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Editor's InrroductUrn nteractions between Deaf and hearing people tend all too often to be marred by superficiality, misunderstanding, and prejudice. The statistical rarity of profound, childhood deafness (occurring in fewer than one in a thousand people) no doubt helps to perpetuate this problem. Unless family members are deaf or deafness is related to professional concerns, hearing people seldom feel motivated to learn sign language or to try to understand Deaf culture. Unfortunately , even the hearing parents and educators of deaf children-who have much at stake in deaf children's development-are often more interested in helping these children speak and behave as much as possible like hearing children than in learning to take full advantage of the children's propensity for sign language and thirst for visually accessible knowledge. In light of the above, it is understandable that many of the papers in this section express frustration and anger over the failure of hearing people to recognize and make appropriate use of Deaf people's strengths. Some express the view that Deaf people must find more effective ways to bring their needs and capabilities to the attention of a predominately hearing world. The Deaf Way Conference itself was one forum in which such an effort was undertaken; the publication of this volume is yet another. Ritva Bergmann (Denmark), a Deaf mother of Deaf children, recalls in the first of these papers being advised by hearing counselors always to speak when she signed, a practice that forced her to abandon the natural patterns of Danish Sign Language. Bergmann reports that she eventually rebelled against this mandate, much to the delight of her own children and her deaf daycare charges, who appreciated this expression of acceptance and celebration of being Deaf. The next three papers describe a range of problems experienced by Deaf people growing up or working with hearing people in France. At the time of The Deaf Way (and presently) oralism still prevailed in French deaf education programs, in spite of the existence of a few experimental bilingual education classes and programs. Rachid Mimoun describes how deaf children brought up in oral home and school environments tend to be deprived of the subtle and detailed flow of information everyone needs to adjust behavior to match social expectations and opportunities. Mimoun rejects the tendency to blame deaf children for failing to learn, saying that hearing parents and educators, refusing to learn and use sign language with deaf children, have "not adapted to the situation." Pascal Smith (France) describes his experience as the only Deaf teacher in a deaf education program. Although the children Smith taught (signing without voice) thrived in his presence, and although their parents appreciated his value to their children (and themselves), Smith felt threatened by the school's hearing (and oral) educators, who made little effort to communicate with him, who were reluctant to acknowledge the significance of his contribution, and who regarded his advice as impertinent. Daniel Abbou (France) then describes a similar teaching experience in which he became increasingly Editor's Introduction disillusioned with the "pipe dream" of integration, noting that hearing teachers generally avoided him, possibly out of fear of being shown to be unable to communicate effectively with a Deaf, nonspeaking adult. In her paper, Lourdes Pietrosemoli (Venezuela) analyzes some seldom-mentioned consequences of oral educational policies in which the integration of deaf people into hearing society is held up as the primary goal. Pietrosemoli shows through various Venezuelan examples that there are limits to the extent to which Deaf and hearing people can expect fully to understand each other if the hearing people are unfamiliar with Deaf culture and sign language as it is used by Deaf people. She implies that a realistic acceptance of these limitations might be wiser than clinging to illusory expectations. Leo Jacobs (United States) points out that in the United States Deaf people generally strive for a balance between full social lives within their "own society" and interactions with hearing people in which respect for Deaf people's separate language and culture is requested. Jacobs maintains that although hearing Americans' attitudes toward Deaf people have improved in recent years, it is still common for hearing people to approach Deaf Americans in an unconsciously patronizing manner. In the following paper, Robert Sanderson (United States) demonstrates the importance to Deaf individuals of having sufficient numbers of service providers (such as rehabilitation counselors) who are experienced in interacting with Deaf clients. Sanderson implies that service providers who are offering...

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