how to take.
Marika Kovac-Houlihan’s TED Talk hurt me. Hearing her stories first hand truly reveals the discrimination Deaf people face. It’s an easy to listen and understand the definition of discrimination but to experience it or witness is different. Kovac-Houlihan’s intention was for the audience to be stunned by her experiences, I imagine most of those people feel the same way I currently do. Her understanding was that most hearing people see Deaf people as disable or inferior, not every hearing person thinks that way, but most do. Kovac-Houlihan believes hearing people’s assumption is “that a deaf person may be isolated, uneducated or without language” (2:29 Kovac-Houlihan). I slightly disagree with her, but there are exceptions to every rule, one individual does not always impact the thoughts of the mob. I choose this video because of my reaction to Kovac-Houlihan’s primary discussion topics: the phonocentric ideology, loss of identity, and the divide between hearing and Deaf
The movie starts off by introducing a little boy named Matt. We find out that Matt is completely deaf. His grandfather doesn’t take the new lightly and is slightly in denial on the fact that his grandson is deaf. The baby’s mother talks about deaf schools and teaching the boy sign language. The grandfather doesn’t believe in those kind of institutions and believes his grandson would learn how to communicate through Oral education; teaching him how to read lips. The movie fast-forwards into the little boy’s life in elementary school. He’s put into a special-education class, when he’s clearly fine; his only problem is that’s he’s deaf. After watching this scene in the movie, it had me thinking. Not only was this little boy being singled out for one small difference than others, but he was seen as dumber than others because of it. Although this happened years ago, this reminds me of society today. Often time’s people treat others that don’t blend in, differently. People also believe they’re much better than others who have a form of disability, when in fact this is not true. Throughout his childhood he’s often bullied by other kids for being deaf. His grandfather starts to teach him how to talk by making him feel his vocal cords as he speaks. He also encourages him to join the wrestling team. It was difficult for him to adjust to the team because he would hav...
Many people never realize or take much notice on what deaf people go through in life, but by watching the movie "Love is Never Silent", hearing people are able to have a clear view of what it is like to be deaf in the hearing world. Many different perspectives towards how deaf people live, socialize, party or work are built by many distinctive types of people. As the movie "Love is Never Silent" shows, Margaret and her family are isolated from their community. They aren 't allowed to sign in front of the hearing because it 's strange and abnormal. Seeing a deaf person sign during a time where being different can make a person look like an outcast makes hearing people pity the deaf and end up treating them as ignorant people. Although deaf
At this time in history, those who were deaf were tried at best to be converted into hearing people. Doctors, speech therapists, and audiologists all recommended the use of speaking and lip reading instead of sign language. Since Mark’s grandparents were hearing, they were closer to the parental position instead of his deaf parents. His grandparents provided him with the best possible education he could get, startin...
With that knowledge the deaf character gained more confidence when communicating and was able to achieve bigger goals in their life then when they had little to no knowledge of how things worked in society. Reading about these characters just gave me a small insight into the deaf community but with the documentary ”Through Deaf Eyes,” has open my mind and eyes that they are people who can thrive in and change the world just as anyone can when they put their mind to
Mark Drolsbaugh’s Deaf Again is a biography about his life between two dimensions of the Deaf world and the Hearing world as well as the implications he faced throughout his journeys’. Mark Drolsbaugh was born from two deaf parents and was basically forced to adapt to the hearing world even though his parents are deaf. When Drolsbaugh was born he was hearing, however, by first grade his parents and teachers discovered he was losing his hearing. As time went on Mark realized the issues he faced from trying to adapt to the hearing world. Mark Drolsbaugh quotes in his biography, “Deafness is bad. I am deaf. I need to be fixed. I must be like them, no matter what, because deaf is bad.” However, no matter what his family believed that he
James P. Spradely, Lynn’s uncle and co-author of this book, his perspective is also important since he does not live in the house with the family. His perspective is so different from what the family did on a daily basis. Being the reader, I could see how he was needed to help edit the book so that all the things that where important got put into the book so that the reader could see what it is like to have a child that does not speak. The learning process the family went through to see that not all children are the same. To find out that in Lynn’s case her native language is...
In mainstream American society, we tend to approach deafness as a defect. Helen Keller is alleged to have said, "Blindness cuts people off from things; deafness cuts people off from people." (rnib.org) This seems a very accurate description of what Keller's world must have been. We as hearing people tend to pity deaf people, or, if they succeed in the hearing world, admire them for overcoming a severe handicap. We tend to look at signing as an inferior substitute for "real" communication. We assume that all deaf people will try to lip-read and we applaud deaf people who use their voices to show us how far they have come from the grips of their disability. Given this climate, many hearing people are surprised, as I was at first, to learn of the existence of Deaf culture. To me deafness is not a defect but a source of connection. Imagine yourself deaf, growing up with a beautiful language, visual literature, humor, and theater. Imagine taking pride in your identity without any desire to become a member of the majority culture. For many deaf people, their community is a comforting relief from the isolation and condescension of the hearing world. However the Deaf community is far more than a support group for people who share a physical characteristic. Members of the Deaf community may have hearing levels that range from profoundly deaf to slightly hard-of-hearing. But no members of the Deaf community are "hearing impaired." Inside this community, deaf people become Deaf, proudly capitalizing their culture. Hearing people suddenly find that they are handicapped: "Deaf-impaired."
In today's times, it is possible for a deaf family to characterize themselves as an all American family. For many centuries hearing people classified deafness as a horrendous misfortune. As reported by a historian at the University of Iowa, Doug Baynton, in the early 1800's most of the deaf people in America lived in segregated rural areas from one another, and with little communication with the people around them. “They also had a limited understanding of what they could do – of their own possibilities. People with deaf children really had no idea of what their children could achieve” (Baynton, D., 2007).
Education in relation to hearing disabilities has markedly about-faced since the inaugural of the American Asylum for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb founded on April 15,1817 by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (Friend 2014). It has transitioned against residential schools to provincial schools implementation of deaf education ensuing an alteration in the manner in which hearing disabilities were appraised due to an influx of deafness found in children subsequently generated by an epidemic of rubella (Friend 2014).