Hello everyone, I have a couple comments on the “blame game” and I don’t mean to get down on anyone personally, but I do want to address those who posted to my comment in Rachel's blog. This was my comment:
Hi Rachel,The one comment you put in bold from the woman who couldn’t find a level three ASL class could have been written by me. I could add so much more. Bottom line– It is practically impossible to learn ASL adequately without Deaf support. If the Deaf want to promote ASL to the public, the late-deafened, and Hearing parents of Deaf children, then THEY need to support us in our efforts to learn — which they aren’t right now.Comment by kim — April 2, 2008 @ 12:46 pm
kim, are you shifting the blame for your lack of ASL skills? Please don’t accuse the “deaf community” for this fact and rather, ask where you can find more current information. . .
Comment #2
Kim,
I sympathize with you - it can be hard to find ASL classes, but its not really the “deaf community”’s fault - there just not that many qualified teachers to go around and not all universities offer ASL. I don’t see how the university’s choice to not offer a lot of ASL classes are the “deaf community’s” fault
like others have mentioned, there are different ways. If you have the money, you could hire someone to come teach you. . . .
Again, I am not assigning “blame” just stating a need for Deaf support.
I agree with post number two to a certain extent. Paying someone to help others learn individually is a great idea! I had already thought of this. My dream is to have a Deaf person work with me and my family one-on-one. I have checked into the possibility in my community and was shocked to learn this type of support wasn’t professionally available to families in crisis.
What I wish for is an organization run by Deaf people specifically for the purpose of helping the late-deafened and parents of Deaf children to learn ASL in a one-on-one environment, rather than through a university setting or having to rely on tapes—which I feel is a woefully inadequate way to learn ASL. The one-on-one instructors would be certified and paid, so there would be no awkward feelings or confusion about a Deaf person feeling “used” by hearing people. Also hearing people in crisis would not have to intrude on Deaf social times to use that time to practice. Please see my blog--Disappointing Deaf Chat, and note the negative comments made by Deaf people about ASL students showing up and wanting to practice with them. I understand how they feel, yet ASL students DO need the practice. This is why I think there should be a more professional way of teaching people in crisis.
Families could then have their needs met personally by being able to ask specific questions that might seem inappropriate in a classroom setting. For example, love-making. Many late-deafened women miss the aural aspect of making love when they become deaf-- the way a husband used to whisper in her ear or the flirty innuendos in the kitchen. Sexual signs are not covered in most textbooks. That is just ONE example, but let me tell you that families who are living with hearing loss have a greater need than what is provided at the university level. We have more immediate concerns and questions that just don’t come up in college courses.
Again, this isn’t about assigning blame. It’s about fulfilling a need that Hearing people will never address because Deaf culture isn't a priority to them. Fixing d/Deafness and helping d/Deaf people assimilate to Hearing culture is their priority. This is why Deaf people need to support us in our quest to learn ASL.
Later in the week, I will discuss several other reasons WHY universities aren’t the best places for families of Deaf children and the late-deafened to learn ASL.
12 comments:
In New Zealand, we have something called Community Education. These are night classes held at local high schools and they offer all sorts of things, from digital photography, to belly dancing, to art, and some trades, and also for those wanting to go back to school or enter university. Some of them offer New Zealand Sign Language, and if I were looking to learn, then this is where I would go first.
The government funds a lot of this, but the courses are affordable for most people with fees of around $40 or $50 for a six week or eight week course.
As far as I'm aware they are offered in most places around NZ, particularly in towns and cities. I'm not sure about rurul areas.
Cheers
Robyn
Hi Robyn,
I've been taking classes at a community college. One class costs $400.00. Learning ASL is like learning any other language. You really need more than six weeks to master it-- BUT you can get a great overview of ASL by taking a class like that. :-) The Hearing, Speech and Deafness Cntr here offers three ten week courses taught by Deaf people. I learned a lot there before moving on to the college courses.
I agree that in some places there is a need for more ASL classes or tutors, however, in other places, it is exactly the opposite. I know of a class that is offered at a public school for parents, teachers, bus drivers, and community members. This school has a deaf program with about 20 deaf children, and the class was set up mainly for the parents of these children to learn ASL. However, each week, only 2 or 3 people show up. What can be done about this?
The college where I teach, where I can take one course a semester, has ASL classes, taught by Deaf faculty.
But they are geared towards hearing people who will become interpreters.
The community classes I took at Chicago Hearing Society were also geared towards hearing people.
