 Thank you, I have a little bit of an outline here for you I want to talk about hearing in deaf culture, but I've changed it a little bit, so I'm gonna make some modifications on the podium as I go along Now the design fits My needs as a deaf person as I'd like because I'd like to stand here so you can see me as I present This morning. I'd like to talk about deaf culture and American culture. It's an enormous topic You know, how in the world can I talk about such a detailed subject in 40 minutes What I hope to accomplish this morning is to give you a framework That will help you Understand more about deaf culture Historically and currently Where did deaf culture come from? What were the events That caused the culture to arise? Where did we come from? All humans have a need for culture. How do I identify myself? What groups can I identify with? The need for this type of identification is basic human nature. How do I fit in? How do I avoid isolation? through the process of group identification I Gain experience and this experience Gives me a framework to identify myself with other people It also teaches me how to conduct my life as a deaf person and through the process of trial and error I learn How to live but I need to find a better way to live as a deaf person So I depend upon the experiences and contacts with other deaf people in order to learn How to live in this world? Being deaf and I need to do this as early as possible and that's my definition of culture What's unique about us as a group as humans? It doesn't matter whether we're deaf or hearing we all need some sort of cultural identification to assist us in learning How to be in the world So culture is what helps us become complete as a person Otherwise we struggle and feel like we're not complete. We're not complete as human beings the difficulty With these various cultures is defining what's needed for access for example Regardless of the culture all cultures around the world Don't Are not completely accessible Because they're dependent upon a spoken language Because deaf people depend on a visual language it takes That's different than cultures that are accessible via spoken language deaf culture around the world varies as well and I'm going to be talking about American deaf culture And I'd like to give you an idea of what culture is like for deaf people around the world as well You know, what are the universals among these deaf cultures? One of course is that it's a visual language. It's signed so the use of Of eye contact is very important deaf culture is passed down from from one generation to the next Just like any culture is passed in that way The older generation passes it on to the younger generation and so on So various communities have different ways for transmitting the culture, but nevertheless it is transmitted in that way American deaf culture specifically has roots in America To the first school for the deaf Which was established in Hartford, Connecticut in 1817 but that isn't where everything actually started because That Establishment of the deaf school had roots even in Europe. So the culture began from any time that deaf people deaf children came together in a school setting and They began passing down the culture and that continued and continued and continued until the school was established in America And America deaf culture has some unique characteristics that were established just in America So I'd like to explain to you How American deaf culture came into being it's very difficult to to tell you Define exactly. What is American deaf culture? We're just now becoming aware that we have deaf culture even though it's been transmitted for generations and generations It has not been identified and labeled as a culture It was not until quite recently That we began to realize ah deaf people do have a culture and With that identification the process began to Examine what's unique about this culture and to begin to define it so you can see that it's a very new field and It's only lately that we're gathering the data to begin to define more clearly what deaf culture is So at this point in time, we have a very limited understanding. We need more data we need More gathering of experience More data to give us a better more full understanding of how deaf people view themselves One very clear characteristic of American deaf culture is how people view themselves How do deaf people view other deaf people and? How do others view deaf people and those two perspectives are not the same my theory about myself and so on May be different from others Perspective who don't have firsthand knowledge of deaf people Their view the other view of deaf culture Has different characteristics if you take the two Perspectives the deaf perspective on deaf culture and the others perspective on deaf culture You'll see that they're very different Other people tend to view deaf culture through their own eyes through their own and make their own interpretations From their own cultural perspective So my own perspective of myself and a deaf person's perspective may be quite different from that and have different characteristics for example Others tend to view deaf people as having an inability to hear Because their way of living is based on the ability to hear They look at deaf people and then they they take that template from their own life and Tend to come up with a model that views deaf people as deficient and that's not how we deaf people view ourselves We view ourselves as normal We're okay We're already complete. We don't need to be more than we are We have a full life We have a great deal of satisfaction in our lives whereas other people may view us as Living in isolation And yet deaf people don't feel Isolated we have a very wealthy social life Rich social life We can hardly keep up with all of the activities that we have available to us But when other people view us as people who have an inability to hear they also tend To make decisions about the language deficiencies as well were viewed as handicapped communication handicapped and so on Whereas deaf people Don't don't don't understand that point of view. We have a very full language. What are these people talking about who? Who view us as being linguistically incompetent? And that's because we have different cultural screens To understand more about deaf culture. You must be able to see through a deaf person's eyes and Understand that that's how deaf people view themselves. I have a narrative. I'd like to share with you It's about a young deaf boy who had a deaf family There were many deaf people in his family as well When he was six years old he went to school when he arrived he was shocked He was shocked to find out that he was deaf And you may wonder what that means Well this young boy grew up in a deaf family. I'm sorry. This boy wasn't deaf He was surprised to learn that he wasn't deaf when he went to school He had grown up in this deaf family And he went to a school run by quote the others and For the first time in his life. He experienced the word deaf All along the boy had assumed that deaf meant us me I'm like the rest of the people in my family that I've grown up seeing and yet now at school He realizes or for the first time he encounters a different culture And he encounters the word deaf without really knowing what those people are talking about so for the first time he encountered two different perspectives on deafness and deaf people as other outsiders So for any person who grows up They must Learn some sort of a cultural identity And there are a variety of circumstances in which that happens Background family access to deaf people access to deaf culture There are a variety of ways that this identification process happens. I Have another story that I'd like to tell you about a deaf boy who went to school and For the first time He met people who could identify and explain who he was You know for a long time. He had felt out of sync with his family As he looked around he couldn't quite figure out You know what it took to really become a member of that group and why The hearing members acted in the ways that they did He didn't understand how they were such how they were so good at lip-reading and how how they understood each other so well And why they had such an easy time and yet that wasn't his experience He was often puzzled that his mother could go into another room and Answered the door, but how did she know that someone was there? How would she know that someone was there and that was incredibly puzzling to this young boy? You know how can these people communicate so smoothly with each other? When he had a very difficult time He wasn't able to lip-read people that well It didn't quite understand it and when he went to school for the first time he realized that his family could hear and That explained to him for the first time the difference He had always wondered you know how they could do the kinds of things that they did and yet he couldn't and he didn't feel The same he didn't feel The same kind of bond with these people until he went to school for the first time and realized that he was deaf And that was the difference that he couldn't hear and that the members of his family could so that was his first introduction to deaf culture And that was the beginning of a lifelong learning experience for this boy about becoming a deaf person So deaf children need to be exposed to other deaf people in order to learn deaf culture Because that's the way They learn what it's like to be a deaf people How to live their lives in a certain way how to survive in the world how to share how to be a part of this community as Children