Term
True or False:
ASL is a code similar to Braille or Morse Code. |
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Definition
Braille and Morse Code are both representations (codes) of English. ASL is not a code or represent English in any way– it is a completely different language.
Stokoe, 1960, was the first to publish research that ASL is a complete language, different than English |
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Term
True or False:
ASL is an abbreviated form of communication |
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Definition
| Even though ASL does not have all the “parts” (vocabulary, e.g. “a”, “the”, “to be verbs”) that English has, does not mean it is abbreviated. ASL has all the “parts” it needs to communicate anything in ASL that you could communicate in English. |
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Term
True or False:
ASL is a language capable of expressing any abstract idea |
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Definition
| True – anything you “say” in English, you can sign. It is not, however, a 1-to-1 correlation. You may need more (or less) signs to explain the concept. |
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Term
True or False:
ASL is a universal language |
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Definition
ASL is not universal – there are over 100 different signed languages. Signed languages developed in isolation just like spoken languages did – there is no reason that people should sign (talk) the same in Spain as they do here in the US.
There was a movement to have a “universal” signed language that everyone used called, “Gestuno”, as there was a movement to have a “universal” spoken language, “Esperanto” – neither caught on. |
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Term
True or False:
British Sign Language and American Sign Language are virtually identical |
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Definition
British Sign Language and ASL are not the same. Spoken English here in the US is related to English spoken in Great Britain because of the roots of our language. ASL has its roots in French Sign Language.
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet is one of the men credited with bringing French Sign Language to the U.S. upon which ASL is based. |
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Term
True or False:
ASL uses mostly mime, gestures, or picture-like signs for communication. |
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Definition
| This statement is false because of the word, “mostly” – ASL does use some mime, gestures, and picture-like signs, but most of the signs are “arbitrary” – have no connection to the meaning of the sign. |
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Term
True or False:
All Deaf people really wish they could hear |
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Definition
| Most Deaf people (born deaf, profoundly deaf) do not prefer to become “hearing”. Being “deaf” is part of whom they are – their identity. “D” in Deaf may be capitalized when talking about the culture and community of Deaf people – it is not capitalized when talking specifically about how much hearing one has – which is something you should not ask a Deaf person. |
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Term
True or False:
Deaf people are statistically worse drivers than hearing people |
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Definition
| Statistically, Deaf people are better drivers than hearing people. |
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Term
True or False:
It is O.K. for you to talk without signing in the presence of Deaf people |
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Definition
**This assumes you know some sign language – which you do. If you choose to talk without signing, and a Deaf person is present, you are giving the Deaf person the message that he/she is not valuable enough for you to trouble yourself enough to let him/her know what you are saying.
This person has had years of hearing people talking about him/her while s/he is present, possibly being laughed at….thereby, making someone Deaf more sensitive to this issue than you or I or a person speaking another language may be. The Deaf person is not necessarily interested in what you are saying and will not necessarily watch. Signing always while in the presence of a Deaf person is the most important item on this pre-test |
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Term
True or False:
You should look at the person’s hands while s/he is signing |
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Definition
You should look at the person's face, not his/her hands--you need to get information from the face - emotion, whether it is a negative, or a question, etc. --you want to make eye contact when you talk with someone
ASL makes is easy to look at the face:
--approximately 70% of the signs are on the face
--the signing space only goes from a little above your head to the bottom of your rib cage - so you can see the signs with your peripheral vision
--signs that are made lower are 2-handed - so you have "double information" since you are looking only with your peripheral vision. |
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Term
True or False:
Fingerspelling is mainly for names of people/places, brand names, tech. terms |
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Definition
| Fingerspelling use is limited to those items listed – plus there are some other words that are commonly fingerspelled – but, if you do not know how to sign something, fingerspelling is not your best strategy. |
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Term
True or False:
In general, the least effective means of communication between Deaf and hearing people is speech and lipreading |
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Definition
Many (not all) Deaf people reach only a 4th grade reading level. It is very difficult to learn a language you have never heard…why?