Also, the college courses, at every level, REQUIRE each student to go out on their own, twice a semester, to a Deaf event. So in Chicago at least, Deaf teachers are sending those ASL students to Deaf events.
Hi Anonymous-- When dealing with such a small population (parents of Deaf children), perhaps it's hard to find a time suitable to all the parents.
This is why I feel INDIVIDUAL ASL training is better. A professional could work with the parents at a time more convenient to the parents. The sessions would be by appointment and offered in an environment where it would be OK to bring the entire family. After all, it IS the entire family who needs to learn ASL when they have a Deaf child. It's not just the parents. Other children might be involved and they need to learn too!
In my area there's a parent/toddler preschool program for parents of Deaf children. This gets them involved with their kids so they don't have to find a babysitter for a class. I can imagine how hard it must be to leave a Deaf baby with a babysitter.
Still, I think individualized sessions would be better.
MJC-- I have found exactly the same thing. Teaching ASL to future interpreters is different from teaching to the late-deaf. I've been lucky with my current teacher, because she's deaf and understands my issues. However if I go any further I'll be in class with serious interpreting students because I'm at a higher level now, and the college I go to doesn't offer anything beyond this level. Still I'm far from fluent.
This ties into one of the aspects of ASL for CI kiddos. What works best for parents is an early intervention program that can provide sign classes and aural support. One of the reasons we went with a TC/SEE program is because they provided FREE signing classes along with in-home visitations. Once our daughter got into the school setting, the parents were given discounted prices for the signing classes. If the Deaf community wants parents to teach their CI kids ASL, they will have to provide the same level of support.
The Deaf school and the county's Deaf community offers free ASL classes to the families of deaf children. We have hundreds of deaf children in our area but only a handful of those families show up to the classes. How is that the Deaf community's responsibility? Hearing parents are just as fault for the lack of support because most of them are not willing to learn ASL for their children. It is those special view that will do anything to meet their children's deaf needs instead of their own hearing needs.
Shelly--
Again, I'm not blaming anyone. I'm citing a need. Are the parents really NOT interested? Did anyone ask the parents? If you think about it, most families these days have two incomes which means both parents work. Many may have other children in the home besides the Deaf child too. If the classes are only offered on a Tuesday night at 6:30, for example, that's a horrible time for most families of young children. It means they have to find a babysitter after having their kids in Daycare all day.
When a Deaf agency offers in-home support with a Deaf professional, scheduled at the parent's convenience then they wouldn't have to worry about a babysitter. If classes are geared toward families instead of adults, again the parents wouldn't have to concern themselves with a babysitter or feel like they're neglecting their kids by taking classes at night after working all day.
Actually Seattle does offer something like this. Plus
ASL support for parents of implanted children as well.
I wish I could have the in-home visitations as a late-deafened person, but I don't qualify since I'm an adult.
I'm going to write about why colleges and universities aren't the best places for late-deafened and parents of
Deaf children to learn ASL later in the week when I have more time.
People shouldn't assume low attendance means lack of interest. :-)
How is that not lack of interest when parents say things like these, "I am too tired from working all day," "It is too hard for me,", or "I dont need to learn ASL..I want my child to learn to speak"?
I thought, we parents, were supposed to make the sacrifices for our children. What I am seeing is that their children are the ones who have to make the sacrifices when they are left out at the dinner table, when they cant share their feelings with their parents, when they are constantly being misunderstood, and the biggest of all, be in a language-depriving environment at home.
I am sorry but I think if the child's needs are at sake, I would do anything in my power to get his/her needs met. Maybe, it is cuz I am a former oral deaf person who grew up in extremely restrictive environments both at home and at school.
I love when things get spun out of context. I understand that in order to learn a language you need to be submersed in it. None of us learned English without being around it. It is expensive to learn ASL through a college because you are paying for the college not the teacher. It would be nice to see people put together ASL classes outside of college that are not geared towards becoming interpretors. All I can seem to find is baby talk asl classes in my area.
Hi Abbie-- You're so right. I feel no one's really listening except those who agreed with me in the first place. I'm so tired of all this. Or maybe I'm just a weirdo. A lot of late-deafened people really aren't even interested in ASL. They think it's supposed to "replace" hearing, as if learning ASL somehow makes you more deaf. A person can get a CI AND learn ASL, but the way some people act you'd think it was impossible to do both. It's not an either/or proposition. There are stubborn people on both sides and I'm just so tired of being lost in the middle somewhere.
It was nice that you weighed in. I'm taking a little break
:-).
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