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So, first off, I love the Deaf community and have been a student of the Deaf World for about 25 years now. Now, I know that sounds like the beginning of racist rant that starts with something like “I don’t have a problem with black people, I even have black friends!” but please hear me out.

I understand and see how Deaf people are underrepresented and misrepresented in the English speaking hearing world.  (For the purposes of this discussion, I am talking about the United States.)

Deaf people (as a whole) are often viewed as being less intelligent and/or less capable than hearing people.  Their native language, American Sign Language (ASL), is viewed as something less than spoken English, even though it is a real, first-class natural language like English, Spanish, Arabic or Russian.

They have been marginalized for decades, and are actively suppressed from making their own decisions, in lieu of hearing people that just know better.   They have no say in their education.  They have no say in their language.  There are forces out there that are actively trying to suppress deaf access to a visual language like ASL, in favor of shoving English, speechreading, or make-believe languages like PSE (contact sign) down their throats.  Some even foist things like CIs upon hearing parents of deaf children, giving them the false expectation that their deaf child can now become a “normal” hearing child.  (It is a fancy hearing aid – it does not magically turn the deaf into the hearing.)

Thanks to the way No Child Left Behind was written, deaf children often find themselves shoved into a mainstream setting, forced to fend for themselves with a (often unqualified/inexperienced) ‘terp and expected to thrive instead of being placed in a deaf school where they can be instructed in a language that was literally created by and for them, and being exposed to other positive deaf ASL-speaking models.

As far as ASL goes, when I see schools that do not offer it, I ask why.  When I see colleges not accepting ASL for a foreign language requirement, I ask why.   As far as representation, I object whenever I see a hearing actor (poorly) representing a deaf person or any misrepresentation of the Deaf community.   As far as respect, if I see someone disrespecting or dismissing a deaf person in a public setting, after getting the deaf person’s permission to say something, I will tear the hearing asshole a brand new asshole.  And if the deaf person does not want me to say anything, that is fine too. 

As a hearing person that has gotten to know both little d and big D deaf people and remain friends with them, I  want ASL to become normalized and available.  In the US, deaf people are a de facto cultural minority that most other people in the US cannot easily communicate with.   

The deaf community has a rich history of storytelling, values, cultural mores, etc. that would make a wonderful addition to the general knowledge of the average American citizen. 

But that sharing of knowledge starts with communication, and that means it starts with ASL.  I believe ASL should be a standard offering in hearing schools and should be available to everyone, especially deaf people.  But here is where the “but” comes in…

Hearing people have often been picked over deaf people in many different employment settings, which is completely fucked up – if a deaf person can do the job, fucking let them!  One such setting is with the teaching of ASL and/or Deaf culture.  Should Deaf people be the ones teaching others about ASL and Deaf culture?  Yep, especially with deaf students – they can teach and approach the subject from a shared understanding and history.  They can teach what it means to “be deaf” and how to successfully navigate the world around them.  They can share stories and knowledge about deaf history and notable deaf people.  They know what it was like to be a deaf child learning ASL and making their way through the world.  That tacit experience and knowledge becomes invaluable when trying to relate to, and instruct other deaf children.  (If a deafie is reading this, do you remember how you felt when you first learned that nearby hearing people could tell if you farted, or happen to have diarrhea in the bathroom?  That is something that no hearing person will ever understand and feel the same way a deaf person does! 🙂 )

But I believe the same need exists for hearing students.  I believe there is a place for hearing allies, that are well experienced and skilled with ASL and with contact and knowledge of the community, in the supporting of the education of ASL and Deaf culture to hearing students.  Not as the primary educators, but as supporting ones.  A deaf instructor may not know what it is like to be a hearing person trying to learn a new language that has a completely different modality than they have been used to all their lives, and I speak from direct experience with this difficulty.  A hearing person that has been through it, learning ASL themselves, and experiencing both the deaf, and the Deaf community from the perspective of a hearing person, could be a valuable resource to tap when necessary. 

This would also serve as a good example of deaf and hearing individuals working together toward a common goal, sharing each other’s knowledge and wisdom with the shared goal of furthering the interests of the Deaf World.   Additionally, it is important to note that the deaf person in the higher position, not the hearing person.  I think this would be a simple but effective model of deaf in a position of leadership – the deaf person is the boss in this situation, even when hearing people are around/involved.

And over time, as the ASL instructor themselves learns about and becomes more familiar with the various hearing-specific challenges, questions and issues that may arise, they may be no need for this hearing resource at all (except for the deaf in charge of a hearing person scenario that mentioned above) and everyone benefits from a better understanding of each other’s language and culture.  That deaf instructor can even teach what they have learned to other deaf instructors. 

So yes, deaf people absolutely, positively, definitely need to be involved in the teaching of ASL and Deaf culture, with both deaf and hearing students.  But I would ask that we consider the benefits that can be gained by using well-experienced hearing people as a way to help close the gap between the two languages and cultures, and examples of how we can effectively work together.

I will end with a simple example of how this can benefit someone learning ASL.  When I first experienced the expression TRAIN GONE, one of the deaf people I was with said it meant “you missed the boat.”  But “you missed the boat” means you missed a specific instance of an opportunity – there is likely to be another boat, for example, and I was a little confused as to how TRAIN GONE was used to end part of a conversion or a question.

A few years later I learned from an experienced ‘terp that its meaning is closer to missing an opportunity that will not present itself again, or is very unlikely to.  Something that is time sensitive, or sensitive to the current environment, or moment.  Having that definition in my head cleared up a few things for me.  I am sure the deaf person meant no harm in giving me the definition that they thought of – they just did not know how to frame or explain it in a way that I could understand correctly, whereas someone that was skilled in both languages could.