What is deafness? How does it occur?

How do people who are deaf communicate? What is American Sign Language (ASL)?

How many people use ASL?

Is ASL used all over the world by people who are deaf?

What is the best way to learn ASL?

How did the American Deaf community and culture evolve? What is it like today?

How did people who are deaf learn how to be printers?

What is deafness? How does it occur?
Deafness is the lack or loss of all or a major part of the sense of hearing. The disorder can occur at birth (congenital deafness) or anytime after birth, even into old age (adventitious deafness). Deafness can be mild or profound and there are many common causes, including trauma, illness, genetics, and exposure to certain drugs. Children can inherit deafness from parents; genetic factors account for about 50 percent of all deaf cases in children. Children born deaf at birth are not always born to deaf parents. The majority of deaf parents give birth to hearing babies, but a small majority of deaf parents does produce deaf children. Genetic deafness does not have to pass directly from a parent to the child; the hearing loss may occur randomly, skipping generations and appearing throughout the branches of a family. Nine out of ten children born with deafness are the offspring of hearing parents with no background, history, or experience with deafness.

The remaining cases of deafness are caused by environmental factors, including accidents, excessive exposure to high levels of noise, and exposure to certain drugs. If a mother contracts a viral infection during pregnancy, such as Rubella (a.k.a. German measles), it can cause deafness and other complications in the child she is carrying. Deafness can also occur as a result of complications during birth; for example, if a child's oxygen supply is cut off for an extended time, the newborn child's hearing may be affected. In young children, accidents, illnesses, and infections-- including severe ear infections--can also cause hearing loss. If a person is exposed for an extended amount of time to excessive levels of noise, he or she may experience hearing loss. This is growing problem in teenagers, who often listen to music played at high volumes, resulting in noise-induced hearing loss. Tumors and head or ear trauma can also cause hearing loss.

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How do people who are deaf communicate? What is American Sign Language (ASL)?
Sign language and finger spelling are among the most popular methods used by deaf people to communicate. In the United States and English-speaking Canada, the majority of the Deaf community uses American Sign Language, otherwise known as ASL. Research has shown that ASL is a distinct, "linguistically complete" visual language with its own complex grammatical system

ASL is not limited to hand gestures for communication. Users of ASL use finger spelling, as well as facial movement and the space around the human body to communicate. Finger spelling is the handshape(s) of each of the twenty-six letters in the English alphabet; hence, the term "manual alphabet." The combination of all these elements--hand positioning in forming gestures and manual letters, facial expression, and body posture--are crucial in ASL's grammatical system. Slight variations in any of these elements can completely change the meaning of an ASL user's intended message (just as variations in facial and manual expressions can also alter the message of a hearing English speaker). ASL is powerful, and users can express themselves just as easily as--and some think better than--those who use spoken English. The Deaf community produces dramatic plays and poetry using ASL. American Sign Language is grounded in the American Deaf community. The language serves as the cornerstone of American Deaf culture, and the system allows the Deaf to maintain and keep alive Deaf folklore, history, humor, cultural values and artistic works

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How many people use ASL?
It has been estimated that there are approximately 250,000-500,000 ASL users in Canada and the United States today. Users of ASL include deaf and hard-of-hearing people, as well as hearing children of deaf parents, hearing siblings and parents of deaf children, and late deafened persons. Others who use ASL include friends, co-workers, and professional colleagues of deaf people.

For many users--especially children born deaf to deaf parents--ASL is the native language; ASL was the first language that the user learned in childhood, and the language he or she uses for daily communication. Because ASL is a visual language with no written component, most ASL users study written English as well.

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Is ASL used all over the world by people who are deaf?
It is important to note that American Sign Language is not universal; it is not used by the Deaf all over the world. In fact, no universal sign language exists, just as there is no universal spoken language that everyone in the world understands. Depending on the country, and even the region, in which they live, Deaf people use a different sign language. The Deaf community in England uses British Sign Language, while Norwegian citizens who are Deaf use Norwegian Sign Language. In Japan, the Deaf community uses Japanese Sign Language and an entirely different set of regional languages is signed by the regional deaf communities in China. These different languages developed independently from one another. American Sign Language users have initial difficulty understanding Norwegian Sign Language users, just as English speakers may initially struggle to speak and comprehend the spoken Norwegian language. It has been noted, however, that when Deaf people from different countries or regions meet and interact over a period of time, common signs evolve between the Deaf language users.

