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Created page with "{{Infobox book | name = Deaf in America: Voices from a Culture | image =alt=Cover | image_caption = | author = Ca..."

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{{Infobox book
| name = Deaf in America: Voices from a Culture
| image =[[File:deafinamerica.jpeg|200px|alt=Cover]]
| image_caption =
| author = Carol Padden and Tom Humphries
| translator =
| country = United States
| language = English
| series =
| publisher = President and Fellows of Harvard College
| pub_date = 1988
| pages = 129
| isbn = 0-674-19424-1
| oclc = 56596773
| congress =
}}

For most hearing Americans, Deaf culture is an exclusive concept without much history or true community behind it, but Deaf in America: Voices from a Culture uses oral histories, plays, and explorations of the authors to describe various aspects of Deaf culture. Often times, information on Deaf culture is based only in history. The history surrounds around the creation of American Sign Language and Gallaudet, but this book focuses on current culture, mainly in America, while using other countries to contrast cultures. Published in 1988, Deaf in America is dated, but uses information that still pertains to American Deaf culture today.

Each chapter of Deaf in America focuses on a different important factors of Deaf culture. Chapter one is titled “Learning to be Deaf.” “Learning to be Deaf” emphasizes what it means to be deaf, in terms of medical deafness and towards the end of the chapter what it means to be culturally Deaf, as in the first time that people “learn” that they are deaf. The authors focus on three different types of people in the Deaf community to describe the learning process; Deaf children, who have Deaf parents, Deaf children who have hearing parents, and hearing children who have Deaf parents (CODAs). The distinctions are made by stories told of the first time people realized their hearing situation.

The next chapter, “Images of Being,” uses histories from not only America, but also France. The authors describe their experiences in France where every Deaf person they met told them the story of Abbe de l’Epee, the man credited for teaching language to deaf people of France. While it is not a historical fact, that he created language he did help to create a community for deaf people in France. The story is a reminder of [http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-layout/clerc-laurent2.htm] Laurent Clerc who came from France to help [http://www.gallaudet.edu/dpn-home/thomas-hopkins-gallaudet.html] Thomas Gallaudet create the first Deaf school in America. Gallaudet is given the title of the American to create Sign Language. “Images of Being” also tells the story of the importance of Deaf community as a whole. This section uses many folklores throughout to give various examples of how these stories influence thought and protest within the Deaf community. An example of this is on page 31, by J. J. Flournoy, who writes that “We are not beasts, for all out deafness! We are MEN! The era of De l’Epee has been the epocha of our birth mind.”

Chapter three expands on the concept of different ways of being deaf, titled “A Different Center,” this section focuses on the identities within Deaf culture and what they mean to each person. It is a dense chapter that looks at many aspects of Deaf identity and how they influence a d/Deaf person ([http://deafness.about.com/cs/culturefeatures1/a/bigdorsmalld.htm] for more information on Big D deaf versus little d deaf). An example of this that would confuse an onlooker would be the concept to “VERY-HARD-OF-HEARING” and “A-LITTLE-HARD-OF-HEARING” (capitalization is used to describe ASL and not English). These phrases mean the opposite of what a hearing person would assume. “A-LITTLE-HARD-OF-HEARING” means that person could only hear a little and not well enough to use a phone, usually this person would use ASL and likely a hearing aid in their everyday life, while a person who is “VERY-HARD-OF-HEARING” likely fit in more with hearing culture. The base of Deaf culture identity was based on how a person fit into hearing culture, although the authors had been leading to this concept throughout the earlier chapters. Another identifier that is often used against the Deaf community is “disabled.” The authors use a story of a friend who does not like that he uses the disabled discount on the subway, but does anyways because it is a discount. The authors then take on the nine categories of Deaf people used to by Leo Jacobs in 1974. These categories are the average deaf adult, prelingually deaf adults who come from deaf families, educated deaf adults, products of oral programs, products of public schools, deafened adults and hard-of-hearing adults (p. 47). This chapter is broken into two sections, the second section focuses on the concepts of hard-of-hearing and the sign for “ORAL.”

Chapter four, titled “Living in Others’ World,” focuses on the change of sign language in America. Examples are used from plays and a documentary to show how older Deaf people see the “new” ASL and how speech therapy and the teaching and emphasizes on English in Deaf schools and Hearing schools has changed the way that sign language is used. Although since the writing of this book there has been a new emphasizes on ASL not being incorporated with English and finger spelling. An example of this new change is the changing sign for “PIZZA.” Once “PIZZA” was signed by making the letter “P” and making a “Z” in the air. Now the sign used is to finger spell “P-I” then with the forefinger and middle finger making a “Z” and signing “A.” ([http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/p/pizza.htm] More information on the sign for "PIZZA" is located at lifeprint).

Chapter five is titled “A Changing Consciousness.” It tells stories of how Deaf culture has changed and taken ownership of their language. The book uses plays and poems to show the beauty of sign language and how different signs are similar. This chapter is lighter and filled with what people consider the poetry of ASL including the long lasting legacy of the “one, two, one-two-three” cheer, which is still used at Gallaudet University.

Chapter six is titled “The Meaning of Sound.” This chapter brings to life how sound is used in the Deaf culture. This chapter retells some of the stories from earlier in the book, when describing how people learned their hearing status. “The Meaning of Sound” draws on the fact that most hearing people believe that Deaf people live in a world without any form of sound. The authors use the concept that most hearing cultures of different concepts of what sounds are, such as a dog barking. While this is a true misconception in the hearing community in regards to the Deaf community it seems to be overly emphasized and detailed in this chapter.

The final chapter is titled “Historically Created Lives.” Here the authors reemphasize that their goal of the book is to focus on the way Deaf people live and create culture not on the deafness. This chapter uses examples to emphasize the importance of Deaf history. The authors tell stories of people learning language for the first time. The authors focus on how important it is for Deaf children to learn Deaf history, Deaf culture, ASL and be part of the Deaf community. Finishing this book in this way, deters from the book’s focus on Deaf culture. While describing the stories of those who first learn of Deaf culture is part of the culture, the last chapter becomes preachy and without as much facts and evidence to use those facts. The dated publication is problematic in that it does not include in this chapter of history, [https://www.gallaudet.edu/dpn-home.html]DPN or Deaf President NOW, the protest that was lead at Gallaudet University in the 90’s.

Deaf in America, while influential and vital to part of Deaf American history is outdated and needs to be updated. The book is a good source for more secondary sources, but if used itself must be taken with a grain of salt at the date of publication. The authors use many primary sources to describe current (1980) and past culture and experiences common to Deaf life in America. Deaf in America describes important factors of Deaf American life, including some concepts that for the hearing community would be new and interesting.

Deaf in America - Revision history

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