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Deaf again chapters 1-8 questions...

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Elise Diedrick Professor Emilius Asl 1 October 8th, 2020

DEAF AGAIN Chapters 1-7

1. Sherry’s childbirth experience: What issues would come up “today” if the same situation happened to a mother giving birth in a hospital? In my opinion, I feel as though many people, in general, are not educated about deaf people. I know my mom went through similar problems giving birth to me, even though she can hear perfectly fine. Doctors do not take black women’s pain seriously. And the same goes for deaf people. I think it’s just important to learn English as well as ASL. Everyone should have the right to communicate. I think something like this could happen today because people aren’t taught it in school. I know if my high school had ASL as a class, I would’ve taken it. That being said, I’m pretty sure it goes the same for many others. If something happened on the same lines as Sherry’s experience, I do not think that women could be as lucky as Sherry. Say, for instance, the woman did not have someone else like Sherry. And the nurses reacted the same. That woman and maybe even her baby might die. I hope not, though, since a lot has changed since the 1960s technology-wise. But Deaf education needs to be provided, so situations like this could never happen again.

2. Mark was considered “hard of hearing” or, as he says, “on the fence” between the Deaf world and the hearing world. Many cultures/communities have this same attitude. In your opinion, why does it seem that many cultures or organizations have the mindset that a person must be one or the other? Not “in-between?” I can speak about the experience. I have a form of Tourette’s syndrome. My case isn’t as severe as others. So I was declined several camps and events for Tourette’s. I am guessing it is because people find it hard to accept differences. I have tics that I can not control, but I do not cuss and make uncontrollable noises and movements, so I was not excepted into the programs. You can see issues like this even when it comes to other problems like racism. People think racism is a black and white thing. It is not; every color goes through some type of discrimination. People look at problems in the world, like math problems. It can only be one answer for every situation. Not everything in the world has one solution.

3. Why do people say “death” instead of “Deaf?” (There is not a right or wrong answer. As Mark said in the book, hearing people tend to misspeak and say death when talking about a deaf person. Why do you think that is?) That would simply be because they can't pronounce the “th” correctly. It is a standard indicator of a foreign accent since the “th” is a unique sound and does not occur in many languages such as German, Danish, and Japanese, so people who do this just have trouble learning the odd new sound "th.” Or because some cell phones or software auto spell and change the entry of the word "deaf".

4. What is “Deaf Chat Syndrome?”

It is when deaf people get together and chat for a long time. Mark described going to see his mother’s friend as a child and getting frustrated because they would be there for so long, and as soon as they seemed they were about to leave, the woman would suddenly remember something and start a whole new conversation.

5. Why was it so important to Mark that he works so hard to look, act, and speak like a hearing person? Did he succeed? Mark is Lower-case deaf, which means someone who simply can't hear but tries to pass as a hearing person in the hearing world. I’m guessing the cause is Deaf students are usually first placed in hearing schools or mainstream programs, where they had a hard time and often fell behind their peers due to classroom communication issues. And he probably found himself trying to fit in because he did not feel “normal”.

6. Why did Mark and Sekou hit it off and become good friends? Sekou, whom he played baseball with, was an African American, and he realized that there were certain societal restraints on what Sekou could do. He was frustrated that Sekou, “one of the few people who unconditionally accepted him for who (he) was”, wasn’t able to do certain things because “(his) skin color was a big deal” (35). Mark also learned an important lesson from Sekou’s family when Sekou’s father brought him to their barbershop. As the only white person in the entire shop, Mark understood what it was like to be a racial minority. The author includes this section overlooking racial differences to compare how black people feel discriminated against by racist people to how deaf people think when they are being judged or criticized by hearing people. Also, just how Sekou's family was proud of their culture, Mark would later discover that Deaf

people are proud of their culture, too.

7. What occurred to Mark when he would tag along with his mother to work at Pennsylvania School for the Deaf (PSD)? He started to feel accepted. He also gained leadership skills and confidence while working with deaf children. But when the school closed its dorms, he decided to go to Gallaudet. This also helped with his enthusiasm and helped him gain goals. He also participated in the basketball team. He also met a woman named Melanie that would later become his wife there. He graduated there with a B. A. in Psychology and his M. A. in School Counseling and Guidance.

8. Mark got an interpreter. What was the confusion between the two of them? How did Mark prevail with the interpreter working in the classroom? When he first met his interpreter, he did not know what to think because he never had a purity like that before. And his interpreter though she might have shard time with him because she was under the impression that he did not know how to sign. But once the confession was cleared, they had a good laugh. He started to see the beauty in ASL. He could finally understand what was happening around him. He could yet take part in injokes and casual conversations in class. Kids even started taking part in learning ASL too. Mark finally started to understand himself and even others....