I do not profess to be entirely knowledgeable about the Deaf culture after one interview with two extraordinary individuals here at Sinclair. I do not profess to have acquired a total understanding of the Deaf culture, but rather a limited one through the eyes of a hearing person.
But what I do know is that there is a great injustice being done to the Deaf community and its culture. This injustice is not limited to any race, color or creed as many other injustices are committed under in what is supposed to be a land of equal opportunity. This injustice spreads to all facets of our human race, and it is perpetrated simply on the premise of whether a person can hear or not. If you can hear, you’re fine. But if you cannot hear, you are somehow perceived as stupid, or ignorant. Or worse yet, you have a disability, an impairment perhaps. This somehow makes you less human.
Do not mistake me, I do not seek to make it sound as if the struggles of other races are somehow lesser to that of the Deaf. I merely want to make it known that this is a particular issue that crosses all racial, ethnic and religious boundaries and great pains must to be taken to relieve these injustices not just for the Deaf but for all peoples so that we may live in relative harmony as a single, united society. The Deaf face similar inequalities as many others do in terms of employment, education and communication. For employment, adding the fact that some of the Deaf cannot hear makes finding work even that much harder. Employment rates along social stratifiers vary greatly, but for the Deaf, their average unemployment rate stands at an unimaginable 75%, and 19% of those Deaf who do work are underemployed. Because of this incredible high rate of unemployment, many in the Deaf community are on government assistance programs. Many employers view hiring Deaf employees as overly expensive, having to provide certain accommodations for their employment. Employers also view ASL as a foreign language and fail to see that some Deaf actually do know English and thus are not unintelligent,like the prejudiced perceive. Also, some employers do not seem to realize that employing Deaf people helps take them off government assistance. Since many of our political leaders keep whining about how much the federal and state governments spend on welfare programs like food stamps and cash assistance, you would think they would encourage employers more often to hire the Deaf. Oddly enough, there is a tax credit available for employers who hire people who have a disability (since the federal government considers deafness a disability), up to $5,000 even.
For education, the Deaf often find themselves not being able to adapt well in normal public (or even some private) schools. One of the primary reasons this is the case is because many public school districts lack the funding from the states or the federal government or the capabilities in technology or transportation to accommodate many Deaf students. My old high school, Northridge High School, is one such school. Because of the lack of funding from the Ohio government, Northridge cannot keep up with disability services and rely quite a bit on Montgomery County’s Department of Developmental Disabilities to provide the care those students need on a daily basis. Thus many Deaf students of all ages go to specialized schools for the Deaf (two of which are in here in Ohio as I mentioned in my previous article).
Communication ties into all aspects of Deaf lives and it is here where the greatest problems arise. Because many Deaf often cannot speak or read lips, they have to either write down orders or thoughts or they have to type on their phones or what not. Due to this, they get dirty looks or inadequate treatment and even sometimes get really nasty attitudes from servers or cashiers because of the simple fact that they cannot hear or read lips. It’s shameful that because of a circumstance that is more often than not out of their control the Deaf get treated with such disrespect that it makes general society itself fall into disrepute, even notwithstanding all of the other trials and tribulations others face on a day-to-day basis. I personally have witnessed such treatment, both as an employee myself and as a regular customer. It is a stigma about the Deaf that drives this mistreatment, intended or not by the hearing world that does not understand what the Deaf culture is. One such experience that I had myself occurred a couple of years ago at my old job in a United Dairy Farmers. A lady came in to get some ice cream, so I walked over the ice cream counter and asked her what sort of ice cream she would like, completely unaware she was Deaf. When she didn’t respond, my first thoughts were that a) she was still thinking about her response or b) she was deliberately ignoring me. After a minute, I asked her the same question. This time she looked up and saw my lips moving and immediately pointed to her ear, at the same time shaking her head. Right then, two things happened. First, I realized that she was Deaf. Second, I froze in place, completely unsure of my next move. I knew that if I did something really stupid, it would make me look really bad and make it seem like I was very rude to this lady. After gathering myself for a quick second, I took out one of the scoops from the dip-well on the side of the counter and made my way over to the part of the counter the lady was standing in front of. I gestured towards one of the flavors which I think was vanilla bean, indicating my asking her if that was the flavor she wanted, which was correct. I then picked up one of the cups and one of the cones from behind the counter and held them up to her, and she picked the cup. Then I held up my fingers to ask how many scoops she wanted. When I showed a 2, she nodded, which meant she wanted two scoops. Once that was settled, I rang her up for the ice cream. I gave her a pen and a piece of paper to write down anything else she might need, but she didn’t write anything. I took the pen and paper and wrote down her total (since UDF’s computers don’t show the prices on a secondary screen). She handed me her money and that was that. She signed something after we were finished, but I did not know what she signed (I later found out she signed “Thank you”) so I only returned with a smile and short nod. That was my first exposure to the Deaf.
The Deaf culture is just like any other “normal” culture we think about today. It has its own language (American Sign Language), customs (like not saying “hearing-impaired” in referring to a Deaf person; that is extremely insulting), and they have their own views on the world around them. They also have a rich history dating back several centuries; perhaps the two most famous Deaf people in human history that I can think of are Ludwig von Beethoven (1770-1827) and Helen Keller (1880-1927). Beethoven was one of the greatest composers in classical music history, and he was an important figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western music. Keller was not only deaf, but blind too, and was the first deafblind woman ever to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. Deaf people have previously served the military. They founded the first ever all-deaf university in the world: Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. in 1864. They have formed numerous deaf theater troupes and engage in the arts much like hearing people do. In fact, a play written by a deaf playwright named Garrett Zuercher and directed by Kimberly Borst called “Quid Pro Quo” will be playing in Sinclair’s Black Box Theatre from Friday, November 6th to Saturday November 14th. This play will focus on the delicate perceptions of the hearing and Deaf communities as two college students are forced to acknowledge new challenges when they exchange lives. It will be performed in American Sign Language with voice interpretation. I would encourage everyone to try and see it. I know I will.
I therefore say that we as a society in general must strive to look past all of our frailties to work together for the common good of us all. It all starts with awareness of the injustices the Deaf face. It is nothing short of a civil rights issue in its broadest sense and when we in the hearing world see such mistreatment of the Deaf we must stand up and call it out and hold those accountable for their actions when they act in such a manner against the Deaf. We must also strive to mind our own actions and manners when we encounter a Deaf person. This involves not constantly trying to talk to a Deaf person when they gesture that they cannot hear you and also not giving them dirty looks or attitude. Employers should be actively encouraged to hire more Deaf workers in their shops and factories so that they may live in relative independence and stability and get off of welfare. It also would not hurt for us in the hearing world to get out amongst the Deaf and get to know their culture and learn their language. For if the old stigmas about the Deaf are to ever go away, we must be educated and open-minded to them.In the end, all this would serve to create, as Gouverneur Morris wrote, “a more perfect union.”
This is an ideal that extends not just people of color, ethnicity, nationality or religious belief, but to those who cannot walk, cannot speak, or cannot hear. Let us all work to make that more perfect union.
Christopher Witt
Reporter