Introduction
The capacity to hear contributes significantly to the majority of activities that people engage in during their day-to-day lives. Therefore, when one loses this capability and becomes deaf, life changes drastically and irreversibly. Additionally, some people are born deaf, and thus they are excluded from different social engagements. In contemporary American society, the deaf face social stigmatization in different life aspects. However, Nora Ellen Groce wrote a chef-d’oeuvre book, Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language, to highlight the possibility of having a society where deaf people lead normal lives. This paper discusses what I learned from this book. I will also connect what is said about sign language in the book to the way modern society views American sign language (ASL).
What was Understood from the Book
One of the most outstanding lessons from this book is that society can assimilate the deaf, and allow them to lead normal lives. In the book, the author notes that deaf people living in Martha’s Vineyard between the 1600s and the 1900s were part of the community, and they were not seen as individuals with a hearing problem. Groce reveals that all people living on this island were bilingual and “every resident learnt to talk in with fingers as early as with his tongue” (75). The realization that the deaf can be assimilated into the larger community and be involved in normal daily activities was baffling to me. In modern society, ASL is mainly studied by the deaf. The common perception is that this form of language is meant for those without the capacity to hear. This view is a clear contrast to what Groce highlights throughout her book.
The current lack of interest in ASL by hearing individuals underscores the majority of the problems and stigmatization that deaf people experience in our times. As Groce notes, “A deaf person’s greatest problem is not simply that he or she cannot hear, but that the lack of hearing is socially isolating” (3). This assertion is true because deaf people are excluded from most social events. Contemporarily, it is difficult to find deaf individuals attending social functions organized by their hearing counterparts. In cases where a deaf person gathers the courage to join such an event, he or she will be isolated most of the time. This argument holds because modern society has not embraced sign language. However, Groce points out that at Martha’s Vineyard, “there were so many of them that nobody thought anything about it…and when they had socials, or anything…everybody would go and they [the deaf] enjoyed it, just as much as anybody did. They used to have fun – we all did” (59). From this observation, it is clear that the deaf in Martha’s Vineyard were not viewed as impaired or handicapped in any way.
The perceptions and definitions associated with deafness in American society have contributed significantly to the stereotypes associated with this condition. First, the ASL has to be learned formally, which prevents the hearing community from understanding it. In the book, Groce posits, “None of my informants remembered any formal teaching” (55). This assertion shows that sign language was learned progressively throughout people’s lives. In our times, hearing individuals view deafness as an impairment. However, at Martha’s Vineyard, it was seen as a separate linguistic context and culture. This argument explains why Groce says that people were bilingual. In contemporary American society, we have terms such as the deaf “culture” or “community”, which creates a distinction between individuals based on their capacity to hear or the lack of it thereof.
In modern times, deafness is viewed from two distinct perspectives. In the first one, it is seen as a pathological issue that requires medical attention to be remediated. The other perspective is sociocultural whereby the deaf are viewed as a linguistic and cultural minority group. These views are damaging, and from the book, I now realize that they are hinged on stereotypes that have been accepted as societal norms. If the people of Martha’s Vineyard could live in harmony and interact freely with the deaf, we can also do the same within our communities. Understanding sign language does not need formal learning. On the contrary, sign languages are not universal. They grow organically and develop with time just like the spoken languages. Therefore, we can all learn sign language, at our own pace and style, which would ultimately lead to the assimilation of the deaf to the mainstream social functions.
Conclusion
In her book, Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language, Nora Ellen Groce explores the lives of the residents of Martha’s Vineyard in the 17th century concerning their views on deafness. From the book, I have realized that sign language can be learned organically without conventional training. However, the current American society views ASL as a form of language that should be studied formally. This perception has led to the social marginalization of the deaf in different aspects.
Work Cited
Groce, Ellen N. Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language. Harvard University Press, 1985.