American Sign Language: Culture

"For some time it seemed to be the beginning of a culture, a start on a language, but it was not until those who lived the culture and used the language gained recognition as self-reliant that both the Deaf culture and American Sign Language (ASL) were acknowledged as valid. Tabak, who has a personal and professional interest in ASL, describes the remarkable French cleric who taught an early form of sign language, then traces the forces of opposition, many of which insisted on oral speech rather than signing, and describes the growth of ASL into a recognized language. He also shows the side roads, including forays into race, and how modern concepts of modality started to work for ASL. He details the path of the deaf and blind within ASL and explains technologies that are (and are not) gaining ground in the Deaf and ASL communities."

"Deaf Heritage tracks the development of the Deaf community both chronologically and by significant subjects. The initial chapter treats the critical topics of early attempts at deaf education, the impact of Deaf and Black deaf teachers, the establishment of schools for the deaf, and the founding of Gallaudet College. Individual chapters cover the 1880s through the 1970s, mixing milestones such as the birth of the National Association of the Deaf and the work of important figures, Deaf and hearing, with anecdotes about day-to-day deaf life. Other chapters single out important facets of Deaf culture: American Sign Language, Deaf Sports, Deaf artists, Deaf humor, and Deaf publications. The overall effect of this remarkable record, replete with archival photographs, tables, and lists of Deaf people’s accomplishments, reveals the growth of a vibrant legacy singular in American history."

"Forbidden Signs explores American culture from the mid-nineteenth century to 1920 through the lens of one striking episode: the campaign led by Alexander Graham Bell and other prominent Americans to suppress the use of sign language among deaf people."

"Language in Hand presents innovative thoughts on classifiers in American Sign Language and their similarity to certain elements of spoken languages, convincing evidence that speech originally copied sign language forms before developing unrelated conventions through usage. Stokoe concludes Language in Hand with an hypothesis on how the acceptance of sign language as the first language of humans could revolutionize the education of infants, both deaf and hearing, who, like early humans, have the full capacity for language without speech."

"Using original sources, this unique book focuses on the Deaf community during the nineteenth century. Largely through schools for the deaf, deaf people began to develop a common language and a sense of community. A Place of Their Own brings the perspective of history to bear on the reality of deafness and provides fresh and important insight into the lives of Deaf Americans."

"In this absorbing story of the changing life of a community, the authors of Deaf in America reveal historical events and forces that have shaped the ways that Deaf people define themselves today. Inside Deaf Culture relates Deaf people’s search for a voice of their own, and their proud self-discovery and self-description as a flourishing culture."

"Employing the methodology successfully used to explore other social movements in America, this meticulous study examines the rhetorical foundation that motivated Deaf people to work for social change during the past two centuries."

"This edited volume provides a comprehensive analysis of deaf people as a culturally and linguistically distinct minority group within American society. Many educators, linguists, and researchers now favor this position, as opposed to that which states that a deaf person simply has an audiological disability. Contributors to this book include members of the deaf community, as well as prominent deaf and hearing educators and researchers. The text contains three sections, covering research on bilingualism and biculturalism, the impact of cultural and language diversity on the deaf experience, and first-hand accounts from deaf community members that highlight the emotional impact of living in the deaf and hearing worlds."

"In this comprehensive and engrossing study, three distinguished scholars of Deaf culture--one hearing, one deaf, and one coda (child of deaf adults)--offer clear, penetrating insights into the existence and makeup of the deaf world, the community whose natural language--American Sign Language in the United States--is manual and visual. Bringing the latest social and cultural findings and theories into sharp focus, the authors take us on a fascinating journey to discover what deaf culture is; the benefits of signed language and deaf culture for deaf children and hearing people; how deaf children are now educated and how they could be; how deaf people integrate into the larger society; the nature of American Sign Language; how technology helps (and hurts) deaf people; what can be learned from deaf societies in other lands; the future of the deaf world."

"Deaf people are usually regarded by the hearing world as having a lack, as missing a sense. Yet a definition of deaf people based on hearing loss obscures a wealth of ways in which societies have benefited from the significant contributions of deaf people. In this bold intervention into ongoing debates about disability and what it means to be human, experts from a variety of disciplines--neuroscience, linguistics, bioethics, history, cultural studies, education, public policy, art, and architecture--advance the concept of Deaf Gain and challenge assumptions about what is normal. By framing deafness in terms of its intellectual, creative, and cultural benefits, Deaf Gain recognizes physical and cognitive difference as a vital aspect of human diversity."