ENG 345 Dinner Table Syndrome discussion Hello, I have an assignment and please follow the question after you read the chapter 14. short answer not paragra

ENG 345 Dinner Table Syndrome discussion Hello, I have an assignment and please follow the question after you read the chapter 14. short answer not paragraph.!- Explain what the “Dinner Table Syndrome” means that relate to Deaf people and how this syndrome can be minimized? Also, Graybill mentions about “bats” in chapter 14. Why did Graybill use the “bats” metaphor in regards to his being Deaf? Explain this metaphor.Thanks 226 Susan C. Searts and David R. Johnston
people thankful for having been born at the right time and also
also very good in that it makes me feel more equal with bearing
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Another New Birth:
Reflections of a Deaf
Native Signer
for having been born in America, where opportunities for Deaf pro
ple are the best in the world
ss: Yes, I feel the same. You have said it well
PATRICK A GRAYBILL
The America’s with Diabete Act as the law that gives disabled people the right
In the Deaf conununity, I am known as an accomplished actor play dinec
port storyteller, teacher American Sign Language consultant and
tator This chapter will reveal my reflections as a Deaf artist moving
between the written/printed aspect of English and the unwelten system
of American Sign Language. An easy and accurate way of recording ASL
these days is by way of videotape. You may wonder why I have not
mentioned spoken English as one of my territories. That is because I have
het heard a spoken word all my life. In fact, I am proud to be a Deal man
very delighted with the divine gift of AS, and, indeed, enjoy reading
tests in English, albeit with some struggle
I was born in a Kansas family of seven children, fire of whom are Deal
including myselt. Because of my joy and talent in using ASL particularly
in the area of dramatic arts, it is too easy assumed by many people that!
children in the United States who have hearing parents. Yet it is a blessing
that I can easily identify myself with the Deaf comunity whole rich
history and social network have made a significant difference in my lide1
banne Deaf parents. However, I an among the estimated cost of Deal
P Liray MMS, What U indult a
Sen Medienen opliched Decora
He brother and pe
mer in the Arena Stare and has a lot the General
y Servei confronti
The He is the video
chical Institut Marando
Ya Mwdat pour
225
226 Patrick A. Graybill
am grateful over and over again that I have hearing parents who has
allowed me to be Deal
truth. I haven’t I do have struggles as a Deaf person. The beason is that
am a member of the Deaf community, which nonmembers tend to labels
disabled or handicapped. I am a product of a Deaf culture but I also live in
this bearing dominant culture. For this reason, I have often felt like the
confused bats in Aesop’s table about a long-lasting war between binds and
beasts. The bats had a hard time deciding whether they were binds because
they had wings or were beasts because they did not lay eggs. They
couldn’t decide which group to support, so they stayed out of the war
Over the years, I have slowly learned that it is better to know and stand up
for one’s values, traditions, language, and community than to assume that
other people’s culture is the only way of life. But learning and realizing
who I am was not so easy
As I said, I was born deaf to hearing parents. But fortunately, I have the
cider Deaf sisters who first went to my alma mater and enriched them
selves with the acquisition of ASL and Deaf culture. Very early in our live
this gift of language and culture was transmitted to me and my younger
siblings, including my hearing sister, who eventually became a certified
interpreter between Deaf and hearing people. I recall that my family
home sat together around an antique dining table at meal times and we
tvo languages at the same time, my parents and hearing sisters conversed
in linglish and the rest of us in ASL We Deaf children undoubtedly did not
understand fully what the others were saying Sometimes we asked them
what they were discussing or vice versa. At other times we simply
nored them. I was frightened at times by the seemingly violent que
between my parents. Many years later I mentioned this to my hearing
ser who did not remember these quarrels at all. Leventually realized that
mga hof topic. I was too afraid to ask Mother; although not formally
perhaps my misunderstanding was due to how they looked while discuss
trained in ASL she does have a limited sommand of ASL and is inderd
my first facilitator of communication between Deaf people and hearing
people. And I could not ask Father who did not have a comandot AL
at al
five I was thrilled. The reason was that during my early childhood, before
When I finally enrolled at the Kansas School for the Deaf at the age of
older Draf sisters there, and aspired to enter as a student Residing at
school started for me. I accompanied my parents frequently to drop off my
door there a wise move, for it was the source of Draculare il
Reflections of a Deaf Native Signer
227
which the subtleties of ASL, the behaviors and manners of Deaf people,
and the folklore and arts of Deaf artists were generously and naturally
provided. Every morning I went with my schoolmates to the campus
tool building to experience groans and struggles as students in a
Dician environment. For the first time in my youth I was not allowed
talk in ASL signing was forbidden in the classroom. If I did not follow
the rule, my hands would be restrained in a pair of white mittens con-
nected by a small string I was compelled to learn the three R’s in spoken
and written English, which was not my second language yet I did not feel
as though I could move smoothly between two languages and two cul-
is as I do now, since I had not had a chance to understand what the
second Language or culture was about. My early experiences in the class
room were like sailing over rough waters without any proper training. I
was an eager survivor who made excellent grades but did not understand
why learning was important. It was mostly rote memory for me. It took me
Bearly four years before the three ‘s and other courses made any sense to
the
The school focused on training Deaf youngsters to be like hearing peo
ple because the world belonged to hearing people, they assumed, and we
miast learn to adapt to their way of life. The training was unnatural, al-
though we went to schools for Deal youngsters, we received an impres
sine that we had to have skill to speak like hearing people in order to
Succeed as citizens of their world.
