Assignment # 4 Research Paper
Foundations of Organizational Leadership
Uhls, Jeff
2/6/2010
Finding a Sister
The discovery of the American Sign Language opened a whole new world and
finally led me to understanding the frustration of a sister. Lisa, my sister is an
incredibility strong willed person, who happens to be deaf, this occurred when she was
just 3 years old. She went through a series of operations between the ages of 3 and 6
years, the medication used to treat her infection caused her loss of hearing. The journey
to finding the American Sign Language system began much later and after many
exasperating years for my entire family. The beliefs of various “expert” educators
debated over numerous years shaping the future of countless unsuspecting lives in the
deaf community.
The educational debate: Oralism vs. Manualism
Lisa was born in 1963 and found herself in the middle of a philosophical battle,
Manualism vs. Oralism, two styles to educating deaf students. Two opposing
philosophies regarding the education of the deaf, Maualism is when the deaf student
uses sign language to learn. Oralism is when the deaf student is educated using spoken
language. Oralism was the popular belief at the time my sister started to be taught and
this style of education consisted of spoken language, lip reading, speech, and the
process of watching mouth movement. The oralist techniques consisted of the deaf
student touching the teacher’s face, throat, and chest to feel the vibrations of sounds
and to watch the teacher’s lips move during each sound. My family spent hours holding
her hand to our throats so she could feel the vibrations created as we spoke different
words. This approach was tiresome and the lack of communication and
miscommunication seemed to consume everyone. Sign language was restricted
completely and lip reading and writing were the only other means of communication
allowed to be used in the classroom or at home. The instructor told us the method
would allow her to function in the “real” world. I was just a kid but I thought we all were
in the “real” world. The time of oralism is now considered by many educators to be the
“dark ages for the deaf people in America”. The Deaf community, which we became part
of, views oralism as a failure and believes it stunts the deaf persons mental growth and
achievements. I can bare witness to this fact; I still remember attending meetings with
my parents discussing Lisa’s immaturity and anger. The instructor would tell my parents
to expect less from her because she was incapable of understanding. I can’t imagine to
this day how you can learn to speak when you have never heard the words spoken.
This lack of communication led to outburst of anger, sorrow and a lack of personal
growth, not just of Lisa but of her deaf friends.
Despite the efforts of such notable oralist as Alexander Graham Bell, Manualism
took root and finally became the excepted choice of educating the deaf. This method of
communication uses bodily movements, especially hands rather than speech to
communicate. Lisa would finally start to receive a proper education when she attended
high school at Gallaudet University in Washington D.C; she was 21 years old starting
her freshmen year of high school. This was the average age of students at her
educational level at the time, but younger students were beginning to enroll because of
the change in teaching techniques. Gallaudet University derives its name from one of
the influential figures in the birth of the American Sign Language (ASL), at this time the
natural sign language.
Evaluation to Enlightenment
A Protestant minister, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and a deaf student from Paris,
Laurent Clerc would join together in 1817 to open the Connecticut Asylum for the
Education of the Deaf and Dumb Persons. It is now called the American School for the
Deaf. Here the influences of American “home sign” language and French sign language
intermingled and became what is now known as American Sign Language. As Clerc
taught at this school he modified the Old French Sign Language to fit American
customs, which had an enormous influence on the birth of the American Sign
Language. The origin of ASL lies in both France and the United States, but continues to
be influenced by the cultural changes taking place throughout time. Initially signs were
close representations of the physical actions and things, a natural language. This
language met resistance from educational reformist who advocated the use of speech
and speech reading in its place. The same thinking that was in place when my sister
was being, so called educated. The Deaf Americans had to keep their language vibrant
through this turmoil by passing it from pupil to pupil until the 1970’s. Cultural shifts and
studies by William C. Stokes and his colleagues at Gallaudet University showed ASL
was a language in its own right, it was not merely gestures. His work gave hope to deaf
people such as my sister. The next step was the introduction of ASL itself as the
instructional language for the deaf. With the educational failures of speech and speech
reading; Lisa was just one of these countless failures, the reacceptance of ASL into the
educational structure of the deaf schools by the late 1970’s. Lisa flourished at Gallaudet
learning to communicate sharing thoughts and ideas that had been pinned up inside of
her for years. We witnessed the emergence of a new person; someone we didn’t even
know existed. This person was hidden by the years of frustration and anger of not being
able to communicate with the people she loved.
The Birth of a Language
American Sign Language is the dominant sign language of deaf Americans; this
includes the United States, the English speaking regions of Canada and some regions
of Mexico. Although the United Kingdom and the United States both share English as a
spoken and written language, British Sign Language is quite different. Interestingly,
because of Clerc’s early French influence upon ASL approximately 60% of the
vocabulary is shared between the two sign languages. The American Sign Language
standardized, growing and spread across the various regions from the early teaching
methods of Gallaudet and Clerc. ASL is a visual language where information is
expressed with a combination of handshapes, palm orientations, movements of the
hands, arms and body, and facial expressions. Edward Klima and Ursula Bellugi have
placed signs in three categories or groupings, transparent, translucent, and opaque
signs. Sounds like paint colors tints, but like painting, sign language is visual. Nonsigners can usually guess the meaning of transparent signs. Translucent signs will
make sense to non-signers once its meaning is explained. But, the majority of signs are
opaque, non-signers cannot guess there meaning. ASL is a distinct language and
contains its own syntax and grammar supporting its own culture. For these reasons
American Sign Language is recognized as a true language; the same as any spoken
language. The University of Central Oklahoma recognizes this fact and a semester of
foreign language accreditation is given for successfully passing the ASL course.
Fingerspelling is the incorporation of alphabetic letters from the English language into
ASL signs and is often referred to as “initializing” signs. Fingerspelling has become the
building blocks for ASL signs and provides multiple meaning to specified handshapes.
For example two hands trace a circle to mean “a group of people”. But, when made with
an F handshape, it means “family” and when made with a C handshape the same sign
means “class”. Fingerspelling is used primarily to place emphasis and clarify signs, but
can be used to spell out words if necessary.
The American Sign Language alphabet
Over time American Sign Language has developed regional dialects, accents
and its own idioms. One of the most significant dialects is Black American Sign
Language. And, "Just as there are accents in speech. There are regional accents in
sign. People from the South sign slower than people in the North-even people from
northern and southern Indiana have different styles" of accents. Another component of
this language is the often confusing usage of idioms. One such example is “COW-IT”, it
is translated in to; I don’t care for (something). These characteristics further validate my
belief that ASL is a unique and independent language.
Because of the American Sign Language I connected with a sister I never before
knew. We share conversions, ideas, feelings, dreams and even laugh at jokes. I’m one
of those slow signers and I’m still amazed when Lisa’s friends get together and have a
conversation. Thankfully ASL is the accepted method of teaching the deaf in America
and no one else will need to suffer in the same fashion as my sister, Lisa.
.
.
References
Lane, Harlan (1984). When the Mind Hears: A History of the Deaf.
New York: Random House.
Baynton, Douglas C (1996). Forbidden Signs: American Culture and the
Campaign against Sign Language. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.
Stokoe, William C (1976). Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic
Principles. Linstok Press
Walker, Lou Ann (1987). A Loss for Words: The Story of Deafness in a
Family. New York: Harper Perennial