socialize and are exposed to other deaf people They begin to develop their own theory about who they are as well They understand what other people are like and so there's a comparative base to understand myself in Terms of the rest of the world and that also enables the deaf person to understand what the other view of Myself as a deaf person is like so it's very important to have all of these exposures To know the deaf perspective of deaf people to know how hearing people view me what that perspective is How we as a group view ourselves and so on I have another story that I'd like to share with you about deaf children and The theory of self versus the others theory of me This child had a deaf family older brothers and sisters and so on and Communication was not a problem very smooth and easy communication. They were all deaf. They were able to communicate normally When this child became 12 or 13 He began to be curious about the world. What was it like outside of his own hometown and outside of his own home environment? So there was a family next door and there was a girl about the same age and they started playing together And they began to communicate and the boy started signing to this child and couldn't understand why it seemed that they weren't Communicating so the boy couldn't understand what was wrong with this girl What kind of problem she had you know if she had some kind of an affliction or just what was wrong with her? What was what was causing her to not be able to communicate? So the boy led the girl around and began to show her the signs for various things and teacher had to communicate and watched her learn and One day the girl's mother Came outside and started talking to the girl, you know moving her mouth wildly and And then move the little girl away from playing with this little boy. Well, the boy was puzzled. He couldn't figure out what was going on You know, he didn't really understand, you know, what the mother had done So he went in and asked his own mother You know how how it was that this little girl was able to understand this mother who didn't move her hands at all And just moved her mouth and and the mother explained that they communicated in a different way that they're hearing So he said so he asked his mother if it was only this family next door that communicated that way Were they different from the rest of the world because they could hear each other and they talked to each other and the mother explained to the little boy that actually There were a lot of hearing people in the world that most of the world is hearing and yet that little boy You know had no idea that that's the way the world was He thought that he was normal and that the hearing family next door had the affliction So it's interesting that both of these cultures perceive themselves as normal and having a normal life and normal communication and so on That they were normal human beings Now the word deaf If you look it up in the dictionary You'll find the definition You'll find a definition for the word deaf if you if you compare dictionaries You'll find a similar definition among them all but the deaf person's Definition of death is not the definition that you find in the dictionary The sign deaf itself shows What it means to the community of deaf ASL users and yet there is still a different perspective on the definition of the word deaf among hearing culture and deaf culture deaf people view the word deaf with pride and Something that identifies me It says something about my people My group the group that I feel bonded to the group that I share with the group that I exchange with and The definition the perspective of the word deaf among deaf people is a very positive one if we think about death We don't think about the word deaf meaning some sort of inability to hear or something that's terrifying or that's weird or anything like that deaf people Think of deafness with a great deal of warmth and a great deal of connection and a sense of connectedness It's not a negative term at all It's really stopped to mean anything That's not positive. There's no way to be anything other than deaf Yet hearing people have a very long list of characteristics of being deaf I'll give you just a few of them They would say that deaf means a disability and yet deaf people don't view themselves as being handicapped or disabled not at all different disabled groups and deaf people have some similar goals and yet There are other cases where the goals are dissimilar and so Congruency is difficult Because this deaf culture has been passed down from generation and generation There is a strong desire To not allow that culture to be destroyed There's a there's a very strong value for the preservation of cultures and and the characteristics of deaf people Now how do deaf people view hearing people? Do we sort of toss them all into one category? You know that's just labeled hearing and all of you are all the same I'd like to tell you a story that demonstrates a point There were two sisters One was five and one was seven The two girls having happened to be having a conversation with the deaf person Both of the girls were deaf and the sister brought the other sister to meet this other deaf friend Because they were talking about something that another person had said because Mike himself was deaf But the old The younger sister assumed that the person who could sign was deaf and the older sister said no Mike is hearing And they had a big argument as to whether or not Mike was hearing or deaf And you may wonder why that was but the older sister knew what the younger one didn't figure out yet The younger sister was arguing saying Mike can sign That means he's deaf and the older sister said no, he's hearing And the younger one thought about this and now she had a dilemma What if Mike really was hearing but could sign and so she said okay. Well Mike is deaf and hearing both So what does that tell us? Can't say can a person be deaf and hearing both because Mike could hear and yet He had he was culturally deaf because he could communicate. He could relate to deaf people But the older sister knew better than that Knew that he wasn't deaf So as children grow up The definition their definition of deaf and deaf culture Expands and changes as they go out into the world of deaf and hearing people There's a tremendous variety within the culture itself Now I'd like to identify Some of the categories of hearing people from the view of deaf of a deaf person and to demonstrate the variety of attitudes that are present Among these different groups. There's one group that's strongly identified With hearing with hearing standards with hearing characteristics and feel that deaf people should learn to lip read that they should be oral and those if if those people do sign they tend to support see and Support different goals than the goals of the deaf culture And so their attitudes and the way that they label deaf people are quite different And in that sense, they don't really understand our definition of the word deaf Then there are other categories of hearing people who may have deaf parents who have deaf brothers and sisters and the characteristics of that group are Different They have a different understanding of Deafness in general compared to the group who may have had no exposure whatsoever to the deaf community So again even within that group of people who have deaf family members there is yet a variety of attitudes present There are characteristics that vary depending upon their their ability to communicate with deaf people some of them may have basic survival communication skills in sign language and Then there may be others that are fluent in ASL and socialize frequently with deaf people so those Those attitudes and that kind of exposure influence the way these groups perceive the deaf community and Also the way that they're identified by the deaf community As you look at the hearing world We have a variety You look at a child born into a deaf family, for example or born into a hearing family their cultural experience will be different The hearing person born into the deaf family or the deaf person born into a hearing family may be quite unusual Because their parents are different and we need to look at what that means and how that influences cultural identification There was a little hearing boy who was born into a deaf family and That boy felt that everybody in his family was just like him Until he was six years old and started school He was shocked to find out that he was hearing Now why does that happen? What does that tell us? You know, what does this tell us about this this boy's life during the first six years of his life? Does that mean that he was denying that he was hearing and he was ignoring sound in his environment? No, not necessarily. He thought that everybody in his family Responded the same way and had the same experience For example when a spoon would fall to the floor and hit the the ground Mom always picked it up. Therefore that must mean that mother can hear the spoon hit the floor and Yet mother couldn't hear mother saw the spoon hit the floor So this boy lived in a deaf family without realizing that the other members of his family couldn't hear they communicated Through sign language He grew up on a farm. So he was his exposure to the rest of the world was somewhat limited And so it was only when he went to school that he realized for the first time that his family was deaf But as far as he was concerned, they were still normal just like everybody else at the school So that's a very extreme example of a child a hearing child growing up in a deaf family and then having