Personal Narrative: American Sign Language

Nancy Rourke, the painter of Deaf Culture: Unity of Global Signing, was born deaf and grew up in a world of oralism (Northen, Spindel). Oralism is when someone teaches a deaf person how to read lips and talk instead of teaching them to sign (Oralism). Rourke’s parents did not know she was deaf until she was about six years old but quit in 1986 to become a graphic designer. Twenty years later she was laid off and decided to begin painting again and took a couple of workshops to help prepare for the transition in her life. Her life transition did not begin until 2010 when she became involved in Deaf View / Image Art (De’VIA) and she began painting about her own experiences in the world of oralism (Rourke). Her painting, Deaf Culture: Unity of Global Signing, creates an image of problems within the deaf community

To have the privilege of being able to see, you always wonder how life is to someone that can’t. Life revolves a lot in knowing what you can see, hear, taste, smell, and touch. These are some things we take for granted, sometimes you really have to sit yourself down and acknowledge how lucky you are. But in an imperfect world, some people aren’t as lucky and you have to be willing to listen and learn about what other people go through.

George W. Veditz was best known for his attempt to capture the beauty and nature of sign language on film. “Veditz many contributions to the deaf community changed the course of deaf history during a time when deaf people were struggling to preserve their own culture and language.” ( ). Veditz was born in 1861 in Maryland, he was born hearing but became deaf when he was 8 years old because of scarlet fever. Before Veditz became sick, he spoke English and German. He became a “smooth signer” by having a tutor before he tried enrolling in school.. He applied to Maryland School for the Deaf in Federick, where he was hired as a secretary and a bookkeeper. When Veditz was 17 years old, he really wanted to apply to Gallaudet but could not afford tuition.

In conclusion, deafness is a disability that affects millions of people around the world, but with hard work and dedication anyone can do great in life. Heather was an outstanding woman who was determined to accomplish her dreams. Her disability gave her the motivation to go very far in life and she would not change anything about it. Hopefully more people will learn to have a positive attitude like Heather

One of the people I met was a woman named Kim. Kim goes to Florida State College at Jacksonville and her major is Art. She is taking ASL II and she loves exercising. Kim and I became friends at the event. She and I signed for 30 minutes; then I met Michelle's daughter Rebecca. She was 11 years old and was not deaf. She was very good in ASL. She taught me new signs such as major, yesterday, and a new way to sign Pensacola. I learned so much from Rebecca. Next, Kim and I met Brad and Dianna. Bray is a high school teacher and he's deaf. He told me his story about growing up as a deaf child. Also, he graduated from UNF three years ago. Dianna was an older student at UNF and taking ASL III. She can hear but has a hearing aid in her ear. She was teaching Kim and me some different signs which were very helpful. Also, Dianna was helping us to identify people at the event by describing the person's appearances. It was a fun experience and reminded me doing the activity in

Growing up in a small-town I was literally in a culture bubble. There were almost no deaf people. I just never had the opportunity to converse with someone who is deaf. As I was reading this book I noticed my internal motivation for learning ASL was changing. I now want to learn as much ASL as I possibly can, so I can chat with those I come in contact with that are deaf or hard of hearing. I never realized that St. George was such a big area in deaf individuals. I always saw it as a winter getaway and vacation spot, but for them, it is their lifetime home. In the book, I thought it was cool that he told the story about how his family treated him and it made him feel like an outsider and that he needed to change. I never want to be that hearing person that makes others feel like they aren’t worth it because they are deaf and they need to change. From now on my plan is to respect and encourage the deaf to be themselves and never push them to become something they are not. This book opened my eyes to the world outside of the bubble and I’m grateful for

Throughout the documentary film Through Deaf Eyes, I felt amazed by deaf culture. The deaf culture is a versatile, rich, and unique community that more people need to be aware of. When the film was covering the transition of ASL schools to oral only I mostly felt ashamed of my own culture. Someone as Alexander Graham Bell, who is naturally considered one of the greatest inventors in the hearing world, believed that the language used by the deaf community was not a language. The hearing world is the most dominant one, there is no doubt. However, there has to be an understanding that not everyone who is different from the “typical” is “atypical”. A language is nothing but patterns of signs, symbols, and/or sounds that are used to convey meaning. In what manner does sign language not fit the category of a language?

