Running Head: DEAFNESS AS A WAY OF KNOWING
Deafness as a Way of Knowing
Michael Mazzarella
George Mason University
Fairfax, Virginia
Running Head: DEAFNESS AS A WAY OF KNOWING
Introduction
A way of knowing can be defined as one’s viewpoints of the world based on life
experiences, upbringing and cultural exposure. Countless different factors can influence one’s
way of knowing, such as religion, ethnicity, travel, education, or socio-economic status, among
many others. In addition, ways of knowing as constantly changing as people learn more about
the world and themselves. While each individual’s way of knowing is unique, similarities exist
among certain groups of people based on a distinct personality trait, culture or physical
characteristic.
One fascinating way of knowing that exists throughout the United States is deafness. It is
estimated that approximately 1,000,000 people in the country (about 0.38%) are considered
“functionally deaf” (Mitchell, 2005). Thus, it is important to explore the basic understandings of
the Deaf culture and its primary language, American Sign Language (ASL), and how these ways
of life are unique, often misunderstood and different than my own approach to life.
Deaf Culture
The Deaf culture is one that takes great pride in their unique physical trait. When the
word Deaf is capitalized, it represents a person or group of people who are proud of their
deafness and associate themselves with the Deaf community. On the other hand, when the word
deaf has a lowercase “d,” the individual or group considers their deafness more of a hardship or
disability (Lane, Hoffmeister & Bahan, 1996, p. ix). This paper will focus more on the Deaf
community’s way of knowing.
One of the most common beliefs of hearing people is that deafness is a disability. This
could not be further from the truth, according to the Deaf community. Culturally, deafness is
seen as something that does not hinder one’s way of life, and cannot prevent someone from
Running Head: DEAFNESS AS A WAY OF KNOWING
pursuing their goals. However, laws in the United States still consider deafness a legal disability.
The following is a passage from “The Disability Dilemma,” as described by the Deaf culture:
The Deaf-World faces a dilemma with regard to the provisions in the laws concerning
children with disabilities. On the one hand, disability legislation aims to provide Deaf
children and adults with an education, access to information and protection of their civil
rights; they must have the provisions if they are to live fulfilling lives and to be
participating citizens in our democracy. Therefore, the Deaf-World supports such
legislation. On the other hand, the Deaf-World is a linguistic and cultural minority quite
unlike disability groups with a distinctly different agenda. Moreover, to be Deaf is not a
disability in Deaf culture, and most members of the Deaf-World see no disability in their
way of being. To give up their legal rights would be self-defeating; to demand them
under disability law seems like hypocrisy and undermines the Deaf agenda, which aims
for acceptance of ASL and Deaf culture. (Lane et al., 1996, p. 232).
As one can see, while the Deaf community faces a unique predicament, it is clear that they do not
deafness as a disability, but appreciate the legal support that is provided to them. This
conversation continues to this day; today’s American culture still believes that any physical trait
that is a minority is not simply a difference, but rather a trait that interferes with the ability to live
a normal life.
Despite the deaf culture dismissing their deafness as a disability, it still seems to be seen
as such within the country. One study by Golos, Moses and Wolbers (2012) studied numerous
illustrated children’s books that had a deaf main character. Their findings were that the
illustrations “overwhelmingly” portrayed deafness as a disability, rather than a cultural trait.
Furthermore, only three books were found to represent any aspect of the Deaf community
Running Head: DEAFNESS AS A WAY OF KNOWING
(Golos, Moses & Wolbers, 2012). This proves the extent to which deafness is incorrectly seen as
a weakness, rather than a way of life.
There are some customs of the Deaf culture that make the Deaf community a distinctive
way of knowing. One such example is “frank talk,” or being straightforward. In the Deaf culture,
it is considered impolite or even offensive to be vague in a conversation and hint at a topic;
rather, when communicating with a Deaf person, it is more proper to be candid, even if it seems
uncomfortable to a hearing person. For example, when talking to a Deaf teacher, it is better to
say, “You gave me a C. Why?” as opposed to, “Excuse me, I would like to talk to you about my
grade” (Lane et al., 1996, p. 73). It is interesting to think about how even within the same
country, there are completely different conventions of communication between groups of people.