to Go out into the world There's a there are a variety of family scenarios in which people are exposed To deaf people and hearing people out in the world Some deaf families want their hearing kids to be out in the world more They want to they communicate with their deaf child either in sign language or maybe they'll try to to speak Maybe they'll try to sign an English word order so that their child develops competencies in both languages so even those hearing children within deaf families have a variety of experiences even from Never learning to sign at all All the way to the other extreme of learning to sign and not even realizing that that they're hearing So what often happens in that situation is that person develops an identity of being deaf and that's a bit of That's tricky Because here you have I mean there's still a line. There's still a separation Among these two experiences because one is really a member It's culturally deaf, but still a member of another culture as well this hearing culture So this has implications as to how deaf parents relate to their children in any culture. It's important to have myths Myths help groups understand each other and who they are in the world Where do we come from? How did how did our our culture begin? How did we evolve? How did the group come to know and share certain experiences? I Have a story for you This is this shows more exposure to French culture than to American culture But yet it's still a myth because the myth has been adapted somewhat as Usually happens with myths. They're modified to serve the purpose of the culture and They're very symbolic in terms of the imagery that they provide There is a man named de la paix He was a French minister And he set up the first school for the death in Paris Anyway, the stories the story the myth Happened during a very dark and cold night de la paix Was walking along feeling quite tired Desperately wanting to stop and sleep and yet he couldn't he kept continuing to walk searching for a place and Finally he spotted in the distance a house with a small light burning He continued to walk until he reached the house He knocked on the door and there was no answer He turned the doorknob and walked into the house and noticed two people Sitting watching the fire one was sowing He spoke to the people and yet neither of them turned to look at him He walked closer and began speaking again It was still quiet neither of them turned to look He turned he walked around to face the people and as they looked up at him He realized Something was strange They thought their mother was coming and they didn't realize that it was another person He realized that as the mother came in that these two people were deaf and Then he he had a Fantasy of setting up a school for deaf people and that's where it all began So this story this myth is it important the actual details of this story not really what's important is the myth The myth the story about the beginning For deaf people and that's a very inspiring story Because there's a message There's a message behind the myth The imagery in the story that it's a dark night That that's what life was like for deaf people Before schools were set up isolation No contact among deaf people There was often the feeling that they were the you were the only deaf person in the world the only person who couldn't hear So the dark world the life of isolation The small light in the distance that gives us hope that's the symbol of the beginning The light shows the hope the birth the emergence of the gathering of people from and from this The community can be expanded and growth can take place So the message in that story is important Because it gives us a birth of a community and a story that can be passed on from generation to generation and this allows Deaf people to break down this feeling of isolation All of us have a basic need It's a tenant a principle that we must all be together that we need to come together as a group to feel the sense of happiness and inspiration So you notice throughout myths The symbolism of light and dark are often present in 187 in 1850 in Florida 1885 1858 floor nay was born and There's a quote. I'm going to give you the quote in English and Then I'll show it to you in ASL. Here's the English first After a long night of wandering our planet has at length attained an Orbit around a single Luminary and here it is in ASL so that symbol Recurs Throughout our mythology. I Have another story a man about a man named the deets and he's in an old film called the preservation of our American Sign Language In this film he discusses and compares the two different worlds One world is the good world of de la pay where everybody comes together and can communicate and socialize with each other There's understanding. There's togetherness and then there's the other world which is very dark and isolated Where sign language is forbidden and what's life like for the deaf person in that world? It's like being put into a dungeon With chains and shackles and as you look through the world of bars You see people who are free who are able to communicate and the longing and the desire and the desperation to have that is felt So strongly being trapped in this prison So that's the message in this old videotape of the deets More recently there was a play by the National Theater their theater of the deaf called my third eye and This this play sequels a lot of experiences of deaf people, but one of them that was particularly poignant was about a Person long ago who was educated? By the oral method The person continued to fail Was never able to successfully meet the expectations of the educators person was always told you must you must you must and the person tried Until at last the person drowned Because he was unable to succeed, but as this person died It was the death of the spirit it was a death of the soul that was symbolic So there are plenty of stories like this plenty of myths Folktales films theater productions poetry poetic expression writings Where the met where this same message is told and The message is that it's important for deaf people to maintain and preserve Their culture their sense of group identity and that that should never be destroyed We cannot allow the death of a culture it's important for people to have an awareness and to understand How to approach the world how to approach life That without that the world is very dark and isolated We have to prevent that from happening to anyone You know, what do we want our lives to be like? We want to feel normal we want to feel Bonded to the world we want to feel part of a group now. I want to talk about the deaf experience Hearing people view deaf people as living in a silent world Gee, it's you're silent. You can't hear music. What is that that must mean that you have a very limited life and so on but from the deaf perspective We have noise we make noise We experience sound We have music It's not like the music of hearing people But what does music mean? You know, what do we what do we miss by not having sound in music? Nothing we still have rhythm We still have patterned communication and so on we have a variety of ways to show rhythm To show patterns to show movement Body movement harmony The ways that people sign can be music to the eyes and that can create images It's important to have your own internal sense of rhythm and that's your music It's not necessarily related to sound It's related to a sense of of harmony and the way things are organized and presented visually And that's what makes the experience enjoyable So it's not only the sense of being able to hear sound that makes it be become music Now a lot of the deaf experience is passed on through myths Folklore and so on it's transmitted from one generation to the next as It's passed down We haven't documented as it's been passed down. We haven't documented all of it How do you capture? How do you capture that in sign language if you try to? Present it in a written form in a frozen form. How can you really capture? That how can you present it to hearing culture in a way that shows that? You know in hearing culture you have oral history that can be documented in video and audio taped But to do that in sign language through the use of videotape is a very expensive process And yet it's becoming easier and easier all the time now to to videotape and preserve and document The folk tales the sharing among people in the deaf community and I'm hoping that we can see more and more of a collection Being built up and established because we have such a rich folklore and culture to share and to express most deaf people's Experiences came from the schools for the deaf and how they were able to live in the hearing world Okay, we can start again There are different places where the deaf oral tradition is passed down and there are different ways it can be shared from friend to friend or Perhaps in different situations such as a more formal situation a sermon or a church service someone who's very competent in ASL a deaf minister Explaining something and telling it in such a way through a story in a church environment And deaf people may get up on stage in other situations and tell a story simply for the entertainment of the people around them And what are what are the things that we see here? We see these stories, but we've lost them. They're not we're not recording them We haven't documented them. They can come up in any number of environments or forms There are jokes that are also a very important source We need to collect people's jokes and specifically deaf jokes because that tells us something about deaf culture and the deaf experience