Since, for centuries, it has been the quest of the majority of hearing people to either exclude Deaf people from society or in some way alter them to make them "more like us," it only stands to reason that the majority of hearing people have never bothered to get to know any Deaf people. In fact, hearing people have the luxury of going through their entire lives without ever meeting or hearing about anyone who was Deaf whereas Deaf people cannot help but go through a very frustrating life surrounded by hearing people who do not know the first thing about them.
This section is dedicated to breaking the commonly held myths and misconceptions about deafness and hopefully to educate those hearing people who recognize their ignorance in the area of Deafness and seek to fill the void with accurate knowledge.
Information for this section was acquired from For Hearing People ONLY (2nd. Ed.) by Matthew S. Moore & Linda Levitan. Some things will be paraphrased, others will be directly quoted. Either way, I will strive to retain the meaning as it was intended by the authors, and I give all credit for this section to the authors. I also urge you to buy their book--it's really good!
MYTH #1: There is one sign language for all countries.
TRUTH: No more so than there is one spoken language for all countries! Every
different sign language reflects its own history, culture, and social mores.
Thus you will find completely different signs for universal concepts. Gestuno,
the "international sign language," does exist to some extent, but has caught on
just about as much as its spoken counterpart, Esperanto. However, it does come
in handy at international gatherings of Deaf people, where it would be impractical
to crowd the stage with dozens of interpreters and is used to convey simple
things to the audience: "Welcome." "No smoking, please."
MYTH #2: Closed-captioning makes television accessible to Deaf people.
TRUTH: Well, maybe. Captioning does, at least, make television MORE accessible
to Deaf people, but really the ones who get the most are the ones who have a
certain level of fluency in English. Currently in America, the reading level
of Deaf adult is anywhere from the third to fifth grade level, so not all Deaf
people have the fluency needed to get the most out of captions. In fact, many
Deaf people would prefer an interpreter (you know, the ones in the little bubbles
in the corners of the TV that aren't as common as they should be) because an
interpreter can convey audio (tone of voice, emphasis on certain words) in a
visual manner (facial expression, larger or slower signs)--something that
captioning just can't do. Also, and this is something I've witnessed firsthand,
often times the captioning is inaccurate because the captioner, the hearing
person, didn't understand the word and typed what they heard phonetically,
garbling the meaning and, no doubt, causing the Deaf viewer a great deal of
confusion. If you don't believe me, those of you with TVs with caption capability
(and if you have a TV newer than 1993, it has it whether you know it or not) go
out and rent the movie Clueless... not because it's a good movie, but for
the captions. There's a place where Alicia Silverstone's character, in reference
to her father, says "he wouldn't go TOO ballistic" (sarcastically), but the
caption reads "he wouldn't go tubeless."
MYTH #3: All deaf people can read lips. I don't need to sign.
TRUTH: That's as silly as saying "All hearing people can fix cars. Who needs
a mechanic?" The ability to read lips is not some magical talent. Lipreading,
or more accurately, speechreading, is as much of a skill as knitting or dancing.
While some people may have an innate skill or can pick it up faster, others may
constantly falter and never quite get it right. Also, only about 30% of all
spoken sounds are visible, and a great many of those that are visible look
alike to someone trying to make sense of it. Pop Quiz for hearing people: write
down the following words on a piece of paper: man, mad, mat, pan, pad, pat,
ban, bad, bat. Take that list to a friend of yours and ask them to mouth the
words to you (no cheating with whispers). See how many you get right. If you
don't have a friend to try this experiment with, just situate yourself in front
of a mirror and mouth the words to yourself. See what I mean?
MYTH #4: Deaf parents breed deaf children.
TRUTH: I don't need the book for this one, but if you happen to buy the book,
check out Chapter 29 on page 183. One of the things you learn when studying
Deafness or audiology is the 90% Rule. There are a series of statistics which
all hover around 90%. For example: 90% of children born to deaf parents are
hearing. 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents. 90% of Deaf people
will marry Deaf people (and 90% of the children they produce will be hearing).
It was once feared that Deaf people would "breed" deaf children, and for a long
time Deaf people were denied such human rights as property ownership, marriage,
and some Deaf children were sterilized to prevent them from reproducing. Now
I'm no math whiz, but it seems to me that if you really wanted to get rid of
Deaf people, you'd prevent hearing people from reproducing, but I doubt anyone
would be jumping to pass that kind of legislation.
MYTH #5: Deaf people are visually sharper than hearing people.
TRUTH: It's commonly thought that if you lose one sense, the others mystically
become stronger. There's nothing magical at play here, just common sense. If
one sense is lacking, you rely more on those that remain. Deaf people simply
rely more on visual cues, become more alert at taking in and processing visual
stimuli. But even so, this is a skill, not a natural talent. If all Deaf
people were visually gifted, they'd all be artists and terrific drivers, and
this isn't so.
MYTH #6: Deaf people are more accident-prone than hearing people.
TRUTH: This may be so in SOME instances, like if a deaf person is approached
from behind by a man with a gun who says "Don't move! Give me your wallet or
I'll shoot you!" who doesn't realize the person they're mugging can't hear the
demand. In the case of a fire, one that starts at night while the deaf person
is asleep, they may also be vulnerable if the fire alarms or smoke detectors
are not properly equipped with a strobing light. Some deaf people have hearing-ear
dogs that are specially trained to alert the deaf person to sounds they may not
hear. Some kinds of deafness also affect the vestibular system in the inner
ear which governs balance. People with vestibular problems can often cope
during the day, but have difficulty walking in the dark and need light. To say
that deaf people are more prone to accidents simply because they're deaf would
be naive. There are many factors involved.
More myths & misconceptions will be added as time goes by. Are you a hearing person with a question? Are you a Deaf person with a myth (and the truth) that hasn't been addressed? Write to me and I'll do my best to get your questions or additions posted up here.
