Deaf or deaf-mute?, and the silent community
Deaf or deaf-mute?, and the silent community
Many people think that deaf people are also deaf-mute, and that is not true. Maybe it is because the thought of not hearing meant that a person could not talk; many deaf people go to vocal therapy to be able to talk with exercises and with the help of auxilians, but not everyone does that. Others prefer to communicate with sign language simply because they didn’t have the chance to have vocal therapy.
People that hear do not realize of the existence of the silent community, how it really is, many people think that deaf people don’t notice of the things happening in their surroundings but it´s the opposite; they can even see how a person feels or may think just by looking at their body language and facial expressions.
In the deaf community they have special names in sign language for people who may have the same name to separate them from others , they also have a different way of applauding
Sign language
History.
The sign language is as old as humanity. According to theories of some scientists, the homo erectus was using sign to record dates, to hunt, etc.
There is no certain information of the origin of the sign language. Sign language started to be official after a fight between an oralist and a manualist, the latter recognizing deafness as a disease. The question was wether to consider sign language as a real language and if deaf people should be taught both spoken and sign language (this happened during the French revolution). Abbe l’Epee (one of the founders and “father of the sign language) fought for the sign language to be taught to the deaf as a neccesity. http://linguistics.byu.edu/classes/Ling450ch/reports/sign-language.html Protesters supported this cause because they said that it brings deaf people closer to God and to living a "normal" life, and slowly it spread to other deaf people, and this opened the doors to deaf people to express how they felt and to learn. In México it was brought by the French, and one of them invented the sign language for deaf Mexicans. Many deaf mexicans, unfortunately, don't learn to write correctly because they prefer to sign; there are schools that teach for the deaf but they are not as developed as in the U.S.A; but they learn how to communicate.
Facial expressions are everything.
As tone is important in the spoken language the facial expressions are as important .
Subtitles in movies
The subtitles are essential for deaf people, if it's descriptive, the better. One thing I noticed is that some people do not understand, even with subtitles because the words that are used are too hard for them. Maybe they should be simpler to understand.
Deaf humor
The deaf humor is diverse, it is based in facial and physical comedy and it can change according to the culture of the country, it can go from pure to dark, sarcastic or pervert or just to fool people with pranks.
Sign names.
People with the same name in the spoken language make themselves different by adding their surname or calling them by their nickname, but in sign language they use the initial (letter in sign language) and making a sign with a distinctive characteristic of the person.
Norms
Hearing people must respect deaf people's individuality and their attempts to communicate and try to not be close-minded; try to communicate, speak giving eye contact and be considerate to them, and if you want to talk to them and there are turning their backs tap gently their shoulders.
Traditions
Eye contact is a way of showing respect to them and a must when you are talking to them. A gentle shoulder tap is a must, as is eye contact, and more if they are not wearing any auxilians
Identity
To be in this community one must accept to be deaf or being a C.O.D.A, difficulty to hear is of course part of deaf identity.
Looking deaf
People often say to some deaf people that they do not look deaf, and that is because in the mainstream media deafs are shown as someone sick, old and isolated, so I should advise to not tell this to a deaf adult.
Deaf people are capable of everything a hearing person but in their own unique and intelligent ways.
Documentary on CODAs:
