This chapter was really eye opening
for me. I had always wondered how children learned English so quickly and the
authors shared a valid point, we are bombarded with it! “They listen; they
imitate. Effortlessly, it seems, they begin to put together grammatically
correct sentences well before they learn to read” (pg.151). When I thought
about it more I realized that I have always been surrounded by English. When talking
about deaf children they say that “since they cannot hear this ‘language bombardment,’
they cannot benefit from it” (pg.151). So why do we expect deaf children to be
fluent in English? We have such an advantage growing up surrounded by people
speaking English and being able to hear it. I understand why deaf people would
have a hard time learning English. I think it is unfair of us to expect them to
master the English language when it isn’t what they have had the most exposure too;
It is not their first language and because of this I think that we should accept
what they call “Deaf English”. “It is not the writing of ignorant, unlanguaged
persons, it’s the writing of persons whose first language is ASL” (pg. 152). That
quote really summed all of it up for me.
I think the gap for literacy could
be closed by parents teaching their deaf children a language early on so that
when they get to school they will have one. They would then be able to focus on
improving the skills they already have acquired rather than having to learn a
whole new language. I think that we need to accept their efforts for even
trying English. It breaks my heart that some parents don’t know any form of
sign language or even enough to communicate with their child. I can’t imagine
beginning school as a child and not really knowing any language at all. I think
that this explains why many deaf children experience language delays. I think it is the parent’s responsibility to
learn ASL in order to teach and communicate with their deaf child before the
child begins school.
This quote really stood out to me,
it says “Instead of asking only why
so many Deaf people can’t read and write English, we should also be asking why
so many hearing people, especially teachers and parents of deaf children, know
nothing about ASL” (pg.152). I think that really portrays the double standard
our society has set and I think it is time we change that.
Chapter 26:
Some of the reasons of why some
Deaf people like to read that stuck out to me were that there was “not enough
emphasis on reading and writing in school” (pg.157) and that their native
language does not have a written form. The fact that there wasn’t enough
emphasis on reading and writing in school stuck out to me because of reasons
explained in the previous chapter. When deaf children go into school with no
language at all they have to first learn how to understand English in spoken
form and then are later taught how to write and read it. They are already
behind most children their age at that point so I think they get discouraged
and look at it as just another thing they have to learn in order please our society’s
expectations. The other reason stuck out to me because it’s true, Deaf people
who know ASL as their first language are not use to language also having a
written form. I think it is unreasonable for hearing people to expect deaf
people to be able to learn a whole new language understand how to write and
read it because unlike ASL, English it is not a visual language like they were
taught but it is spoken and written.
The two misconceptions about deaf
people are quite strange to me, I guess just because I never thought of either
one of them before. I learned that some view them to be “The Silent Bookworm”
or “Thee Illiterate Dork”. I don’t know
why people would think that just because a group of people can’t hear that they
automatically love to read. They still can communicate, it’s not like they have
to make up for a loss of social opportunities by reading. I think it is the
same as Hearing people; it is just a personal preference. As far as the deaf
being considered “Illiterate Dorks” I think that is just an awful, harsh, and
rude thing to say and I don’t think that is the case. If a person thinks that
they are truly ignorant. I agree with the author’s when they say that, “Literacy
skills are not a true gauge of intelligence” (pg. 158). I think this is true in
many circumstances. I know plenty of smart, hearing people who are bad readers;
their intelligence level has nothing to do with it, and a deaf person’s
intelligence level should not be questioned because of that either.
I think that Speech therapy is
important but I don’t think it is as crucial for a deaf child. I think that
rather than pounding in a new form of language into them we should embrace the
language they are gifted with. I think we should work more with improving a
child in the language they will use more for communicating everyday than
teaching them another language entirely. We don’t need to change them; they
have their own language that has been very successful in communication. I think
speech therapy should focus more on hearing children’s ability to articulate because
it is helping them better their first language. I don’t think that speech therapy
should be used to punish deaf people. I am majoring in Speech Communications
and that is not what my goal is. As far as literacy, I think that literacy is
important for both hearing and deaf communities but I think that it should not
be used to determine intelligence levels.
The story of the deaf man on pg.
161 was very interesting. I think he really tried to get his point across by
comparing deaf people and hearing people to black and white people. I think he has a valid point when he said
that “A deaf teacher would understand our heads. Such a teacher could use ASL
to teach English” (pg.161), he thought that the “Constant interchange” would
help him learn better. He said that “My teachers looked down on the deaf. Even if
they signed, they looked down on us; they had a Hearing attitude” (pg.161). I
think that when he refers to hearing people having a hearing attitude he is describing
a hearing person who knows ASL who tries to have power and control over the
Deaf Community. “Learning how to sign doesn’t make a hearing person culturally Deaf”
(pg.161). I understand where he is coming from but I don’t think that applies
in every situation. I could see how that may be true for many situations but I think
there are some exceptions to his statement.
Chapter 27:
I think that hearing viewers would
either get used to having interpreters on every TV channel or would complain
about it. I think that having interpreters on TV channels for deaf people is an
awesome idea and think it should be offered to them but not put on everyone’s TV
channels. Maybe it could be something they could subscribe to for free.
As far as captioning goes on TV programs
and movies, I think the idea is a good and would benefit those who are fluent
readers, but for many deaf people who struggle with reading it wouldn’t be
helpful. I have seen many unclear captions during shows and movies where the
captions are a little off or are choppy and don’t make sense. In that case, I don’t
know how helpful it would be. I like that I can turn on and off the captions on
my TV shows and movies. Some TV executives have pointed out that, “the captions
would prove distracting, and annoying to hearing viewers” (pg.167). I think if
they were on all the time I would find that statement true but sometimes I find
it helpful when I watch TV at night and I can’t have the volume very loud or when
I am watching a movie where the actors have thick accents. I laughed when I read
that “Since October 1993, built-in decoder circuitry has been mandatory for
virtually all new television sets” (pg. 167) because I don’t remember ever not
having the option to have closed-captioning on or off on my TV.
I don’t think that movie theaters
should put captions on every movie they offer just because the book brings up a
good point, “to see is not necessarily to understand” (pg.166). Overall I don’t
think it would be that effective or beneficial.
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