So You Want to be an Interpreter? Chapter Four Identity and Communication in the Deaf Community

The continuum  Of hearing loss  Of communication mode –ASL –Contact sign –Signed English –Oral –Cued Speech

Identity and Labeling  Self labeling is significant in all cultures and communities  Individuals decide how to label themselves  The label may not always make sense to those other than the individual making the label

The Hearing View  Deafness refers to a deficit in hearing  Hearing impaired means hearing is less than normal  Hearing people refer to hearing loss as: –Mild –Moderate –Severe –Profound

The Hearing View  ‘Hard of Hearing’ –Mild –Moderate  ‘Deaf’ –Severe –Profound

The Hearing View  Audiologists talk about dB loss –60 dB loss in the right ear or a 90 dB loss in the left ear

The Hearing View  This perspective can be summed up as ‘The Pathological Perspective’ Characterized by: defining hearing loss as a deficit believing intervention is needed no cultural perspective no linguistic minority

The Deaf View  Deaf labels are very different  Each Deaf person is a unique individual  Interpreters must understand why Deaf people choose to identify as Deaf, Hard of Hearing or Hearing Impaired

The Deaf View  Deaf people value developmental experiences like: –Having Deaf family members –Type of schooling –Age of onset of Deafness –Age of exposure to ASL acquisition  Attitudinal Deafness – the degree to which an individual subscribes to the norms and values of Deaf Culture

The Deaf View  person can identify as Deaf –Even with enough hearing to use the phone Likewise  person can identify as ‘Hearing Impaired’ –Even with a profound hearing loss

What the labels may mean  Self identified as Deaf –Presence of a hearing loss Mild to profound –Preference to socialize with Deaf community –Desire to adhere to Deaf cultural values and norms

What the labels may mean  Self identified as ‘Hard of Hearing’ –Presence of a hearing loss Mild to profound –Preference to identify with hearing cultural norms and values

Culturally Deaf Individuals  “View the term ‘Hearing Impaired’ as negative, stigmatizing, and fundamentally inaccurate. They proudly identify themselves as Deaf and prefer that alternate terms be dropped from conventional usage.”

Multilingual Nature of the Deaf Community  Variety of communication modes can be frustrating for interpreters  There is a language continuum –ASL is a naturally occurring visual-gestural language that adheres to specific linguistic rules.

ASL  Facial grammatical markers  Physical affect markers  Spatial linguistic information  Fingerspelling  Uniform signed lexicon

ASL  A distinct language  Has its own grammar  Has its own syntax  A complete and complex language  Accepted as the natural language of the Deaf community  Is an integral part of Deaf culture

ASL  Has historically been mislabeled as ‘poor English’ or ‘slang’ and has been devalued by the education system.

ASL  Used by members of the community for: –Social interaction –Communication of ideas –Sharing of emotions –Transmission of culture

All languages  Are made up of arbitrary symbols put together according to syntactic, phonological, semantic, and pragmatic rules.  ASL is no different

Sign Supported Speech or MCE  Rochester Method  SEE1  SEE2  Signed English  CASE

Rochester Method  Each word is fingerspelled with the exception of the word ‘and’ which is signed  Very precise manual representation of English  Tiring, cumbersome, slow

Seeing Essential English, SEE1  1966 experiment led by David Anthony to teach English to mentally retarded deaf adults  Adopted by others for the educational system  Separate sign or movement for each ‘word root’ –But-er-fly and car-pet

SEE1  Adheres to English grammatical structure  Invention of signs for prefixes and suffixes  Signs for conjugations of verbs  Signs for prepositions and conjunctions  Rationale – to offer Deaf children English in a natural, visual form

Signing Exact English, SEE2  Gustason, Zawalkow, and Pfetzing  Should be signed as it is spoken/written  ‘Cut it out’, ‘stop horsing around’  A sign should translate to one English word  Two-out-of-three rule –Sound –Meaning –Spelling

SEE2  Adheres to English grammatical structure  Invention of signs for prefixes and suffixes  Signs for conjugations of verbs  Signs for prepositions and conjunctions  Synonyms are created by adding initials to words –Create, produce (from make)

SEE2  No regard for conceptual accuracy –Consume = to eat –I am a consumer of interpreting services.  Run –Run the marathon –Run for mayor –Run in her nylons

Signed English  ASL is not used in 90% of homes of Deaf children  Can’t speak English and sign ASL simultaneously  ASL has no written form  People in the U.S. do not readily learn second languages

Signed English  Adheres to English grammatical structure  Invention of signs for prefixes and suffixes  Signs for conjugations of verbs  Signs for prepositions and conjunctions  3,000 entries in the Comprehensive Signed English Dictionary  1,300 invented by the authors

Conceptually Accurate Signed English (CASE)  Term primarily coined by interpreters  Signs selected based on meaning  Follows English word order  Accompanied by inaudible mouthing of English words  Incorporates features of ASL

Contact Varieties  When two language groups have sustained contact –Code switching –Code mixing –Lexical borrowing  PSE –Cokely ‘foreigner talk’

Others off the chart  Foreign Sign Languages  Home Signs and Gestures  Minimal Language Skills  Oral Communication Systems  Cued Speech  Deaf Blind Variations

Minimal Language Skills  No competency or skill in any language –Educationally deprived –Socially deprived –Developmental disability  Also called ‘low verbal’ –This term is obsolete –It is also derogatory and negative  Highly Visual

Minimal Language Skills  Can communicate with –Gestures –Mime –Drawings  The most effective solution is to include a CDI (Certified Deaf Interpreter)

Deaf Blind  Sign Language (close vision)  Tactile signs  Fingerspelling