Now I realize that the world is not really theirs. But at that time we
naive students assumed that we had better support the bearing people’s
way of thinking because who knows, maybe their way of life was really
the best. We felt at ease living as Deaf people but we did not support our
ben Deal peers who struggled with the hearing people. Whenever we
confused bats supported the hearing ways and hearing values, I believe
we hurt ourselves as well as all Deaf people.
We succumbed to the hearing authorities so much that we developed a
false concept that hearing people were right at all times. Instead of criticiz
Ing hearing people where we feared, we werbally attacked our own Deat
Peers in order to please the hearing people. For example, Deaf teachers in
esidential schools for the deaf wanted to be active advocates to educate
the public about the lives and rights of Deaf people. Yet they so feared
Ever hearing colleagues and superiors that they learned to restrain their
enthusiasm in order to keep their jobs, They sometimes spoke out against
trouble makers. These attacks and accusations unintentionally made her
229
2 Patrick A. Graybill
Reflections of a Deaf Native Signer
dal It was evident that deat employees at the Kansas School for the Deat
colo form the majority. We did not fight back because we did not
www that we could have power. When I enrolled at Gallaudet College, the
Out of these frustrated Deaf teachers in the eyes of their hearing
words and administrators and even those Deaf people who dilut
know the identities and values yet. Another example is that
appointed Deaf authorities wrote articles for Deaf magazines and news
papers of gave speeches to distort ASL and the Deaf culture Liedot
nately this malpractice continues today
I was fortunate to discover the joy of printed English outside this edus
tical system quite by chance. At that time, at the age of nine ar ben, 1
talent for thinking up educational games for her children). Because she
persuaded my mother to create a new game for me she had a sperial
was busy baking a cake, she asked me to play familiar games such as las
er Hide and seek Being a spoiled brat
, I insisted upon a new game
Putting the bowl of cake batter aside, she took me to the living room and
gave me a book titled Beautiful foe. The first sentence in the book went
something like this: “My name is Beautiful Joe… and I am a cur.” The
word “cur” did not make sense to me, so I asked my mother to define it
Instead of simply telling me the answer she introduced me to how to usea
children’s dictionary. Once I realized that the dictionary helped me to find
definitions for the words I did not know. I fell in love with reading righe
there and then Returning to the kitchen to bake the cake, my mother did
not realize that she had introduced me to a wonderful game that I would
play constantly and independently. It was like a mystery game to me and!
became a bookworm. The sailing voyage to the world of written and
printed English for me became less rough and more enjoyable.