There are several jokes as an example That illustrate what it is that's unique and different. Here's one example Little bit of background first the sign for but is done this way There was a train railroad crossing and the gate was down And you know as it goes down, that's the position when the train has passed the gate opens up and you can drive on through Okay, so but there's a difference in the sign It's the same sign but a different meaning for a railroad gate opening up or the sign But one day a man was in big hurry to get To a location got to the railroad crossing and the gates were down and the train was passing by And he was very concerned about this anxious for the train to pass and finally the train passed But the gates didn't open. He was sitting there very frustrated. There was a man Who the controller of the switch and the gate came over well He walked over to the man and tapped him and said I'm in a hurry tried to you know Couldn't really communicate with the man because he was hearing and he wrote a note to him and he thought How do I say this in English? Let me think So he hesitated and then he said please but and this switch controller looked at who's very puzzled and you know He didn't think it was funny, but you know Hearing people will laugh at something like that. They're just some ten tendency to laugh in that kind of situation But it wouldn't hit That has quite an impact on deaf people because they have such a different experience of constantly being in the position of frustrating Communication with hearing people being stuck trying to be resourceful in the moment thinking how's the best way to do this And so in this situation That's a way that deaf people make fun of themselves and their own experiences of this frustration communication by telling A joke like that they take the experience and make it into something lighter and it becomes part of their identity It also you can see this experience in artwork and and sculpture you can look at the progression over time It's fascinating to see the artwork done within a deaf community that represents the deaf experience As you take a look at it you start to see What it is that the work has to tell us that makes it so different from the way that hearing people may perceive our experience Issues of oppression messages of the attitudes of hearing people towards deaf people Messages of the beauty and the importance of sign language Lots of representation of the hands and emphasis of the hands and the artwork and And an effort to make the visual representation of the deaf world accessible It's a common theme that you see throughout the artwork of the community and that helps us to better understand our world You also see it in writings articles or That deaf people have written books that have been written by deaf people expressing that experience. They're written in English It's true, but there's still a message within it if you look for it And that helps us to further understand deaf people's view of themselves What is there a lot in life from their perspective all of these different written works can be categorized into a few categories? There's been a wealth of information published about sign language. That's one category Another category would would look at what does it mean to be deaf? What are the needs of a deaf person and one of the central themes is normalcy, you know, each culture has its own central focal point Where they're at the center and then You know hearing people view themselves at the center of their cultural experience and deaf people do as well And so it's important to see how deaf people view other cultures from the deaf center Other writings have to do with the importance of self-determination within the deaf community The need to to stop being victims of the system Talking about letting the dominant culture make decisions for the group and the need to change that the need to control their own destiny That's where you see the deaf community looking at what's happening in the schools and a concern for these children growing up and becoming adult members of the community So that they can be part of the world The need for these kinds of connections and that the deaf community has a responsibility to other deaf communities as we look at American sign language for a long time the others have looked at ASL as a Crutch used by deaf people or You know for those who fail at oral methods it becomes a last resort and I suppose at that point It's okay, but it's very limited and it's not really comparable to spoken language sign language is an inferior language or form of communication or that You know in general sign language is not really a language and for many years deaf people have looked at the others perspective and said Yeah, I guess that's so but but still I Feel like I can express myself better through signs and it feels more natural to me in that way it's a more natural form of expression and communication and and As I see people communicating in sign language there's something moving and inspiring about that and and yet maybe these others maybe these hearing people are right and what they Say about my language And then we see the emergence of other systems like signing exact English and the deaf community Hasn't really known fully how to respond to that because the deaf community is still Learning about its own language and and recognizes these other systems as strange But consider maybe it is better in the educational system, but we won't use it in our adult community on But perhaps it could help deaf children and there's some real confusion and ambivalence within the community About what they're seeing emerging But now with the linguistic research and study and the findings that have come about We have discovered that ASL is a language in its own right and that it is an Acceptable kind of language and we begin to feel a sense of pride and then at that point we begin to Challenge the establishment and the others view of our language as less than or inferior Inadequate and we begin to say no to that perception and to start to change it and people are pushing more and more for the legitimacy the right for this language to be propagated and For all deaf children to have access to this natural language To have the opportunity to learn through that language and This is a new struggle in many ways before it was an internal sense But now we've gathered the momentum to begin to change that perception as The identification of ASL has increased the power in the deaf community has increased in proportion There was always this sense of you know, there's the hearing world There's the hearing people trying to make us like them hearing people have a particular Image of what deaf people should be and it conforms to these characteristics And there's always been this internal sense of conflict deaf people knowing they could not meet these expectations of Being each of these things that the hearing world had set for them And there's always been this struggle in conflict and back about 1858 Flourney You know saw that this was the same experience happening over and over again in terms of the deaf people trying to be in sync with the hearing world and He made a proposal that all the deaf people travel west and establish a deaf state They would have their own government They would have their own legislature. They would have their own businesses own run operated by deaf people His vision was for this kind of Experience and the reason that this even came up came out of a desire for Empowerment and and a frustration with oppression and a sense of we don't need this anymore We need to take our own destiny into our own hands But there are many problems that come up a Child is born a hearing child is born to a deaf family and then suddenly there is no easy solution Or suppose a hearing family has a deaf child. Do you remove that deaf child from that family? So you see that there are some drawbacks It's not a practical solution to just give it all up and form one You know a deaf state, but the idea the spirit of that idea is there and what that says is that we want to be able to control our own destiny and So we try to think about what are the ways that we can fit in with the hearing world But that has to come from the deaf community The deaf community has to be a part of deciding how that happens Because we know ourselves you need to ask deaf people from their perspective. What is the best way to raise a deaf child? What is the best way to design the world for deaf people? What is it that you need in a growing up experience and to begin that kind of shared dialogue? deaf people have their idea of Integration and hearing people have theirs and they're not the same For hearing people they think integration means a deaf person has to become a hearing person has to practice speech has to look like a hearing person and There's a story that has to do with that it was the basis of the story was that Robert McGregor an Irishman was talking about the Irishman He was looking for There was a deaf person in Chicago He was very fluent. He looked like a hearing person could speak like a hearing person And so people would hurry they got on horseback to ride to Chicago to get there and find out where this person was And they were told oh, I'm sorry. He left he went to New York This person said really so we hopped on a train traveled all the way to New York and said where is this really fluent? Oral deaf person. I said, oh, sorry. He left he went to Boston And so he got on into a carriage and took off and got to Boston said where is this deaf person and said well You'll never find this deaf