ASL Unit 6 Study Guide
Time
 References to time normally come at the beginning of a sentence
 General time signs can be combined with signs for days, weeks, months to give a
specific time
 Can combine time and number
Golden Age of Deaf Education 1830’s-1860’s
Dark Ages of Deaf Education 1900’s-1960’s
Oralism
 Oralists want deaf children to speak while denying them access to sign language
 Oral movement began in 1860’s and Milan Congress banned sign language in
1880
 Promoted by Alexander Graham Bell
 Peak of oralism was in 1919: 80% of residential schools were oral and 20%
“combined method”
ADA – American Disabilities Act
 Provides access to public facilities for people with disabilities
 Ensures quality education for people with disabilities
 Provides fair opportunities for people with disabilities
Alexander G. Bell
 Compiled a paper “Memoir Upon the Formation of a Deaf Variety of the Human
Race” 1883 – called for 3 preventative measures: forbid use of sign
prohibit deaf teachers
no residential schools
 Proposed a law that two congenitally and profoundly deaf people could not marry
and have children.
 Had a deaf wife & mother
 Beliefs:
o Speech for deaf people was of supreme importance
o Deaf people should be assimilated into a hearing society
o Deafness is a curse
o Pathologic arbitration
o Deaf people weaken the society they live in
o Founded the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to
the Deaf (A.G.Bell Association for the Deaf)
ASL Literature
 Pierre Desloges- 1st known deaf person to write prose
 ASL poets: Peter Cook, Ella Mae Lentz, Clayton Valli
Music & ASL
 NTID (National Technical Institute for Deaf) has a well-known music program
offering a variety of instruments
 Talented deaf musicians include Beethoven and Evelyn Glennie (percussionist)
 Deaf people use VAP - visual clues (i.e. lights or coach), amplification and
percussion (i.e.drums) to learn to dance.
 A famous deaf dancing couple is Woods and Bray.
Film & Movies
 Talkies – motion pictures with real soundtracks began in 1927 – deaf people were
unable to enjoy
 Emerson Romero bought film reels and captioned them in 1947
 1958 captioned films become practical and Congress established the Captioned
Films for the Deaf program3
 Stereotypes of deaf people in the movies
o Silent sufferer (solitary loner)
o Incompetent dum-dum (limited intelligence)
o Pathetic waif (abused)
o Super sleuth/lip readers (no communication problems)
o Super deafie with novelty value (sitcoms)
o Sleazy card peddlers (stereotypical perception of deaf people)
 Alternatives to deaf for watching first-run movies: action movies (limited speech)
Read book first
Subtitled foreign films
Wait until captioned DVD available
Silent films
Concerns of the Deaf Community – addressed by ADA
 Access to public facilities
 Quality education
 Fair opportunity
 Good jobs
 Stereotypical images
 Invisibility in the media
Ghetto
 Definition - overcrowded area with unfavorable conditions
 Modern day image – deteriorating neighborhoods consisting of poverty and crime
 Catholic rulers created 1st ghetto to segregate Jews
Deaf socialization
 Less interest in deaf clubs due to closed caption TV and home videos
 Internet is a deaf accessible medium and so well liked by many deaf people
 Chat rooms and email are preferred by the deaf