Another hot topic in the Deaf culture is the desire for deaf people to acquire hearing. In
recent years, there have been breakthroughs in technology that allow people to hear for the first
time. The Cochlear implant is the most common form of “curing” deafness, but comes with
much controversy. Aside from the medical risks, the Deaf culture feels that receiving a Cochlear
implant effectively eliminates one’s Deaf identity; thus, if a Deaf person received a Cochlear
implant, they have deemed their deafness as a disability, which is considered an insult to the
Deaf community. Furthermore, when parents choose to have their children get a Cochlear
implant, the Deaf community sees it as unfair to the child because they are not old enough to
have interacted and experienced the Deaf culture, and make a decision on their own (Lane et al.,
1996, pp. 400-401).
Deaf schools are incredibly important to the Deaf community and their culture. Miller
(2010), a professor at Gallaudet University, an institution exclusively for the deaf located in
Washington, D.C., claims that most students who attend a deaf school encounter Deaf role
Running Head: DEAFNESS AS A WAY OF KNOWING
models for the first time in their lives. Consequently, these children can then learn what
behaviors, beliefs and viewpoints characterize the Deaf world (Miller, 2010). There is some
debate, however, about the extent to which deaf children should learn speech in schools. Some
educators claim that learning solely in ASL will inhibit a child’s ability to develop speech or
proper grammar; in other words, since ASL is not in written form, how can deaf students
complete school- or professional-related tasks that involve writing? Deaf schools and educators
have countered that criticism by incorporating a method called Total Communication (TC). TC is
a form of simultaneous speech and sign that helps to emphasize speech in deaf schools. While
many more resources are needed to help deaf students develop speech, TC provided a way to
accommodate several language needs in the classroom (Lane et al., 1996, pp. 268-269).
Understanding the Deaf culture and how the traits of their community form raises some
implications for research. One such implication is the notion of cultural differences. As described
by Lane et al. (1996), the Deaf community has customs and traditions of its own that influence
its beliefs. Therefore, it is important to consider the differences in opinions when conducting any
type of research, especially qualitative research. For example, if I am measuring self-efficacy in
a study, mentioning cultural aspects of the participants is important because knowing the
characteristics of that particular culture could explain some of the results. Another implication to
keep in mind is that the term “culture” has a wide range of definitions. Any group of people with
a similar location, religion, or physical trait (among others) can be considered a culture with
unique characteristics. There are so many different ways of knowing to consider when analyzing
data from a group of people; thus, it is vital that the researcher does not let his/her own way of
knowing interfere with the analysis and cause any bias in the data.
Running Head: DEAFNESS AS A WAY OF KNOWING
I have met several Deaf people in the last eight years, and I am always fascinated to learn
something new about the Deaf culture each time. Before learning their way of knowing, I had
always seen deafness as a disability. I feel that my own experiences support the research
regarding deafness as a cultural characteristic. All Deaf people that I have met are incredibly
proud of their way of life and have no desire to “cure” their deafness. I did not know, however,
that certain customs of the Deaf culture are so different than my own. I simply thought that a
“Deaf culture” was just a group of deaf people whose only common ground was their signed
language. I’m now aware of the complex nature of not only the Deaf culture, but any culture
with a unique characteristic (location, physical trait, etc.).
American Sign Language
Some of the biggest misconceptions about deafness come with their language. American
Sign Language (ASL) is a bodily language which uses hand movements, hand shapes and facial
features to convey ideas, both simple and complex. Many people believe that ASL is not a true
language. However, ASL has been proven to be an actual language for several reasons. First, the
language structure of ASL is independent of any other language, including English. In English,
the general sentence structure is subject-verb-object, while in ASL, the sentence structure is
object-subject-verb. For example, “he goes to the store” would be signed as “store he goes.”
Second, research has found that humans have the instinctual ability to pass down a language to
their children, and whether that language is spoken or signed is “quite immaterial” (Lane et al.,
1996, p. 43). It is simply an incorrect stereotype that since most languages in the world are
spoken, a signed language is not as effective.