The various sign languages used throughout the world evolved in much the same way that different spoken languages (English, French, Spanish, German) developed. Because the Deaf community in one country lacked contact with the Deaf in other countries, many different sign languages evolved. British Sign Language and American Sign Language are two distinct languages that are very different, because the users of each language were geographically separated by the Atlantic Ocean. One major difference between the two languages: the British use two hands for finger spelling the English alphabet, while ASL users form the twenty-six letters with only one hand.

The sign language most closely related to ASL is French Sign Language. Until the early 1800s, no formal education existed in the United States for deaf children. In 1815, a young minister named Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet traveled from Connecticut to France in order to learn more about the National Royal Institution for the Deaf in Paris. (Today the school is named the St. Jacques School for the Deaf, after the street where it is located.) Gallaudet returned to the United States in 1816 with Laurent Clerc, a Deaf alumnus and gifted teacher of deaf children at the Paris school. The intelligent, articulate Clerc was not merely a sign language instructor; he was first and foremost a teacher of deaf children, and he taught many other subjects besides sign language.

In 1817, Gallaudet and Clerc joined with Mason F. Cogswell (an American surgeon and the father of a deaf daughter) to found the first School for the Deaf in America. Because Clerc was French, he used his native French Sign Language to educate the school's students. New Schools for the Deaf were established over the next few years, and Clerc's methods for teaching language and other subjects to deaf students spread to these new schools. Eventually, American Sign Language evolved as American students combined their own native language signs with the signs of Clerc's native French Sign Language. Although modern-day American Sign Language and modern-day French Sign Language are two distinct languages, the two share a common foundation. FSL greatly influenced the evolution of today's ASL. However, the common "roots" of ASL and FSL are an exception; most national sign languages are noticeably more different, although neighboring European countries do feature some similar signs.

It is interesting to note that sign language dialects do exist, similar to dialects that evolve in spoken languages over time. Signs for common objects and concepts vary from one region of America to the next. Just as the regional dialect of spoken English differs within the southeastern and northeastern parts of the United States, ASL dialects exist throughout the U.S. Californian ASL signs are not identical to those in other areas of the country. And in Georgia, the sign for "prom" (as in, high school prom) seems to be completely unique; evidently, this exact sign is not used anywhere else in the world.

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What is the best way to learn ASL?
ASL is complex because it combines precise hand gestures, facial expressions, and subtle body positioning. Unlike spoken languages like English or French, ASL can be difficult to learn through a textbook because the book cannot relay the simultaneous concepts that are so crucial in ASL. For this reason, it is best to learn and practice the language in the physical presence of native speakers. As with most languages, students must actively use ASL in order to thoroughly learn American Sign Language. Many choose to learn ASL from a Deaf person, and many colleges, universities, and Schools for the Deaf offer courses in ASL. A growing number of colleges and universities now offer ASL as a foreign language; the differences between ASL and spoken English merit the categorization of ASL as a foreign language, although there is not consistent agreement on this issue. Some schools even offer degrees in interpretation, leading to high-paying jobs after graduation.

ASL is also much easier to learn as a child than as an adult. Studies show that children learn sign language much quicker during infancy, and research suggests that kids learn visual languages easier than auditory languages. Given the opportunity, most infants would likely learn American Sign Language at a much faster pace than spoken English.

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How did the American Deaf community and culture evolve? What is it like today?
ASL forms the "roots" of the American Deaf Community and Culture. Sign language was already in use in Colonial America prior to the establishment of permanent Schools for the Deaf. For example, many deaf people lived in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, during the early 1800s and they used a regional form of sign language. However, the consistency in usage of this early ASL predecessor, and other ASL predecessors, was not widespread because the deaf population itself was so spread across the states. In early America, no permanent institutions existed where the Deaf could gather and learn a common manual language.