person Because that deaf person doesn't exist. And so here we are looking always for this impossible deaf person It doesn't really exist We need to let deaf people be who they are and When deaf people can be deaf and are allowed to grow up through that process, they will be complete people As I come to the close of my talk We look at deaf culture and there are all of these stories that speak in very general terms But I have a couple of specific points and unique characteristics that I want to share with you There are a variety of perspectives and experiences within deaf culture in the community Deaf children from all walks of life all different kinds of family backgrounds You have to realize that 90% of deaf people are born to hearing families And so these children learned the culture of the hearing families perhaps their Americans Or mainstream American culture perhaps their Chinese From some Latino culture there are all of these different cultures within America Within the hearing society and these children are learning the culture of their family But they never receive full enculturation Because each of these cultures and the experience of them are learned through a spoken language And so the deaf child is missing out on a lot of the cultural information They obtain some but not all of it And it's culture that helps a child to To become a complete person and each one of us enculturates What our family has taught us we all are members of a culture But we also see that they're all of these different cultural experiences that are coming to these children from different family experiences And so what do we have in the deaf culture? In fact we have a variety Based on the diversity of the deaf community And yet when we look for that information on cultural diversity within the deaf community we find very little There's more of a move in that direction more of an effort to understand The multicultural aspect of the deaf community and we're beginning to understand the enormous variation amongst deaf people We want to encourage deaf people to explore and to to develop an identity not only based on their deafness But based on these other cultural factors and there's a need for more in-depth exploration of the cultures within the deaf community What's common is the visual access to communication the visual way of understanding the world and yet as you travel Throughout these experiences you see enormous differences as well And we have to begin to identify around those differences and celebrate the beauty of the diversity within the community I hope that deaf people will continue to grow in their understanding and in their opportunities of themselves and the diversity of the deaf people within the community and to continue to To analyze who we are collectively and individually and to appreciate the colorful differences To understand what it means for a person who becomes deaf as opposed to a person who's born deaf And to understand the incredible variety of backgrounds and to begin to pull that together As a way of heightening our awareness of our collective deaf culture. Thank you The you're seeing a little bit of deaf culture at work right now The panelists who will speak next wanted to be able to see Mr. Coons while he was giving his speech so they sat over here and they need to move up here So they can talk to you as they're coming up I will tell you a little bit about who you will see talking next Share I'm sorry to tell you that one of the people who was to talk today Was unable to to come I found out Thursday night that Mrs. Trainer would not be able to be with us today. So I'm sorry to tell you that First today though you will see Cheryl Wu Cheryl has been the director of the hearing impaired program at big brothers big sisters of San Francisco In California since 1989 she received her master's degree at Gallaudet University in Washington DC in mental health counseling and deafness Specializing in multicultural deaf issues and cross-cultural counseling. She's first generation Chinese American and possesses multi-lingual skills in English Chinese American sign language and Taiwan sign language She has had over 13 years of work experience in the fields of special education Mental health and social work both in the United States and abroad in Taiwan She was one of the co-founders and remains a co-chair of the multicultural committee under deaf services Network North a Coalition of agencies and organizations serving deaf and hearing impaired people in the Bay Area Cheryl will also be serving as a co-chair for the first Asian Pacific deaf conference Which is going to be held here in San Francisco in March of 1994 so we're very excited to see that coming it's now instead of taking time to Introduce each person in between they're gonna stand and talk from their places. So I'll tell you who you will see First is Maggie De La Torre Maggie's family moved here from Mexico when she was very young at this point. She's a student at City College of San Francisco and She's trying to decide whether she wants to be a counselor or an attorney just like lots of other people who are in college So we'll see what happens with Maggie as time goes on Next is Tony Fong Tony's family came here from Hong Kong. He's a student and a teaching assistant at Laney College in Oakland Peter Tam is Also from Hong Kong He came to the United States when he was a teenager Got his bachelor of arts at San Francisco State University in art and got his teaching credential He has taught both in Oakland and San Francisco public schools And he's now a teacher in the hearing impaired program in San Francisco Unified School District Finally at the end of the panel here. You will see Linda true Linda's family moved first to New York from Vietnam and Have been in San Francisco for quite a long time Linda is a student and a graphic communication printer and artist So I'll let them speak for themselves You can't I'm gonna be talking and allowing the interpreters to sign for me But in case I'm not monitoring my speech levels well enough. Let me know and I'll try to raise my voice Everything prepared as of last night and then coming in this morning and hearing law and present which I'm really excited about because He presented a lot of issues that need to be raised regarding not only American deaf culture Community the differences between the hearing world and the deaf world But what was really neat is that these issues that he has raised which I like to respond to actually Leads to the questions that all of us here on this panel and anyone else who's working in multicultural awareness Whether it's in deafness or even in the hearing communities Are dealing with and and I think what I'd like to do and that's really the perfect introduction to you're listening to the panel members sharing their experiences and Through that gain knowledge of exactly. What are the issues? Why are there unique issues that face? Multicultural families who have deaf and hearing-impaired children or multicultural deaf adults themselves One of the first things that lawn raised was the whole process of group identification That it was important for a deaf individual to To have a group to whom they can identify with to feel that they belong to One thing that comes up continually in multicultural deaf issues is Who is that group that that multicultural deaf individual can connect to and feel belong to? Whether they're Japanese American deaf or Chinese American deaf or Latino deaf Where is their group identification? It doesn't it's not either one thing or the other It's not fully maybe with the African-American community. It may not fully be with the deaf community So that's a question that I that I ask that you keep in the back of your mind and continually ask yourselves that Especially as you deal with your clients in the services that you do Lon commented on how a deaf person must need to interact with other deaf people to learn how to be a deaf person and live in this hearing world of ours and again What is it like then for a multicultural deaf individual? Who do they turn to to learn how to be Asian deaf or Chinese deaf specifically or Latina deaf? Lawn for the work it commented on the perspectives of deafness As particularly the clashes and conflicts between the hearing world and and the deaf community Racism and discrimination just as it exists in the hearing community also exists very much within deafness and with any other disabled community and That's a really important fact that we can't forget There is as much cultural conflict and if you can imagine for a newcomer to this country who is a young child deaf from Vietnam What are the stressors and conflicts that that child has to go through? It's not just learning about American society learning about the American deaf community They're getting also probably a lot of pressure to maintain their own family culture and environment The stresses are beyond what we can actually really comprehend it can be double triple quadruple the impact that that let's say American deaf individuals who have been born and raised in this country are used to Lawn talked about that. I guess the completeness and identity from multicultural deaf child Their identity is made up of several different worlds and particularly for that child who is in the States Who is in America? Then you have to add that whole American world whether it's hearing or deaf And this when we say identity and we want to acknowledge the wholeness and completeness of an individual must be acknowledged Once we begin to minimize and disregard differences We don't have anything to celebrate and the whole topic which