How Deaf Friendly
Is Your Library?
Presented By Marie Nicholl-Lynam and
Christopher Carnell
Illustrations by Oscar Sanchez
Las Vegas Clark County Library District
OUTLINE
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Terms
Deaf Culture/Experience
Communication
Visual Environment
Collection Development
Interpreters
TERMS
deaf:
• The physical condition of lacking in the sense of
hearing
• Being deaf does not make one culturally Deaf.
Hard of hearing:
• The loss of hearing over time due to age or as the
result of an injury in which a lessened capacity for
hearing remains.
• Tend not to identify themselves as Deaf
Deaf: (culturally)
• Membership to a group whose identity revolves
around deafness, it’s customs, history, values,
experiences and the use of sign language.
• Deafness not looked upon as a disability but as a
different human experience
Oralism:
The education of the deaf through the use of
speech, mimicking mouth movements, and the use
of residual hearing and speech reading instead of
sign language.
Manualism:
The education of deaf persons through the use of
sign language
Total Communication:
The concept of utilizing manual, aural and oral
modes to ensure effective communication.
STAGES OF DEAFNESS
Congenitally deaf: Born deaf
Adventitiously deaf: Deaf after birth
Pre lingual: During the first three years of life
Post lingual: After the age of three
Child hood deafness:
Pre vocational: While a teenager
Post vocational: While an adult
CAUSES OF DEAFNESS/HEARING
LOSS
Age: Passage of time
Genetics: Several recessive and dominant forms
Illness: Measles, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome,
Pre-mature Birth
Trauma: Head injuries, resulting in tinnitus or
damage to the ear itself or aural
processing centers of the brain.
Noise: Accounts for half of all cases of hearing
loss
ASL AND OTHER SIGN LANGUAGES
American Sign Language (ASL)
• A hybrid of Old French Sign Language and Old
Kent Sign Language
Laurent Clerc (1785-1869)
• 1st deaf teacher of the deaf in the United States
• Co-founder of the American School for the Deaf At
Hartford Connecticut.
Vineyarders:
• Dialect used in the Chilmark and West Tisbury
communities of Martha’s Vineyard, Maryland.
• Communities with an high incidence of hereditary
deafness.
• Old Kentish Sign Language
Pidgin Sign
• A blend of ASL and Signed English used to
facilitate communication between native ASL
signers and Native English speakers
Signed English
• English rendered into sign.
• Utilizes English word order and suffixes such
as, –ing,-ment,and –ness.
• ASL is not universal
• There are over 200 distinct , naturallyoccurring sign languages
International Sign / Gestuno
• Published in 1973 by a World Federation of the
Deaf Committee. A collection of approximately
1500 signs.
• Used at times at World Federation for the Deaf
congress and events such as the Deaflympics.
DEAF CULTURE
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Residential schools
Values and beliefs
Clubs
Pride
Seek out connections with other deaf
Etiquette
Lip reading (Speech Reading)
THINGS TO AVOID
The term “Deaf-mute”: Not an accurate term as
most deaf have the capacity to speak
• Simply choose not to speak because:
1. It is not their primary means of
communication
• Deaf and dumb: Obvious reasons
• Do not refer to a Hard of Hearing person as
deaf or a deaf person as Hearing Impaired.
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL
1847- 1922
• Both his mother and wife were deaf.
• Leading advocate for the oralists.
• Founder of the American Association to
Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf.
• Felt the deaf should learn to speak to so they
could integrate into the society
“Bell believed that deafness was a terrible
curse... A pathological aberration [that]
perpetuated negative genetic traits… that
deaf persons weakened the society in which
they lived.”
A Place of their Own: Creating the Deaf Community in America
John Van Cleve and Barry Couch
• Memoir Upon the Formation of a Deaf
Variety of the Human Race (1883)
• The elimination of residential schools
• Forbidding the use of sign language in education of
deaf students
• Prohibiting deaf adults from teaching deaf children
• Proposed legislation against the marriage of
congenital deaf mutes
• 90% of deaf persons have hearing parents
• 90% of deaf persons have hearing children
• By 1919 80% of residential day schools had
become “oral.”
• Deaf teachers became unemployed, forced
out of their profession.
• Signing and Oral students were segregated
• Oral students caught signing were punished
• Some children left without any language at all,
denied access to sign while being forced to
learn to speak
SIGN IN NEVADA
• There are no schools for the deaf in Nevada.
• Las Vegas Charter School for the Deaf closed in
March of 2012 due to lack of funding.
• There are approximately 550 deaf or hard of hearing
students in CCSD that are receiving services.
• Self Contained class sizes are approximately
10-11 students each.
• Offer both Total Communication and Aural/Oral
programs for speech development.
NEVADA
• Nevada 2008: 77,377 out of 2,568,111 or 3.01%
• Nevada 2011: 81,972 out of 2,723,322
• West Virginia 2008: 109,193 out of 1,787,710 or 6.05%
COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES
COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES
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Face and lips must be visible
Choose a location that is well-lit
Avoid standing with your back to any light source
Look directly at the person with whom you are talking
Avoid distracting background noise
Speak naturally - don't exaggerate, shout, or speak too
slowly
• Use natural facial expressions
• Use gestures
http://libguides.gallaudet.edu/content.php?pid=352844
DEAF EXPERIENCES IN THE LIBRARY
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Staff has no ASL knowledge/skills
Lack of services for the deaf
DVDs with captioning are not clearly marked
Programs in many languages, but not ASL
Treated differently/Overlooked
DEAF EXPERIENCES IN THE LIBRARY
SEEING THE LIBRARY
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Is the building’s layout intuitive?
Are signs direct & easy to understand?
Are services/departments clearly marked?
Is the building well lit?
Is visual clutter a problem?
SIGNS AND VISUALS
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Clear
Concise
Thoughtfully placed
Free of specialized
language or jargon
• Pictures or images
COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT
Thoughtful collection development entails
more than buying some sign language
books, dvds, & dictionaries…
CONSIDERATIONS BEFORE
PURCHASE
• Currency of information
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Outdated or pejorative terms
Legal, medical, technological
Visual quality
Author/producer credentials
Who is the intended audience?
Is it in ASL or Signed Exact English?
CONSIDERATIONS FOR A/V
MATERIAL
• Is it captioned?
• Does the packaging indicate captioning?
• Know the difference between subtitles & captioning.
Subtitles
• Word for word
• Concept
Captioning
• Word for word
• Denotes speaker(s)
• Includes relevant sound
effects, noises, music
PROFESSIONAL INTERPRETERS
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Requires formal education & training.
Is not merely someone who can sign.
Has national or state certification.
Adheres to a professional code of conduct.
Subject to censure
Continuing education.
HIRING INTERPRETERS
• Determine client’s needs
• Budget for interpreters
• Where to find an interpreter
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Professional Services
NV Dept. of Health & Human Services
• Build relationships
WORKING WITH AN INTERPRETER
• Provide list of client needs
• Logistics
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Lighting
Space
Cues
• Interpreter is there to facilitate
• Everything will be interpreted
• Interpreting is physically taxing
GETTING STARTED
• Educate staff
• Conquer visual environment
• Research & Plan
• Collections
• Webpage
• Events
• Look long range
• Evaluate
REMEMBER
Creating a positive library
experience for deaf patrons
starts with you.
QUESTIONS
???
nicholla@lvccld.org
carnellc@lvccld.org