ASL: To Sing or Not the Sign? Who Decides?
When a child is born Deaf or with any level of deafness often the Doctor or Audiologist will inform the parents along with apologizing and offering solutions to "fix" their child. Well... hold on, there is absolutely nothing that needs to be fixed here the child is Deaf or has a degree of deafness, they are not broken at all. There are many solutions and opportunities to assist in the language development of the child. Often visual language is not something that they inform the parents about as an option, or if they do, it's said with a negative connotation or possibly not brought up until the parent inquires. There are many options for Deaf infants that lead to language developments. Some include:
I was able to interview a friend who's child was born Hard of Hearing in her left ear. I asked her about her experiences and was shocked to find out that she was informed of her daughters diagnosis by a nurse, not a doctor or an audiologist. I further discovered shocking news to the Doctors reaction of being questioned on the use of ASL. Doris explained to me:
"They (the doctor) said that it would be ideal for me to think about options such as CI (Coclhear Implants) and speech therapy. My daughter was 3 days (old)! So I asked how about ASL, and they said 'oh that is not recommended''' - Luna, D (2015)
The kicker here is that while these children are born Deaf or Hard of Hearing and being stripped of their native language and culture; there are hearing parents who are teaching their hearing children ASL and being applauded for it. Doctors suggesting medical "solutions" display audism. So why then is it okay for non Deaf people to learn sign language, to use the language and suddenly they're this kind, worldly person for it? When parents of children who are born Deaf are encouraged to put their child through surgeries or speech therapies this is an example of audism because is disempowers the Deaf child, the child should have a choice, so this is unacceptable behaviour from the majority population. Not to say that non Deaf parents should not teach their non Deaf children sign language, but I would encourage them to also include cultural knowledge and encourage their children to support and be an ally to the the language.
- ASL or other Visual Languages
- Speech therapy
- Cochlear Implants
- Amplification ( hearing aids)
I was able to interview a friend who's child was born Hard of Hearing in her left ear. I asked her about her experiences and was shocked to find out that she was informed of her daughters diagnosis by a nurse, not a doctor or an audiologist. I further discovered shocking news to the Doctors reaction of being questioned on the use of ASL. Doris explained to me:
"They (the doctor) said that it would be ideal for me to think about options such as CI (Coclhear Implants) and speech therapy. My daughter was 3 days (old)! So I asked how about ASL, and they said 'oh that is not recommended''' - Luna, D (2015)
The kicker here is that while these children are born Deaf or Hard of Hearing and being stripped of their native language and culture; there are hearing parents who are teaching their hearing children ASL and being applauded for it. Doctors suggesting medical "solutions" display audism. So why then is it okay for non Deaf people to learn sign language, to use the language and suddenly they're this kind, worldly person for it? When parents of children who are born Deaf are encouraged to put their child through surgeries or speech therapies this is an example of audism because is disempowers the Deaf child, the child should have a choice, so this is unacceptable behaviour from the majority population. Not to say that non Deaf parents should not teach their non Deaf children sign language, but I would encourage them to also include cultural knowledge and encourage their children to support and be an ally to the the language.