Brian Propst

August 24, 1997

East Carolina University


T H E - S I L E N T - M I N D : Learning From Deafness

Intrigued by philosophers such as Plato and Leonardo da Vinci, sign language has been a distinct cultural group because of unique qualities, not to mention characteristics
that makes itself a language. Deafness started to become educated during the French Revolution in the late 1700’s, when a man by the name of Prieur de la Marne
proposed a bill to fund an educational institute for the deaf. Throughout the years, priests and philosophers developed methods of signing. And as signing matured, so did
people’s interests in it. Sign language began to be used in theaters and paintings. Also, deaf newspapers, sporting and social events, and deaf careers increased.

This is all fine and dandy, but what I am left here to think about is: Why there were so many people and cultures and organizations that spent their days degrading sign
language and the deaf? I guess it’s just the route that that so called life has to take.

For instance, in 1880, the Milan Congress prohibited sign language in deaf education in favor of the teaching the deaf to use their voice. The head of this assembly made up
of Italians and the French, Giulio Tarra said, "Gesture addresses the imagination and the senses. It [sign language] is an absolute necessity to prohibit that language
and replace it with living speech, the only instrument of human thought."

Why? That doesn’t make sense. We, deaf or not, should be able to use whatever type or form of language that we want to. Also, I think it was a waste of time when
legislators took further efforts to prevent deaf marriages. That’s like saying we can’t marry someone because of their color or race, which some people today still say is
wrong. Everyone’s too caught up in the rules. And the government is saying you have to be this, this, this.

The United States made a great mistake when in 1927, the Supreme Court upheld the Constitution by sterilizing over 36,000 people by the year of 1941. Maybe because it
was the fear of the deaf marrying and having children, maybe not. But the point is that these actions were similar to those of Nazi Germany. In 1933, Hitler passed a
Sterilization Act for those with disabilities such as deafness. And over there, 17,000 people were fixed and at least 1,600 were executed.

I know these attempts to get rid of deafness have ended, but there are debates going on still about if it is better to integrate deaf people into society through speech, or to
encourage a particular speaking culture through sign language. Who cares? I mean- it’s not who’s to say what’s right or wrong. So let who’s life it really matter to, the deaf,
to make their decision on what they themselves want to do. And us, to be the ones who sit back and declare, "So be it."

Source:

The Silent Mind. Learning From Deafness. By Nicholas Mirzeoff.