Like any language, learning ASL is a process and takes time. According to Emmorey
(2002), children who learn ASL go through the same developmental stages as one does when
learning any spoken language. Just as babies “babble,” those learning ASL will also “manually
Running Head: DEAFNESS AS A WAY OF KNOWING
babble,” which is attempting to form hand shapes without try to convey abstract ideas (p. 170).
ASL has even been shown to form earlier than spoken language. Research shows that babies sign
their first word at 8.5 months, while spoken words appear between 10 and 13 months (p. 172).
Other similar stages, such as the acquisition of syntax and morphology (the recognition of
structure) occur at the same point of a deaf child’s life.
Since ASL is such a complex language, very slight differences in hand shapes, bodily
location or movements of signs can translate to completely different ideas. For example, the
signs for “mother” and “father” have the same hand shape (open palm and all fingers out), but
where they are placed on the face is different: to sign “mother,” the thumb touches the chin, but
to sign “father,” the thumb touches the forehead. Such small alterations can be difficult to notice
for learners and non-fluent speakers. Bochner, et. al. (2011) presented a series of sentences with
similar signs to beginner, intermediate and fluent (deaf) ASL speakers and asked them to
distinguish the signs based on location, orientation, movement and/or hand shape. The study
found that only 53% of all participants were able to differentiate the movements and meanings of
particular signs. Furthermore, even fluent speakers had some difficulty; only 86% of sentences
were correctly identified (Bochner, et. al., 2011). Thus, this research demonstrates the
complexity of ASL.
Weaver and Starner (2011) tracked hearing parents of deaf children as they attempted to
learn ASL through different means. The most popular mode of learning was an Early
Intervention Service, which is provided to parents of deaf children between the ages of zero and
three. This service involves mentors that help parents feel comfortable interacting with their
children and the Deaf community, as well as teach parents signs that address individual needs.
Other positive methods of learning ASL included DVDs and websites. Books, however, had the
Running Head: DEAFNESS AS A WAY OF KNOWING
most negative reactions. Parents reported that they had trouble learning ASL from books because
it was difficult to understand the two-dimensional representations of certain signs (Weaver &
Starner, 2011). This is certainly a unique aspect of ASL; no other spoken language encounters
this type of inability to translate from “written” text to signed language.
In the same study, Weaver and Starner (2011) conducted interviews with those hearing
parents regarding why they wanted to learn ASL. A majority of parents wanted to learn the
language so that they could communicate with their children, although some parents admitted
that it would only be a temporary solution until the student receives a Cochlear implant. Other
parents feel that learning ASL will help to open opportunities for their children to succeed, since
being bilingual (English and ASL) is advantageous both cognitively and in the education realm.
Some parents also recognized the cultural advantage of learning ASL. It was reported that since
ASL is the primary language of the Deaf community and deaf schools, learning ASL is important
so that they can be connected with their child on that level (Weaver & Starner, 2011).
One topic that merges ASL with the Deaf culture is name signs. In ASL, there are two
types of name signs given. The first is a descriptive type of name sign, which is less common
among the Deaf community. For example, if a man had a scar on his forehead, his name sign
could potentially one or two fingers sweeping across the forehead. As mentioned before, the
Deaf community is very straightforward in communication. So, some descriptive name signs
could be seen as offensive to a hearing person. An overweight person could have a name sign
that resembles the sign for “fat,” but “no offense is intended or taken” (Lane et al., 1996, p. 74).
The other type of name sign involves the hand shape of the person’s first initial and a
characteristic or trait of that person. For example, my name sign (given to me by my Deaf
teacher in high school) is the “M” shape brushing by my nose, since I had a cold when I first met
Running Head: DEAFNESS AS A WAY OF KNOWING
her. Overall, name signs are seen as a way to convey part of one’s culture, and are considered a
“rite of passage” into the Deaf culture, since only Deaf people can assign name signs (Lane et al.,
1996, p. 76).
