Saturday, August 15, 2009

ASL misconceptions...

Randy Garder
Palindrome
3 plate intaglio (hard ground, soft ground, aquatint)
2000



ASL (American Sign Language) has served in building a cultural group within society and amongst the larger hearing impaired community. Since ASL plays such a large role in the development and culture of the Deaf community, in order to better understand the needs of Deaf people, I will discuss some misconceptions about the language.


ASL is not a Universal Signed Language
Another misconception that exists is that American Sign Language is a universal signed language. Deaf people in other countries around the world have developed their own signed languages, and American Sign Language is only spoken in the United States and Canada.

Not only are there different signed languages in different countries, there are also many variations within signed languages such as American Sign Language. Some of these variations include Pidgen Signed English, Signed English, etc (Brueggemann, 1995). Furthermore, Brueggemann (1995) mentions that ASL varies in ways that English varies by region. For example, local Deaf communities within states have created signs for cities and street names that may not exist in other states around the U.S.

Although ASL is different from signed languages in other countries, it does have some background in LSF, which is the signed language of France. This is true because Thomas Gallaudet, founder of the first deaf school in the United States in 1817, brought a French deaf teacher named Laurent Clerc to help with the education of the deaf in the U.S. (Fleischer & Zames, 2001). Nevertheless, over time, both ASL and LSF have evolved into separate languages that share only a few similar signs (Humphries, et al., 1994).


ASL is not English

There is a misconception that exists about American Sign Language and its derivation from the English language. Although these two languages share some similarities, ASL is a visual and manual language that is overall quite different from the grammar and syntax of the spoken English language. Within ASL and other signed languages, facial expressions and body language are quite important and must also be observed while conversing manually because facial expressions serve grammatical purposes, hence the strong visual aspect of ASL. Unlike the hearing community, conversations cannot take place without eye contact in the Deaf community. As a result of experiencing constant visual stimulation through the use of American Sign Language, scientific research shows that adults who were born deaf have stronger peripheral vision skills than hearing adults (Bower, 2000). Also, people who are Deaf watch the entire upper body, face, and hands during a signed conversation, which also leads to enhanced peripheral vision skills.

Importance of ASL in Museums
Since ASL is so different from English, art museums must not assume that typed brochures and exhibition guides provide Deaf people with equal access to information as those who speak, hear, read and write in English. Because people who are Deaf can see, they should not simply be provided with the means to read materials, just as members of the general public are not merely provided with such written resources in many art museums with public programming. Derycke (1994) agrees and says, “Having a catalogue or display card as the sole introduction to a painting or sculpture is woefully inadequate for a deaf person…who must struggle to understand a language that…is not their natural form of expression” (p. 48). Charrow and Wilbur (1975) view Deaf individuals as linguistic minorities who are just like members of ethnic groups who learned English as a second language, and do not learn English as well as the native speakers. With that said, American Sign Language is quite different from English and should be more widely recognized by art museums in the United States.

References
Bower, B. (2000). The brain spreads its sights in the deaf. Science News, 158(13), 198.

Brueggmann, B. (1995). The coming out of Deaf culture and American sign language: An exploration into visual rhetoric and literacy. Rhetoric Review, 13(2), 409-420.

Charrow, V.R., Wilbur, R. B. (1975). The Deaf child as a linguistic minority. Theory into Practice, 14(5), Language use and Acquisition, 353-359.

Derycke, B. (1994). Deaf guides in French museums. Museum International, 46(4), 48-50.

Fleischer, D.Z., Zames, F. (2001). The disability rights movement: From charity to confrontation. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Humphries, T., Padden, C., O’Rourke, T. (1994). A basic course in American sign language. (2nd ed.). Silver Spring: T.J. Publishers, Inc.




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