This led to a teaching method being created in 1970 that did not favor sign language or oralism and every child was considered equal and able to get the education that they needed. This is extremely important to me as a future educator that every student, no matter the disability, was treated equally. Every student should be able to have the same opportunity to learn. The method used in education that started in the early 1970s was known as Total Communication. In an article called The History of Communication, written on start ASL’s website, stated that Total Communication gives the opportunity to deaf students in numerous ways such as ASL, fingerspelling, lip reading, pictures, use of computers, writing, gestures, reading, expression and the use of hearing aids that some schools had to provide. Again, this information is tremendously important to me because as a future educator I would want to do anything and everything that I possibly could to make sure that every student has what they need to succeed and love getting their education. Following this, in 1975 the IDEA,

So, I stood up and talked to people and they were very welcoming, and it made me more relaxed. They understood that I was a ASL student and one of the people I talked to even knew Rusty. After the intermission was over it back to not understanding a thing that the speakers were saying. It was like I game where I had to laugh and cheer when everyone else did. But I was enjoying myself a little more after chatting with a few people. After this event I felt like I got a little taste of what Mark had experienced in the book Deaf Again, but the roles were switched I was hearing in an all deaf environment instead of being deaf in a hearing environment like mark was. Although this type of event could have scared me away from future deaf events it didn’t. The reason why I am looking forward to events like this in the future is because I’m going to persevere and improve so next time ill understand a little more and sooner or later ill understand everything that’s going on. Knowing how bad my ASL is makes me just want to get better. Therefore, there are many things I could improve onto make my future experiences better and I’m looking forward to the next

Her mother didn’t become deaf until she was 13 months old. She had spinal meningitis and because of this she went deaf. She was getting shots for the meningitis, but after the fifth they decided to stop the shots and after they stop the relapse was what caused the deafness. It was very hard for Doris Jean because she was already starting to say some words. After the second fever, she went deaf and wouldn’t talk for years and when she did start talking, no one understood her. Doris Jean’s parents were frightened with the news of Doris Jean being deaf. Doris Jean’s father left it up to her mother to really take care of Doris Jean. Her mother worked hard to know about Doris Jean’s condition and would read books about Helen Keller. When Doris Jean was six her parents took her to a school for the deaf and left her there. This school was focused on teaching oral skills and never taught sign language, but sign language was allowed to be used. Her mom didn’t know sign language before going to the school, but she learned fast. After attending the school all through high school, she graduated and went out on her own into the world as a keypunch

There are a lot of misconceptions that Deaf are not intelligent because they can’t speak or choose not to. I think this often why Deaf people choose not to speak because they think that other people will judge them. It’s sad because Deaf people are just as smart but just because they don’t have confidence with their speech they can sometimes be looked down on by hearing people. This topic also strengths their love for ASL because it’s a since of pride and people are able to communicate with that just as

For my second Deaf event, I went to the First Evangelical Free Church in McKeesport. This service had a Deaf Ministry along with a signed interpretation of the service. This experience was amazing, even though getting to this was quite a journey.

Life was very difficult for deaf people years ago. Many believed that they could not learn and would never be able to communicate. It wasn't until the 1800's that a man named Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet opened up a school for the deaf. He hired a French teacher named Laurent Clerc, who was deaf himself. Laurent Clerc taught the deaf American children with French Sign Language. The deaf of America finally had a language that was their own. They were able to communicate with others now. Then at the end of the 19th century, Alexander

Amy Rowley, whom herself and both parents were deaf, was enrolled in a public school in the state of New York for the start of her education. Prior to her first year in public school, kindergarten, her parents met for an IEP development. The IEP provided Rowley with a sign-language interpreter who would be present with her in the classroom. After being in the classroom with the sign-language interpreter, it was reported that the interpreter’s services were not needed by Rowley. For the continuation of her kindergarten

4- In my work setting there are different services which are available to help us communicate more effectively. Some of the support services are listed below and how they could help.