America's Deaf Community arose in the 1800s, due in large part to the establishment of Schools for the Deaf. Many factors contributed to the establishment of schools for deaf children, including improved transportation and an increase in the number of government agencies, church organizations, and individual citizens who supported public education. However, the movement to establish Schools for the Deaf in the United States gained unprecedented momentum, support, and guidance from a wide range of people including American clergy and legislators, parents, the graduated alumni of these early schools, and two young men named Laurent Clerc and Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1787, Gallaudet and his family moved to Hartford, Connecticut. Gallaudet entered Yale at age fourteen and graduated with a law degree in 1804. He later attended the Andover Theological Seminary and became a Protestant minister in 1814. During this time, Gallaudet lived near the Cogswell family; the Cogswell daughter, Alice, was deaf. Alice had virtually no language or method for communicating, and very little access to systematic education. Gallaudet wanted to help Alice learn to communicate, and this--along with his desire to evangelize to the Deaf community--fueled his interest in education and communication for the Deaf. In 1815, Thomas H. Gallaudet traveled to France, where the National Royal Institution for the Deaf in Paris featured a well-established method for visual communication. Gallaudet returned in 1816 to the United States with Parisian Laurent Clerc, a talented teacher of deaf children who himself was Deaf. Clerc became the first Deaf teacher of the Deaf in the United States and, in 1817, he helped Gallaudet open the first permanent U.S. School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut (now located in West Hartford, Connecticut and known as the American School for the Deaf). Interestingly, four of the first seven students to enroll in and graduate from this first permanent school also became teachers of the Deaf.

The New York School for the Deaf opened one year later and Pennsylvania's School for the Deaf opened in 1822. By 1863, twenty-two Schools for the Deaf existed throughout the United States. Washington, DC.-based Gallaudet University was established in 1864, with Edward Miner Gallaudet (the youngest son of Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet) as the school's first president.

Beginning in the late 1800s and early 1900s, steam-powered equipment shifted the focus of America's economy from rural agriculture to urban industrialism. In turn, farm laborers and other agricultural workers followed the movement of jobs, and thousands and thousands of Americans moved into the cities--including Deaf men and women and their families. In addition to the mass infusion of rural residents, urban areas also experienced a huge influx of immigrants. Hordes of expatriates--the majority from European countries--arrived in search of financial prosperity in the United States .

The massive wave of immigration sparked a backlash against everything foreign: some Americans felt threatened by the immigrants' strange languages, customs, and cultures. In response, Congress passed laws restricting immigration into the U.S., and governments passed laws that outlawed the use of languages other than spoken English. Schools for deaf children were not immune to these changes; educators deemphasized natural sign language and focused more on "oral" methods of teaching. Although Deaf people continued to use American Sign Language in their community and homes, public use of the language was frowned upon.

When the United States entered World War II in the early 1940s, many men vacated factory jobs to become soldiers. Companies filled many vacant positions with African Americans, women, immigrants, and Deaf workers. As more Deaf people moved to fill job openings, Deaf communities grew and strengthened in cohesiveness. Deaf citizens formed social clubs, sports leagues, church groups, and the Community's sense of solidarity began to grow.

The 1960s were a time of change in America. Many minority groups fought for civil rights. Inspired by the African American community's assertion for independence and struggle for equal rights, Deaf people pressed for the acceptance of ASL as an official language. They also fought for information access, and out of these struggles arose interpretive services, captioned films and television programs, and access to the telephone.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, educators created American sign systems. Many educators in Schools for the Deaf realized that the grammar of ASL and spoken English were far different from one another, so they worked to create new systems that would better correlate to spoken English. However, these sign systems are not sign languages: for example, Cued Speech is a collection of facial and hand cues that aid speechreading (formerly known as lipreading) but it is merely a system, not an evolved language. In addition to Cued Speech, other examples of these educator-created sign systems include Signed Exact English, as well as Signed English I and II. While the naturally evolved ASL language has very little connection to the grammar of spoken English, these artificial sign systems vary in similarity with English grammar. The unifying characteristic of these invented sign systems? They use signs in an English format adding tenses to the end of verbs and using invented signs in an effort to align more closely with English. As in the past, most students prefer ASL because this language evolved from the needs and trends of the growing Deaf community, rather than being created by educators. ASL evolved naturally as the Deaf community desired greater access to communication.