is a great topic I'm so glad that Marty chose this is celebrating this diversity. I think in general Americans are just maybe here in the American society. We tend to shy away from differences or noting differences We tend to Actually even attach a negative connotation to that Instead of seeing you as as Chinese. I see you as an American I grew up and was born and raised in this country. My parents are from mainland China and To the state I still hear people saying to me No, I'm and telling me that I should be an American and not identify as being Chinese That type of thing and it's all with good intention And I think this is what is the sad thing because we try to mean it well, you know, I accept you We're all people first, but that's not reality We're all people we all have differences and they should be differences that we should be proud of and Can take pride in whether you're deaf or hearing or hearing impaired or or African-American or Asian Or whatever that may be but each part of us needs to be acknowledged and affirmed and in that way We can grow and we can develop that that positive self-esteem and pride Which is such a critical issue for deaf and hearing impaired young people today and becomes even more significant With the rising numbers of multicultural deaf hearing impaired children that are American-born and also coming over from this from other countries Just to reflect one I really like long story when he was talking about the deaf boy who really didn't know he was deaf Until later on and if I reflect on my experiences even all the deafness work side and my having to deal with my own hearing impairment later as an adult I Did not really see myself. I guess as Chinese. I didn't even really recognize or understand what that meant until probably I was in college throughout my elementary school years and the home environment or actually the community that I lived in Was all white. I think our when we moved in we were the only second Chinese family in this very small town very wealthy well-to-do suburb of Boston, Massachusetts and All I saw around me all I had was was Caucasian peers and Caucasian teachers and that was my peer group So and all they would continue to see is is You're you're like one of us You're not like someone who's black or Latino which already didn't faze me a bit because I wasn't so conscious of exactly what those remarks were being You know, what was the meaning to that remark? It wasn't really actually until we had to start busing into our community and people were passed out these questionnaires that asked classmates, do you know any minority person and Finally, I remember in homeroom period everyone just like looked over at me and they saw my gosh, you know, you're Chinese We didn't even know that we've always just thought you're one of us And they meant that in a really good way and I and I was not offended at all by that at that time And even if I reflect back onto it, I'm still not because it's it's an issue of being aware and I've gone to or grown into a new consciousness myself in terms of that But it's just that point of how we see each other and want to see that we're all the same There are certainly bonds There's certainly come come now is that we can we can say between all deaf communities in the world as well as all hearing ethnic minorities in the world but the greatest thing to be celebrating are our differences and there's got to be that balance and Again, I think that's something that we continually strive to bring to people's of consciousness and awareness in the work That that all of us are involved in The desire to preserve Culture that is an incredibly strong one for the deaf community and as it should be and as it should be though for every ethnic Subgroup that's here in the States the difficulty that comes up for the multicultural child is how are they going to pass on that particular one To whom are they going to be getting that information who's a role model an Asian adult deaf person to pass it on to a another Asian Deaf pairing for a child, you know, where is that group that's coming out because what we're seeing here in San Francisco as culturally diverse as we are I'd say three-quarters even probably higher than that of Children who are multi cultural multi ethnic and background are not going down to our school for the deaf Which is down in Fremont, but they are going to the inner city schools. They're living in their communities They're in their homes. They're going through whatever mainstream programs the school districts do their best to try to set up So that's their group. Now. What's wrong with the picture? There's a whole lot that that's missing. There's not a whole that that's wrong What's missing? For these groups of children is said because they do not then get access to the American deaf culture Community adult role models and they do need to have that But is the solution do we just send all these kids then down to a school for the deaf down there? What do we take away from them when we do that? We take away their home. We take away their family relationships, which are cultural value very ingrained deeper than how it's viewed here in the American Society We take away their community You know, we take away our opportunity to be able to learn and grow from them That's not the solution. What's got to have to start happening is that People have to come midway. Communities have to start to bridge and lie with each other For so long in the program that I direct The hearing impaired program here in San Francisco. It's a regional program where three-quarters of my Children and youth are from multicultural and probably actually I'm sorry 99% are Multi-ethnic background three-quarters of those are from non-English speaking homes what we've learned from that is Learning to be really innovative from one and really take a lot of time to bridge to network to identify the new support services and resources To start bringing communities hearing ethnic communities with the deaf communities to really start integrating people effectively Why still respecting and maintaining the unique traits and qualities for every group? That program has taught us a whole lot and the youth that are coming up there They're the ones again that are going to be leading in the future and perhaps if we can get the system right in the future They will younger people will grow up and will have a pair to whom they can go to to get their folklore to get their heroes Something that does not happen in a lot of the American schools for the deaf the ones that I've seen and important debt is There's a strong curriculum in the whole bilingual by cultural approach, which should still be maintained But just like the hearing schools where we lack in multicultural Awareness and teaching curriculum the same thing is is going to be expected to happen in our deaf institutions and so what we're talking in a larger scale is some real massive social change and a real a Real effort to Look at our attitudes to check what our own biases and prejudices and prejudices may be and to see how we can work together Respectively and and being sensitive something that just Lastly and then I'll let the panel speak In my work that I do do with big brothers big sisters. I currently have a large number of multicultural deaf and hearing impaired youth. So they're in their teenage years High school and then also kind of the transitional age between 18 and 21 Recently, we've been doing a lot of discussion just because they're ready and they're asking their questions on their identity and Family issues and because they see so much of this conflict between their home environment and their family With let's say the American society at large their particular school program You know again conflict intergenerational and also really related to the different cultural clashes that are happening and what continually comes up for them is Their ultimate desire is yes, they really do want to be able to have access to the deaf community But equally so they wish that they could know and really understand to the full depth that not even already referred to which is limited their own cultural Heritage their roots Particularly just to even communicate with their parents and hear what their parents stories are I have kids several Asian students that are taking that are learning Chinese even on their own You know and for them then the situation goes beyond bilingual by Bicultural if we're talking about multilingual multi educational training and programs in our educational institutes But also in terms of how we conduct mental health services how we work as social workers How we deal with job employment and training how we deal with independent living skills We need we need to really totally revamp our You know the style and the methodology that we're already used to Right now and that is a real tough thing because it's going to go back to what people's attitudes are to what people's biases and perspectives are and You know, but the beginning point is to is to look at that It's pretty neat though that these youth are asking for that and they're wanting me to try to find a class that they can get into I think that tells it all that what they want is they wish they could have access to all parts And I think if you know you go back again to that light and hope that that lawn speaks about the light and hope for Multicultural deaf as well as their families because they're all interconnected is You know equal opportunity and equal access to all parts of them That make up their whole being and to finally be in a community and a society whether it's in the states or any