Brahmbhatt 1 Purav Brahmbhatt Dr.

Bussacco CSD 207 11/28/11 Deaf Culture Carol Padden and Tom Humphries provide a very telling description of the life and culture of deaf people in their book Deaf in America: Voices from a Culture. It is important to note the irony in their title; although someone who is deaf typically does not rely on speech or their voice to communicate, the Deaf people do have a powerful voice that is founded in Deaf culture. I found this book to be a very thoughtful dive into a culture that is oftentimes overlooked and undervalued in not only the United States but also the larger world in general; deaf people are usually not talked about, but they are definitely worth our attention both as a culture and as our neighbors. In this book, Padden and Humphries discuss a number of topics, ranging from the American Sign Language to the history and characteristics of Deaf culture. The American Sign Language, also known as the ASL, is the hallmark of the Deaf culture. From my understanding, I believe that a culture cannot exist without a predominant form of communication or language. I think it is remarkable that a people have existed for so long without even the slightest use of spoken language in transmitting their cultural history from one generation to another. It is something to be proud of, not only because it seems extremely difficult but also because it amplifies just how special Deaf cultures form of communication is: it is speechless. Padden and Humphries note very often in their book that ASL is no less than regular language; it has grammar rules,

Brahmbhatt 2 syntax, complex vocabulary, variable sentence structure, etc. It is a medium for not only communication of complex ideas but also a form of powerful emotion. Padden and Humphries include a very beautiful example of how, to the Deaf, poetry is not verbal but is actually a performance. The grace and effortlessness with which a poet signs his or her poetry plays a tremendous role in the communication of their message. However, performance and poetry put aside, what I particularly enjoyed reading about was the history of ASL that the authors included. American Sign Language has its roots in French Sign Language, or LSF. The great Abb Charles-Michel de lpe is often mistaken to be the founder of sign language; regardless, however, he did play a tremendous part in establishing educational institutions for the Deaf. What I admired about this story was the fact that Deaf people can carry on stories such as these over so many generations without the use of voice or speech. In personal response, one aspect about Deaf culture that I did not find appealing was the exclusivity and division. There are the divisions among the prelingual and postlingual deaf, the deaf with cochlear implants (who are looked down upon by many Deaf) and the non-hearing deaf, the educated deaf (who know standard English and can communicate that with ASL) and the average deaf, and most especially the oral deaf (who is the disdain of the popular deaf) and the manual deaf. I think that Deaf culture has many great aspects to it, and certainly diversity among the group is also very good for the people, but the strong divisions that are created do not resonate very well with me, personally. How can you have a strong culture if people within it have such grave contempt for each other?

Brahmbhatt 3 Although there are many interesting notes and facts about Deaf culture written in this book, my favorite has to be the section on acoustics that Padden and Humphries put towards the end of the book. As a future physician, I find it remarkably interesting that deaf people can hear low-pitched, strongly vibratory sounds. Maybe, with further research, engineers and doctors can find ways to improve the lives of postlingually deaf people, people who have lost their hearing much later in life and have not learnt ASL. Also, it blew my mind when I found out that deaf people have rhythm! I always thought that deaf people lived in silence, without the entertainment of music and harmony, but that is not true at all! Deaf people have their own versions of performances that require much coordination and harmony in their signing, none of which would be possible without a strong sense of rhythm. However, the part I found most touching was when the authors described how sound is a very serious matter; deaf people cannot hear their flatulence or their belches, and many times, they do not know if the sounds they are making are rude or offensive, according to Padden and Humphries. This made me think of how deaf people are still human beings. Regardless of their lack of hearing or speech, they too are members of our society. As a future physician, I have learned through this book to not view the deaf as impaired but as valuable, highly capable individuals that are a part of an exquisitely unique and interesting culture that is not only very alive but also worth significant notice in our society today.