Deaf culture as an authentic culture

Every community has an undercurrent of feeling that is unique. So does the Deaf community.

What I mean by an undercurrent of feeling is not psychological but rather philosophical; it is about "personality" that is reflected in our thoughts, behavior, communication, and even physical bearing (non-manual expressions). Every person shares in it to some degree in how they develop their own individual feeling within the community.

The undercurrent of feeling in the Deaf community can sometimes be decidedly confusing, uncertain, straining. When we are in fear, for example, our sense of pride and our sense of confidence diminishes, unnecessarily so. Although we grow and progress in a world that professes human rights and equal dignity, there is a prevailing hostility toward American Sign Language (ASL), for example, which oppresses us and we forget to "keep our eye on the ball" as regards morals, aims, values, beliefs, and motives.

"The Deaf community" and "ASL" are not identical concepts. Our culture is the symbolic expression of developed habitual ways of feeling, but "feeling" does not mean pleasure and displeasure, which would be psychological. Our imagination, our confidence in ASL, or even boredom must not be reduced by a philosophical paradox that tricks us into believing that another mode of communication is far better or more acceptable than using ASL.

Since culture is the expression of this characteristic pattern of feeling, it is very easy to set Deaf people off from using ASL, especially Deaf children in education. The seeds of the Deaf community are in ASL, but it takes the users of ASL to bring the community to fruition.

Although the linguistic study of ASL is less than half a century old, we, the Deaf, have used it for many, many years. Historically, ASL had its first language clash in 1816 when Laurent Clerc introduced French systems of signing, especially manual alphabet and initialized signs (uncle, aunt, weekdays except Sunday, etc.), to an existing sign language used on Martha's Vineyard Island. Over 60% of MVI Deaf people enrolled in the first American Deaf School in Hartford, Connecticut. This language clash was no joke; it was so painful that ASL remains suppressed today.

ASL and our culture are still vulnerable to the vast ignorance that world society often displays when oppression festers. We need to maintain vigilance in making sure that society does not usurp that which should be naturally accepted as fact. If we allow others to push through the concept of ASL being reduced to a menu of "choices" along with communication modes which are not languages themselves, then this would be a continuation of the oppression and would be an example of us allowing society at large to define us and our language.