Slim, scholarly, crusading work by two deaf scholars arguing that
the Deaf (the capital "D" denoting a community apart) possess their
own distinctive culture. Padden was born deaf in a Deaf family,
Humphries became deaf in childhood - both authors know whereof they
speak. Their main contention is that the Deaf usually don't think
of themselves as disabled, but as members of a different culture
with its own history, folk tales, art, literature, and language.
Language (in the case of these American authors, American Sign
Language) is the key; ASL is "the essence of how Deaf people live
and how they understand their lives." Much space is devoted to
advancing the controversial theory with ASL is an independent
language rather than an artificial system of signs. In their
efforts to prove the worthiness of Deaf culture, the authors
sometimes strain credulity - e.g., when they read rich symbolic
meaning into the simplest of stories about the Abbe de l'Epee, who
first systematized sign language. The authors also examine Deaf
plays, poems, films, songs, and a number of humorous and revealing
folk tales about the Deaf; the problem of where hearing children of
deaf parents fit into Deaf culture; and what it's like for a child
to discover his or her own deafness. A pioneering work. The wagon
wheels may spin a bit recklessly at times, but some new and
compelling territory is covered along the way. (Kirkus Reviews)
Written by authors who are themselves Deaf, this unique book
illuminates the life and culture of Deaf people from the inside,
through their everyday talk, their shared myths, their art and
performances, and the lessons they teach one another. Carol Padden
and Tom Humphries employ the capitalized "Deaf" to refer to deaf
people who share a natural language-American Sign Language (ASL-and
a complex culture, historically created and actively transmitted
across generations. Signed languages have traditionally been
considered to be simply sets of gestures rather than natural
languages. This mistaken belief, fostered by hearing people's
cultural views, has had tragic consequences for the education of
deaf children; generations of children have attended schools in
which they were forbidden to use a signed language. For Deaf
people, as Padden and Humphries make clear, their signed language
is life-giving, and is at the center of a rich cultural heritage.
The tension between Deaf people's views of themselves and the way
the hearing world views them finds its way into their stories,
which include tales about their origins and the characteristics
they consider necessary for their existence and survival. Deaf in
America includes folktales, accounts of old home movies, jokes,
reminiscences, and translations of signed poems and modern signed
performances. The authors introduce new material that has never
before been published and also offer translations that capture as
closely as possible the richness of the original material in ASL.
Deaf in America will be of great interest to those interested in
culture and language as well as to Deaf people and those who work
with deaf children and Deaf people.
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