Studying ASL as a way of knowing brings up important points about language research.
One such implication relates to the cultural implications for research. As described by Lane et al.
(1996), many aspects of the Deaf culture are incorporated into ASL. So, if conducting research
involving language, it is important to consider the underlying aspects of the culture that is
intertwined with the language. On a personal level, I have realized that even though I may be
very knowledgeable in ASL, there are still many aspects of the culture and language itself with
which I am not familiar. Therefore, I have become more aware that I must educate myself to the
best of my ability about a topic when conducting research; by doing so, I can prevent any
assumptions from caused biased or invalid conclusions.
I first began learning ASL in tenth grade, and I have been fascinated by it since. One of
the first aspects of ASL that I noticed was how much the language defined the culture. Unlike
English in the United States, ASL unites the Deaf community in a way that was foreign to me.
My teacher, who was Deaf, was so proud to be Deaf and to be able to speak ASL, which was the
first time I had seen such pride for a language. As I learned ASL more, I began to realize how
much culture is incorporated into the language. Name signs are a perfect example of this; just
like how Americans use nicknames, the Deaf community does the same thing, just with hand
shapes instead of spoken words. Having thought about it more, I then expanded my way of
knowing to realize that culture is incorporated into all languages. Many phrases that Americans
use in English cannot be translated or understood elsewhere. Also, I will admit to believing that
ASL was not a true language, but rather just an informal way of communicating. My way of
Running Head: DEAFNESS AS A WAY OF KNOWING
knowing was that “language” and “oral communication” were synonymous. I now know that
ASL is a pure language that can stand alone, and that the people who use this language have a
culture all their own.
Conclusion
While deafness as a way of knowing has not been completely foreign to me, there are
countless cultural aspects that I did not know existed. Not only does the Deaf community have a
culture of its own, but a language of its own that is a main component of its culture. My own way
of knowing about deafness, language and culture has changed drastically through reading the
literature and my personal experiences. I used to think that deafness was nothing more than a
physical disability, and ASL was nothing more than a lesser form of English. I now know that
not only is deafness not a disability, but it is an entire way of life that has opened my eyes to
what core characteristics define an entire culture.
Running Head: DEAFNESS AS A WAY OF KNOWING
References
Bochner, J. H., Christie, K., Hauser, P. C., & Searls, J. M. (2011). When is a difference really
different? Learners’ discrimination of linguistic contrasts in American Sign Language.
Language Learning, 61(4), 1302-1327. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9922.2011.00671.x
Emmorey, K. (2002). Language, cognition and the brain: Insight from sign language research.
Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Retrieved from
http://ebscohost.com
Golos, D., Moses, A., & Wolbers, K. (2012). Culture or disability? Examining deaf characters in
children’s book illustrations. Early Childhood Education Journal, 40, 239-249. doi:
10.1007/s10643-012-0506-0
Lane, H., Hoffmeister, R., & Bahan, B. (1996). A journey into the deaf-world. San Diego,
California: DawnSignPress.
Miller, M. (2010). Epistemology and people who are deaf: Deaf worldviews, views of the deaf
world, or my parents are hearing. American Annals of the Deaf, 154(5), 479-485.
Mitchell, R. E. (2005). Galludet Research Institute. Retrieved from
research.galludet.edu/Demographics/deaf-US.php
Weaver, K. & Starner, T. (2011). We need to communicate! Helping hearing parents of deaf
children learn American Sign Language. Proceedings of ASSETS ’11.
Running Head: DEAFNESS AS A WAY OF KNOWING
Mike,
You really pulled the needed essence of this Ways of Knowing course from your topic through
your presentation of Deafness as a WoK. You presented how examination of Ways of Knowing is
needed both for educational practice and research with those who are Deaf (of course I learned
to use capital D from reading you paper). Your relating what you learned about this topic to other
areas that you might study in education was very clear. Thank you.
Your paper is well organized and the logic was clear to me. You included all areas specified in the
rubric. APA style was used. I did not see grammatical errors, typos, misspelled words, etc. Thank
you for your thoughtfulness and hard work on this paper.
Susan