place else that recognizes That doesn't disregard it or minimize it Okay, I'm going to go ahead and Maggie's already been introduced so I will let her take the floor and we do have time for questions and answers Later on after all the panelists are done I'm Maggie de la Torre and I'm from Mexico and My family People would prefer that you stand Maggie Okay My family and I moved here when I was a year old and I grew up here. I didn't go to a deaf school I've been in a mainstream program at skyline high school and I graduated recently from skyline and I'm now at college at Laney Actually, I've been there for four years And I also work For my father and his company Anyway The communication with my family Wasn't great It was kind of hard, but I Do speak Spanish and My reading and writing in Spanish isn't so great, but um When I go out with my friends My deaf friends I'm really fascinated with the whole idea of deaf culture. I didn't really understand what deaf culture was about and it's wonderful It's I just want to learn more, but then we look at the hearing communication. It's it's not so terrific It's frustrating for me. So From this point on, you know, I I've decided to stay with my friends who are deaf because that feels more satisfying to me That's it Next Hello, everybody. My name is Tony Fong and I'm a student assistant at Laney College I mean a teacher assistant at Laney College in Oakland for the deaf program. I help out there. I Was born in Hong Kong and I moved here when I was seven and I grew up in San Francisco went into a mainstream deaf program and I graduated from high school But that high school that I went to in San Francisco the programs closed down and so I went to Fremont And I really enjoyed that experience there I met so many different people from all different kinds of cultures and deaf culture. I enjoyed using sign language. It was great and I graduated from high school at Fremont and then went to Ohlone College and I was a major in computer programming. I got a certificate from that But I got tired of the commute. So I decided to transfer to Laney College And I'm working as a teacher's assistant helping deaf people in the program. I really enjoy teaching. I'm looking for Marty. Oh, there she is. Okay Thank you Last year Marty approached me and She said would you be interested in participating in a panel discussion here at the conference? And so I was sort of talking to myself. It was in the back of my mind. I was thinking to myself well, I Won't tell you exactly what I'm thinking about librarians, right, but I was thinking what am I going to do with a group of librarians? But I think that it's extremely important to share this information with librarians People needing people needing to know about a variety of issues important to the deaf community as Lon talked about Delf culture. We're talking about different ethnic cultures I'm not sure how you both feel about the experiences you've lived through with regard to this I asked myself what does the library mean to me? What is the purpose of the library and what should is it important that librarians need to understand these issues? When we talk about patrons of the library, we're talking about both deaf and hearing and we have to look at the needs of both groups You need to know What deaf people require? We want to be able to share our experiences With you not only with deaf people and not only about deaf culture But they different ethnic groups as well and the cultures represented there We need to be able to explore what it's like for us We talk about the different kinds of identification with so many different groups in the world Today, I'd like to tell you about a comparison Between the libraries in Hong Kong and the libraries here in the States in Hong Kong I never did go to the library, but I heard about it. I knew the word. I Knew the word library and The reason that I did was because of exposure to that through my family My brother would go to the library to get a book bring it home to read it something for enjoyment You know reading a book in Chinese my sister would also pick up a book perhaps to learn English My parents never went to school, but they would buy a newspaper. They'd read it every day As for me, I had nothing like that. I would play and Of course at that time I was very young my siblings were older And I wasn't ready to move into that experience But I was also the only deaf person in the hearing family and so for those reasons in the limited communication I spent most of my time playing But I would see my brother reading a book and the book he might leave it somewhere I would pick it up and look at it and I was fascinated by it and understand the words I Would just look at the pictures and my first response was To laugh or somehow, you know, it brought some form of expression from me, but I didn't understand the words and I didn't worry about that at the time Sometimes my father would call me over and I would sit down with him He'd be reading the newspaper and I'd be curious. I'd want to know what it said and He would point to something, you know, but I wouldn't understand We would try he would try to communicate me or he asked me what a word meant and I didn't know that word I didn't have the vocabulary But we would play in that way and he would try to teach me and that was a very important experience He was a very important role model to me in that teaching Function But now it's a completely different experience here in America very Distinctly different experience when my family moved here My parents did not know English And they did not know how to communicate here They would still read the newspaper, but they would read a Chinese newspaper every day But they never asked me what these words meant. It was a very different life here once we moved to America I moved to the States and attended a hearing school But I was the only deaf student there All of the other students were hearing and I did not understand a thing that was going on My teachers would call me over You know, I would perhaps pick up a book and try and look at it But the first book I remember Looking at was called the cat The cat in the red hat. Is that it the cat in the hat? I can't remember the exact title But anyway, I remember looking at it. I Didn't understand the sentences, but I would look through the pictures And that was it I put it back on the shelf and that was it that was the extent of that experience When I would finish school, I'd go home every day And I would see a library sitting right there in the community It's fairly large See that wouldn't me anyway. I was pretty small. It was fairly overwhelming. I Would notice it and I would look it through the windows of the library and see all of these books on the shelf And I would see this daily on my On my trip back and forth to school and I would wonder what was going on kind of bothered me One day I looked and it was sort of a shape that I noticed some sort of square metal thing or I could see behind the glass I don't know. I it was kind of intimidating and scary I wasn't sure what was going on behind those glass windows and part of that was because I was in America I didn't understand the systems here and it was it was very intimidating and frightening to me I was afraid if I went in there, maybe I would get abducted But then as time passed as the months went by Seeing that door and passing it every day would bother me and I felt compelled to go inside I was having this internal struggle whether or not to walk through the doors and it was a continuing nagging feeling I Thought to myself Why is it that I won't go in if I don't or if I do go in maybe somebody'll grab me or Maybe somebody'll look at me and and some sort of strange way because I'm oriental and I don't want to be rejected And I would I would think these thoughts Continually I noticed on the door It was like a long hall Hallway, and there was like it sort of looked like you know these big Lions with their mouths open waiting to consume me as time passed I would walk past and have this continuing desire to go in and then I was starting to feel more Independent and I would sort of walk up to this boundary line and wonder if I could dare to Cross over that line and step on to the territory of the library. It was sort of like Like the first man walking on the moon That was the kind of experience I was having so I crossed that line nothing terrible happened to me It wasn't particularly frightening. It seemed like a nice room once I got in I saw the books on the shelf but still Inside I was struggling with how to handle myself I didn't feel that I was competent to deal with the situation. I looked around I saw the people there I saw people checking out books And I wondered how people filled out forms to get a library card and I just studied all of this I didn't feel that I had any way to ask directly because of the communication difficulties But I would just sort of survey this situation tried to figure out what to do I Wanted to be able to bring books home with me and the reason was that I wanted to learn English I wanted to really work on my vocabulary But then I finally felt ready to take a book off the shelf and go get online to check it out And I was very nervous getting ready to meet the librarian at the counter I had already done the paperwork and Tensitively presented it to the librarian. I didn't really know what to say And then I got the book no problem And I left and they found that that I actually could do it that I had the Competency to succeed in this environment. I had such a feeling of pride when I was able to do that. I Brought the book home