As the Deaf community and culture evolved in the United States, so too did American deaf education. As the twentieth century waned, Gallaudet University continued to represent the world's only college for the Deaf. For more than one hundred years since its inception in 1864, a long line of inspired presidents led the University in growth and guided its student body. Difficult to ignore, however, was the fact that every single Gallaudet University president was hearing; not one leader in the school's history was deaf--a fact difficult to ignore by many of the school's faculty, staff, and supporters. The movement to appoint the first deaf Gallaudet president gained movement in the early and mid-1980s. By 1988, tensions between University administrators and supporters of the movement for a deaf president were at an all-time high. In that year, the University prepared to name the next Gallaudet president; the school's Board of Trustees created a candidate pool consisting of three finalists. Two were deaf and one was hearing. On March 6, 1988, the Board announced that the hearing candidate, Elisabeth A. Zinser, would become Gallaudet's seventh president.

The announcement outraged the students, alumni, and faculty; they could not believe that the world's only university for the Deaf would continue to be led by a hearing president. During the week prior to the Board's announcement, students active in the Deaf President Now, or DPN, movement led a massive rally to support the two deaf candidates; the rally evolved into an organized protest within hours of the Board's decision. DPN supporters moved en masse through campus, toward the hotel where members of the Board still remained, and around Capitol Hill. The protesters demanded that the new president and current Board of Trustee chairman resign, that the majority of the Board consist of deaf people, and that no faculty or student endure punishment for protesting. Within one week, the students ended their protest when the Board named Dr. I. King Jordan--a Deaf man--to the presidency.

• http://pr.gallaudet.edu/dpn/

• Gannon, Jack R. The Week the World Heard Gallaudet. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press, 1989

Today, the American Deaf community is appears to be stronger than ever, and deaf culture is alive and well. The bond that joins Deaf Americans--the inability to hear--is the barrier that separates them from the majority of the country's population. Because deaf people cannot communicate with most hearing Americans, the interaction that they do have with other people who are deaf is extremely important. Some deaf people, especially children born to hearing parents, may not have access to others in the Deaf community. Since ninety percent of all deaf children are born to hearing parents with no experience, background, or history of deafness, socialization is key. Just like in the nineteenth century, Schools for the Deaf continue to play a very important role in the Deaf community. These schools give deaf children the opportunity to learn a language, and to interact with and befriend other students who share a common background. Students can also join clubs, play sports, and be around adult role models with fellow deaf students. The Deaf community is very active in American politics, acting quickly when legislation threatens deaf education, and lobbyists continually campaign for deaf rights in Washington, D.C.

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How did people who are deaf learn how to be printers?
Although the main character in The Printer sometimes feels isolated from his fellow hearing co-workers, he seems to enjoy his job and the composing room work environment. How did he learn the skills to be a printer? It's likely that he learned newspaper printing at a School for the Deaf that he attended during childhood. In the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth century, much of hearing society believed that deaf people were not very intelligent. In most cases, Schools for the Deaf trained students for "blue collar" jobs using vocational courses. America's Schools for the Deaf were among the first to offer vocational classes, and public school later followed their lead. Courses in tailoring, banking, barbering, painting, shoe repair were common offerings at Schools for the Deaf, and printing classes were very popular among students. Pupils often learned the newspaper printing trade and, by the mid 1800s, many of these printing classes produced their own school newspapers or magazines. The papers covered deaf-related topics; eventually, Schools for the Deaf began to trade the periodicals amongst themselves. This entire network of school for the Deaf-published papers became known as "The Little Paper Family."

When students graduated from deaf schools, their training in printing prepared them well for printing occupations. Many graduates worked in composing rooms at newspapers--like the man in The Printer--while others actually started their own independent newspapers for the Deaf. Many deaf people continue today to work in the printing industry, but the Deaf are no longer confined to hands-on, "blue collar" jobs. On the contrary, many deaf students attend college, attain college degrees, work in professional positions, and earn high-dollar salaries, just like many Americans who hear.

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