You are not hearing words phonetically – we learn to read by “sounding out” words – you can’t “sound out” a word if you can’t hear it – so how can you learn the word? Memorize the letters? Even if you, as a hearing person, just memorized the letters of words and did not sound them out (for example, suppose the English word: gtlmop…is a different concept than “gmmtoz”, is a different concept from “gnpwxy” – how long would you remember these words, even if you did memorize them) – and think of how many English words there are to memorize – for the single concept, “get” – you could use the word, “get”, or “receive”, or “procure”, “obtain”, or “acquire”, “attain”, etc. How could you possibly learn all of the words if you’ve never heard them?
Having the Deaf person lip read or speak is usually the least effective way to communicate with someone who is Deaf – first, it puts all of the responsibility for communicating on the Deaf person, i.e. – you learn my language; I’m not learning yours – second, most Deaf people do not have understandable voices – no matter how hard they work – and most Deaf people cannot lipread well – only 30 – 40% of the sounds are even seen on the lips.
Most Deaf and hearing communicate through writing – which is 1) cumbersome, 2) may be hard for a Deaf person to understand.
The best way for a Deaf and hearing person to communicate is through sign language….isn’t is nice when hearing people – like you - learn to sign!) |
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Term
True or False:
It is rude to watch a signed conversation without indicating that you can understand everything that is being said |
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Definition
Deaf people are assuming that they are having a private conversation. Traditionally, no hearing people knew sign – except for one group: hearing children with Deaf parents – CODA (child of Deaf adults) Because of growing up with Deaf parents, many CODAs have similar characteristics:
1) ASL may be their 1st language; English their 2nd
2) They may need speech therapy
3) They may work in the field of Deafness
4) They may feel they have 2 identities – hearing and Deaf
5) They may have had to take on adult responsibilities early in life |
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Term
True or False:
90% of Deaf children have Deaf parents |
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Definition
90% of Deaf children have hearing parents because:
a) There are environmental causes of deafness - accident, illness, something happens inutero (maternal illness), medications that are ototoxic,
From 1963 - 65 there was a Rubella epidemic in the U.S. Mothers who contract this disease in the first three months of pregnancy may have a Deaf child. The epidemic tripled the number of Deaf people in the U.S.
(b) A hearing couple can have a Deaf child through heredity because Deafness can be recessive - both hearing parents may carry the same recessive gene for the trait, “deaf” and, if they both pass down this gene, they could have a “Deaf” child even though they are both hearing.
50% of Deafness is thought to be caused by genetics. Mutations in any of about 400 genes can cause a person to be deaf. Approximately 20% of the genes that cause Deafness are dominant(need only 1 gene from one parent to be Deaf). Approximately 80% of the genes are recessive (need the same gene from both parents).
The gene named, Connexin 26, was discovered in 1997. Changes in this gene are the most common cause of hereditary Deafness. It is thought that 30 - 40% of those genetically deaf have changes in this gene. It is recessive. You can test for it and see if this is the cause of Deafness. |
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Term
| _________ defined ASL as a language in _____. |
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Definition
| Dr. Stoke identified ASL as a language in 1960. |
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Term
| How did we get ASL from France? |
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Definition
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (minister)
Alice Cogswell (deaf child)
Laurent Clerc |
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Term
| First Deaf School in America |
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Definition
American Asylum for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb (1817)
Now American School for the Deaf |
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Term
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Definition
| First hearing teacher of Deaf in the US |
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Term
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Definition
First Deaf teacher of Deaf in US.