and my mother said where'd you get all these books from? Said you're gonna have to take these books back. I said, nope. I'm gonna read them first What was so interesting about it was I? Was just so fascinated with the geography. I was also interested in world history, but mostly geography But the books didn't really have much to say about about Asian geography or culture or experience that it was very inadequate in that way It was a lot of well fair amount of information about you are but not enough and I thought that there was really a need for more I would read these books and I still had a hard time understanding. I didn't worry about the vocabulary though I would just go ahead and read and learn what I could as I went Something would really catch my eye. I Would have to stop and think more and really probe that Particular area, and I'm just I've always been interested in books and now I'm working at a school And it's a very sad thing Yesterday I Heard something on the TV about the the library conference going on Did you know that that it was on there was a report on the news and they were talking about all the layoffs and the cuts in Staff and services just at a time when we need so much more We need more hours. We need to hire more people and I think that the library Really needs to add more deaf services at this time needs to provide more opportunities to deaf people to be able to read and To increase their skills in reading to be more ready for the school experience At my school the library is closed. They cut the funds and That really affects my ability to teach. I want to be able to teach these kids How to be able to find a book on their own and to be able to Look through catalogs and be able to find Periodicals and find something but there's just not enough available in terms of services There are conflicts when they're available and when the library is open And so I'm hoping that in the future we're going to see an increase of services and expanded hours and services for deaf people here We need to provide storytellers We need to find Really competent sign language storytellers people that children can look up to and learn from we need to To maintain their cultural identity as Lon said and as I close I think that there are many many foreigners from other come countries who come to America and Maybe that some of them want very much to use the library, but they're scared like I was Maybe there's a man who doesn't know English and maybe he doesn't go To an American library system because he can't communicate Maybe he'll go to Chinatown and try to find a place where he can communicate more easily We see all of these different cultural groups and ethnic groups Throughout the city The door means openness. We're talking about public libraries. We're talking about not the building And it's not the building that's so frightening when you talk about walking through that door We're talking about a sense of being welcomed and having access to be able to read and to gain the information that you want and need That's it. Thank you Hello My name is Linda true I'm from Vietnam From South Vietnam. I came here as a refugee by boat. I arrived on the island and We stayed there for one year At that time, I didn't know who I was. I didn't know if I was deaf or hearing You know my home Everybody in my home everyone used a lot of body language and they were very communicative in that way And I don't think I had yet labeled myself. I wasn't sure what I was When I arrived on the island where we stayed for one year, I realized My sister told me that I was deaf and that's why I didn't understand all of the communication But I did try very hard to lip read and I tried to learn Vietnamese You know, it was very hard, you know, I would sort of make up signs And I tried to learn Cantonese Later I flew to New York And I'm to Long Island and I went to a public school there where I was mainstream and the doctors couldn't find We know out whether I was deaf or hard of hearing or what so they put me into a mainstream school and I learned Orally But it was a slow process for me just to learn the basics. I hadn't learned sign language yet that didn't come until later The teacher told me that There was a library at the school, but I'd never been to a library. I didn't have Libraries in my home country So the idea of a library at the school is very exciting to me I couldn't read but I wanted to look at the pictures. I wanted to look at the comics So my hearing friends You know would read to me and try and interpret the English to me because I couldn't understand that didn't come until much later See it. Let's see. I lived in New York in April of 1980 Until I was 13 At which time I flew to San Francisco Because I had a brother and sister who lived here. So all of our family came together and my sister told me to go to the school in Francisco school high school Francisco high school because they had an Asian program for foreign students and I wasn't happy because The teacher spoke so quickly and then she suggested that I get a Vietnamese interpreter or Cantonese translator interpreter for me and I preferred The Vietnamese the class had I had six classes In Vietnamese or Cantonese and one in English But my favorite was sitting by the back window. I didn't like sitting near the front I was too scared to do that. Maybe I was a little embarrassed or something. I don't know So I always tried to sit in the back and then I would ask my hearing friends To let me know if the teacher called my name So that I could do what I was supposed to do in class and that continued for quite some time until one day One of the I wasn't looking up and one of the students turned around and tried to get my attention And I didn't respond so they knew that I had a problem with hearing so the counselor Told my mom to come to a meeting at the school and She said did you know, you know is your daughter deaf or what and my mother sort of felt funny and Asked the doctor and so they asked that we go and have a hearing test and at that time the doctor found out that I did have a problem with hearing and Speech as well. And so the doctor labeled me hearing impaired I was satisfied with that. I felt like it didn't hurt me at all I sort of already knew that but my mother was very sad about it But I just accepted what I was But I felt that we should tell the people at the school that I was hearing impaired and be honest about that so the counselor Suggested that I go into a special deaf ed program at that time and that's where I met my friend here and You know, he signed to me and I didn't know how to sign at that time at all my teacher was hearing and told me To tell the other students my name just Linda But I didn't know how to communicate with deaf people. So it was kind of a frustrating experience So she told me to go to the library and I asked where the library was and she said well, it's near your home And she said that the San Francisco Public Library was near my home So I went there and they told me not to worry about it just to go in that they had a program They had a deaf services area. So I went in and I asked And my name sign is now is now Linda and They said they wrote a note that Linda needs a sign language videotape and a book on sign language So, you know, I promised that I would go that I would go and I would practice. I tried to learn sign language So I went to the library and it was sort of awkward figuring out how to communicate But at that time I first met Secure the security person in the library and asked, you know, where the deaf services section was And the security told me to go up the elevator And I thought now that was impossible, but he insisted so I Went in I had no idea Where to go? So I went into another room and I asked for directions to the deaf services section And they told me to go straight and then turn right and gave me directions So I went in and the woman there at the front terrified me again. I was still so scared Because I hadn't learned to sign yet So I had my note there So the note said that I wanted to get a videotape on sign language and a book and the person signed to me Do you sign and I said no and she said do you lip read and I shook my head? Yes And the person said welcome to the library you can borrow videotapes anytime you want So that was great. That was just fine with me So I sat and I watched videotapes and it took me a while to learn sign language. I'm kind of slow as a turtle, but You know, I caught on pretty quickly You know bit by bit I would go back and forth and watch it several times until I would learn I Learned first have you know the basics to say hello, my name is and so on and as time went on So that then the next day when I went to school I met my deaf friends in the class and I signed hello. They were shocked. They couldn't believe I could sign They said can you and I said yes, I can So we had you know quite a time with that You know, I was a little awkward learning sign language But you know, they taught me to sign stupid so then I could sign stupid back to them I was so proud that I could sign I could copy what they were saying So it was pretty nice to have friends in that class You know, there were some good things and some bad things but I learned through it and I went to the library every day after school to learn sign language because the teacher Forced me to she told me to promise her that I would go to the library every day and I did and After that, you know, I had all of these school friends That I have now and I owe that to the library because that's where I learned sign language. Thank you We take some questions from all of you