Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 21, 1994 TAG: 9408120015
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NANCY GLEINER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
He spoke a language foreign to me. I could only raise my hands in the upturned position - a sign for ``I don't understand.''
I was the foreigner here, isolated because of a language barrier.
The speaker stood atop a large rock in the middle of an attentive crowd. She spoke with her entire body. The group focused on her hands as well as on her face.
They responded, not with applause, but with a show of hands, waving like wheat in the field.
Though I was not far from home, I was in a different culture - the deaf culture.
Deaf people say they are neither disabled nor handicapped; they are a linguistic minority speaking American Sign Language, the natural language of the deaf. The unique qualities of their language create a distinct cultural group.
Just as one cannot understand French without having been taught, one cannot understand ASL without learning it. Several states now recognize ASL as a foreign language, with educational institutions offering courses for credit. Virginia Western Community College has a sign language certificate program.
Initially, deaf schools had hoped to teach the deaf to speak, but the success of sign language education among the deaf themselves created an alternative, silent culture.
Linguists have demonstrated that ASL is a full-fledged language, with its own grammar and syntax. Anything that can be spoken can be said in ASL.
Because ASL is akin to a foreign language, some deaf have full understanding of the written English language; others do not.
When Northeastern University linguist Harlan Lane first saw people signing, he was stunned to realize that ``language could be expressed just as well by the hands and face as by the tongue and throat.''
More than 90 percent of all deaf children in this country today were either born deaf or lost their hearing before they had learned English. Learning to speak is difficult for them, because they are trying to imitate sounds they have never heard.
Many deaf say they need equal access to auditory and verbal information through interpreters, just as people in wheelchairs need equal physical access. This is especially true in medical situations, where accurate communication is critical.
For the hearing wishing to understand the deaf experience, eliminating sound with earplugs cannot block out a lifetime of having heard language.
For the deaf, ASL provides a means of communicating with the hearing, not a way of integrating with them.
That afternoon, I witnessed people full of the joy of just communicating, people who looked at each others' faces out of necessity and who seemed to gain so much more because of it.
It's amazing how much can be said without speaking a word.
by CNB