(Spread "manual method" of teaching through US) |
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Term
| 5 Things to do if you don't know sign |
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Definition
1) Draw shape in air
2) Use other signs you do know
3) List examples
4) Mime/gesture
5) Point or show
Most common way is by writing, but it's too slow, and Deaf may h ave trouble with English due to lack of background knowledge |
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Term
| What is the reason most deaf people can't hear? |
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Definition
| The vast majority of profoundly Deaf people are deaf because of damage to their hair cells (nerve cells) in the cochlea (inner ear) - not because of damage to the auditory nerve. |
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Term
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Definition
In Akron, Ohio, during WWI, (1913 – 1918)
As the hearing men went off to war, Deaf men came to work in the rubber factories. When they arrived, they found a welcoming environment leading to other Deaf men coming there to work. During this time, Akron was called the, “Crossroads of the Deaf” – Because of the availability of work, and the welcoming environment, it is thought, at that time, there were more Deaf people here in Akron, than in any other city in the U.S. |
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Term
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Definition
a strict oralist. He did not want Deaf children to learn to sign. He felt that they should rely only on lipreading and speaking. He felt that if Deaf children signed, they would never be able to speak or lipread. He wanted the Deaf to be integrated with the hearing.
Bell also believed in Eugenics - “the study of methods of improving genetic qualities by selective breeding (especially as applied to human mating)” Bell wanted to keep Deaf people away from other Deaf people He advocated passing a law that made it illegal for a Deaf person to marry another Deaf person. He thought that if Deaf people were not allowed to marry, we could wipe out deafness - which was not a desirable trait to have. |
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Term
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Definition
Before 1815, it is known that signs did exist in the United States. These signs may have been brought from Europe as Deaf individuals immigrated to this country; or, they may have been developed here in the U.S. There was, however, no organized “American Sign Language”, only rudimentary signs, nor were there any schools for the Deaf here in the U.S.
In the early 1800's a deaf daughter, Alice, was born to Dr. Mason Cogswell. Dr. Cogswell wanted his daughter educated. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was working to educate Alice and having some success. Dr. Cogswell asked Gallaudet if he would be willing to go to Europe to learn how they educated the deaf, as there were schools for the deaf in Europe. Gallaudet agreed. Gallaudet planned to first go to England, learn their methods, then proceed to France.
Gallaudet arrived in England. The English used the oral method for teaching the deaf. In the oral method, no sign language is used. Students must rely on speech and lipreading only to communicate. Unfortunately, the English refused to share their methods (perhaps because they did not want Gallaudet to go to France and contaminate their pure oral methods with sign language). However, while in England, 3 French teachers of the deaf came to England to give a demonstration of the French method for teaching the deaf. One French teacher of the deaf was Abbe Sicard; another was Laurent Clerc - who himself was Deaf. Sicard used French Sign Language to teach the deaf. Gallaudet was so impressed that asked Sicard if he could go back to France with them to learn the French method for teaching the Deaf and French Sign Language. Sicard agreed. Gallaudet accompanied them back to France.
Gallaudet then asked Clerc if he would come back to the U.S. with him. Clerc agreed. In 1817, in Hartford Conn., Gallaudet and Clerc started the first school for the Deaf in the U.S., the American Asylum for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb. The school is still in existence today, although it is renamed, the American School for the Deaf. Gallaudet and Clerc brought French Sign Language to use to teach the Deaf. However, the French Sign Language* mixed with the rudimentary signs that were already in the U.S. at that time creating what might be called “old ASL”. In addition to the initial mixing of ASL and FSL, both languages have changed over time. At present there is about a 60% correlation between ASL and FSL.
Gallaudet was the first hearing teacher of the deaf in the U.S. Clerc was the first deaf teacher of the deaf in the U.S. Deaf students from all over came to learn at the first school for the Deaf. Many of these students, upon graduating, moved to other parts of the U.S., setting up their own schools for the deaf. In this way, this new American Sign Language was spread throughout the U.S.
(*Abbe de l'Epee is credited for developing French Sign Language. He is called the Father of French Sign Language) |
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Term
| Most common cause of hereditary deafness |
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Definition
Connexin 26
Discovered in 1997.
Changes in this gene are the most common cause of hereditary Deafness. It is thought that 30 - 40% of those genetically deaf have changes in this gene. It is recessive. You can test for it and see if this is the cause of Deafness. |
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Term
| When was the Rubella epidemic? |
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Definition
| From 1963 - 65 there was a Rubella epidemic in the U.S. Mothers who contract this disease in the first three months of pregnancy may have a Deaf child. The epidemic tripled the number of Deaf people in the U.S. |
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