Learning To See: American Sign Language as a Second Language

3. American Deaf Culture

55 3 American Deaf Culture It is common for the general public to consider deaf people in this country as handicapped Americans with no further sense of identity as a people. This is far from correct. There exists a strong and tightknit group of people in the United States that identifies itself with Deaf culture (Wilcox 1989). As with any culture , its members share values, beliefs, attitudes, and, most importantly , a language different from that of outsiders to the culture. Of course, like Hispanics, Jews, Navajos, or any other cultural group in the United States, Deaf people do not consider themselves ‘‘foreigners.’’ The Navajo code-talkers, who became famous during World War II when they were used to communicate secret information in Navajo via radio, would surely resist any attempt to be called non-American. They would just as surely resent any characterization that did not recognize their Navajo cultural heritage. This is not to say that all deaf people in America are members of Deaf culture merely because they cannot hear. Entry into a culture is never merely a matter of being born Hispanic, Jewish, Navajo, Black, deaf, and so forth. Cultural values are shared; members must learn, accept, and share the values of the group before they can be said to be a part of that culture. The same is true for Deaf culture. 56 American Deaf Culture Although the term Deaf culture is used frequently, it is not meant to imply that Deaf people the world over share the same culture. Deaf Americans are members of American Deaf culture; British Deaf people are members of British Deaf culture. British Deaf people and American Deaf people use two different languages, share different experiences, and have different historical backgrounds . Still, there are some values that British and American Deaf people share merely because they are united by at least one common experience: They are Deaf people living in a society in which hearing people dominate. This singular bond of common experience is known to other cultural groups as well. German Jews and American Jews, for example, do not share the same culture. Yet, because of a common experience—their Jewish religion and heritage—Jewish people the world over do share some core of commonality. If being deaf (having a hearing loss) is not sufficient to qualify a person as a member of the Deaf culture, how does one gain entry into Deaf culture? To rephrase this question: Who are Deaf people? In order to understand this question and to find a cultural answer to it, let us first discuss what is meant by culture. Culture: Looking at the World from the Native’s Point of View Perhaps it is best to start by explaining what is not meant by culture. Culture is commonly thought to consist of things, the material objects that people possess and use. Although books, boats, clothes, and houses can tell us about the culture of a group of people, they are not the culture. Anthropologists call these objects artifacts. Culture is not a laundry list of traits and facts about a group of people. It is not the higher class status one achieves by attending opera performances, reading the Greek classics, going to an art museum, or learning aristocratic manners. Culture is not something that can be bought, sold, or handed out. Culture is also not the romantic heritage of a group of people as seen through their American Deaf Culture 57 music, dance, holidays, religion, and so forth, although culture may be reflected in them. Finally, culture should not be confused with biological traits such as race. The reason Jews, Blacks, Hispanics, or Navajos share a culture is not because they are born Jewish, Black, Hispanic, or Navajo. Consider the following hypothetical situation. Suppose a young Navajo boy is born to a Navajo couple. When the child is six months old, the mother and father are killed in an automobile accident. The child is adopted by a young Anglo family; the father is an accountant and the mother is a pediatrician. Before the child’s first birthday, the family moves to downtown Manhattan. The boy attends private schools in Manhattan and, when he graduates from high school, receives a scholarship from New York University. He attends that university for two years, majoring in computer engineering. We now ask: Is this young man Navajo? In one sense, he is— his...