Unifying Two Cultures

In the Experiential term I had to work with a group and make a micro-mentary, which is a small documentary. We had to create a guiding question and then go off that, telling historical events, current events, and what we want to see. The purpose of this was to see what question we could raise about the deaf community and telling different things to answer it. The challenge of this was, the communication within are group. The one fun thing was finding out more about the deaf challenges.

 

 

Introduction

Our group of freshman and sophomores students studied ASL and Deaf culture this term. We were most interested in exploring one question: How might we reform education to promote maximum unity between the DHH & hearing communities? To do this, we looked at three domains of Deaf culture which impact a student’s life: Community, Language, & Education. In each domain, we will highlight some history within Deaf culture, articles which discuss current debates, and Field Experiences with partners who practice transformative solutions. By collecting, profiling and sharing examples of people unifying young people in the DHH and hearing communities, our group becomes one.

1. Community

In the past Alexander Graham Bell wanted to ban intermarriage of Deaf men and women to stop the procreation of deaf children and close residential schools to prevent a stronger community and culture from forming. When the deaf had no sign language they turned to art work as a way to express their feelings. (De’VIA ). The community now is very isolated from the mainstream world, which is a big issue. Sports, Churches, and Meetings have made their community larger. Cochlear implants are threatening the existence of Deaf culture. We want to see the DHH and Hearing community interact with each other more. We had a chance to visit a local Starbucks and interact in a deaf conversation. It was a shock to see how they were the ones helping us more than the other way around. 

2. Language
In schools, and in the world, there is a communication barrier between hearing and DHH students : DHH students cannot speak and hearing students cannot sign. This barrier is significant because language is the central means of communication, interaction, and education.

Sign language is the 3rd most used language in the US . There are now schools for just deaf people because using interpreters became an issue. We would like to see the mainstream world become more supportive and informed about these deaf programs and school. We talked to Jill Sahakian, a Chicago Hearing Society staff member, who talked about interpreters and how they have truly bridged the gap between the deaf community. We also talked to Erenie who talked about project Aspire, which helps deaf kids with cochlear implant.

3. Education
Education is one of the biggest barriers that many Deaf people face. Everyone has the right to be successful, but why is it so hard for deaf students? That all started when Bell worked to eradicate Deaf culture in education by seeking the removal of deaf teachers and closing residential schools. Well, the problem isn’t the way that people are educated but rather the standards that are set for hearing students are different from the standards of Deaf people. Through education we can change the way that the Hearing and DHH communities come and work together


We can do this by having more schools offering ASL as a foreign language in High School. This will show the world the truth about Deaf culture.

 

 

 

Interacting With The DHH

In the Experiential term, I was interacting with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) community. Throughout this term, I learned American Sign Language (ASL) and learned more about the community. The purpose of this was to see a community that had many different views and how they are actually a normal culture. What I learned was that the Deaf community is just like any other language. I think learning ASL was the most important part to truly understanding DHH culture.

NVA "DHH Coffee Meet" 3-23-14 Chicago

World View

ASL has changed everything I thought I knew about the Deaf community, I thought that they had a sign for every word. I also thought that deaf people never did any regular events, and that they weren't "normal" people. Then I learned they don't have a sign for every word and that they break down sentences to make it easier. I also learned that the deaf community does anything that the hearing community does. This changed how I thought deaf people actually communicated with each other, and how they lived and interacted.

 

Field Experiences

The one FE partner that inspired me the most this term was Jill Sahakian because she talked about the importance of becoming an interpreter. She also talked about how an interpreter has to be very skilled and focused. She also answered many questions I had about, why the hearing schools didn't have interpreters anymore. Interpreters bridge that gap between the DHH and the Hearing communities. To Jill, I say, "thank you so much for teaching me the importance of an interpreter and you have inspired me to learn how to become one or study that field at least." In the picture above I went to a Starbucks with a couple of schoolmates and we had a normal conversation with a group of people deaf or hard of hearing. I really liked this FE because there were no teachers, and I could have regular conversations and not having be about school. At Starbucks, we talked to different people, giving them our names and just having  a conversation about GCE. One person I talked to was Greg, who became deaf when he was in his 40s. I learned some new signs such as, high school and how to say different grades for high school.  

 

Group Project

Throughout the term, I have also been working with a group and we had to create a micromentary about the DHH community. In this, I was the videographer and script-writer. As a videographer, I had to take video and pictures of the FEs my class went to. As a script-writer, I had to write the script that my group would go off of to make the video. I learned a lot of new things from this group project, I learned about how cochlear implants is one of the biggest issue in the DHH community and whether a child should decide or the parent to get one for the child. Another thing I learned was that art was a big thing in the DHH community and that when deaf people had no sign language they used art to communicate their emotions. I learned that it is difficult to get everything done in a group because most of the time is spent discussing what we should do and how.

 

Walking in Another Person's Shoes

I think the way we lived the life of a DHH person and stepped in their shoes was by truly getting to know the community, by interacting and doing research, and seeing the different views on the different issues with the DHH community.Then we may be able to get where they are coming from and why they act the way they do. I did this by interacting with people in the community. I went a Starbucks that was holding a deaf chat. I learned more about cochlear implants, and now I know what a big issue it is.

 

ASL in Action 

 

 

HI, My name is NVA.

I got to GCE High School

Thank You, Eugene for teaching me sign Language

You are the best teacher!

Bye!