Our real hasen was the dormitory where we were allowed to converse
in ASL and played, quaneled, and lived like normal youngsters. The older
we became the less and less the spoken system of English at school wa
emphasized. We were relieved. But we Deaf-bats were still confused and
did not yet berow that there was nothing wzong with Deaf culture
and
that heating people were right at all times and English was superior
ASL or even with bilingualism. For we still kept the same assumpticos
ASL
When I enrolled at Gallaudet College in 1958, I was awed by my first-
i pronsson, most of whom were Deaf. They were ideal role models for
me, and I was inspired to become a teacher like them. In hindsight, they
did use a signed system of English. This did not bother me at that the
because their command of signed English was clear and fluent in e
parison to that of my teachers back in my alma mater in Kansas explor
the dew Desfrache there. The state policy of Kansas during my training
there were no more than 33% of the faculty and staff members to be
pressure of using signed English as a primary mode of communication in
e sademic environment in order to look intellectual could be too much
isras rative ASL users. Many of us continued to be the confused “bot”
cerving struggles between the advocates of ASL and advocates of the
artificial systems of signed English who hoped to compel Deaf students to
abandon their natural language and use one of those systems in order to
English. Those advocates of the artificial systems did not truly re
pect ASI. nor the Deaf culture, since they strongly discouraged the use of
that language and culture in the academic environment. Therefore, Icon
sider them to be the oppressors of the Deaf culture. Unfortunately, they
also included some deaf people who did not want to be members of the
Deaf community because they assumed that the artificial system of
signed English would enable Deaf students to learn inglish. What they
did not know is that reading and writing English in addition to using a
natural language, ASL is the best way of learning English
In the area of dramatic arts. I tried my best to transliterate English and
American Literature texts. By this I mean that I would replace English
words with often poorly selected signs which, I thought, were equivalent
to them in meaning. My translations were thought to be so excellent that I
wo many literary prizes and awards. But these translations used signed
English more than ASL it was many years before I realized the flaws in
may work. I just glossed English in sign it was an artificial system of siped
English. In those times I was like a bat that did not anderstand what it was
During the later years of my college education, a few people began to
proclaim that ASL is our trup language, based on language research done
is the chairperson of the Department of English, Dr. William Stakoe. At
that time. I majored in English and was bewildered by the proclamation
Honestly speaking, Dr Stokee did noe use ASL fluents. For this reason 1
Was not convinced that what he said was true that ASL was my native
language. Because I was very busy with extracurricular activities such as
ny fraternity.church, and theater. I overlooked this good news that ASL
was a legitimate language after all. Although I used ASL in my daily life
when conversing with the users of the language, this ignorance continued
amber of the internationally acclaimed National Theater of the Deaf. So,
like the poor bat, I was going back and forth between the twocutekel ASL
doing
with me even when I became a teacher of Deaf younes and later a
231
230 Patrick A. Graybill
Reflections of a Deaf Native Signer
third about two centers – two ways of thinking. We Deaf people have our
center, whereas hearing people have theirs, therefore, conflicts have
and their oppressors For which team should I root? What dugout should
be sitting in? In addition, the waters through which I was sailing we
muddied with rapidly developed systems of making English visible
must be that the creators of those systems reacted negatively to the flour
ishing use of ASL in academic classes and on the stage and TV, beca
they thought that ASL caused Deaf people to reject English, which is
patently a myth. In hindsight, I used ASL as a way of conversing with the
users of the language but I continued to be a bookworm too, in awe of
English as my secondary language. It was true of so many Deaf people in
the past, and it is still true among us Deaf people today
People like Ella Mae Lentz, Dennis Cokely, Charlotte Baker-Shenk.
Carol Padden, M. J. Bienvenu, and Harlan Lane, to name a few, awakened
me to the fact that ASL is legitimate and can be used on the stage. When
left the National Theater of the Deaf, I continued the fallacy of transliterat
ing the printed system of English in the hopes of pleasing everybody It
was a tiresome and useless task. While directing plays or supposedly
translating plays for my hearing colleagues at the National Technical In
stitute for the Deaf. I did not understand what good translation actually
meant until one day I met a hearing ally who worked as an interpreter on
the campus and had been involved in a staged production there. She
challenged me to really translate plays into ASL and forget the lazy and
poor idea of replacing English words with signs. The more I translated
literary pieces, the freer I felt. I felt more and more like myself as a Deal
person. The more I learned about ASL and Deaf culture from the people
named above and others, the better I felt as a Deaf person and the free!
felt to be an actor on the stage. For example, when as an actor I used the
artificial system of signed English on the stage, I was not completely able
to use the grammar of ASL, including proper markers, to express what
actual meaning the playwright wanted to convey to the audience. The
experience of using the signed English on the stage was like writing a text
the stage. I felt like a wooden soldier. After feeling proud of using Aslon
in stilted English. Although people commented on how clearly I signed on
the stage. I was able to be a real live actor who could allow his feelings
flow out and add the meaning to the language used on the stage
Now this was a new thing for me and I really appreciated the very free
sensation, and I felt less and less like a bat. The more I want to be with the
advocates of ASL, the more willing I am to face my oppressors. My days
Carol Padden and Tom Humphries’s book, Deaf in America: Voices from
Culture (1988, Harvard University Press) has a wonderful chapter, the
igen. For instance, our idea of silence and theirs are not alike at all. They
think that silence means a lack of sounds. As for us Deaf people, silence is
feeling lost in a room full of hearing people who chat with their
mouths
and do not use ASL. This is a very interesting way to look at each other in
terms of sound and silence and other differences. So I look at these two
views as a member of the Deaf community and realize more and more that
people’s attitudes toward Deaf people actually depend on which view-
point they have of the Deaf community. Sometimes, the viewpoint is sick-
ening and biased perhaps because they are afraid of who we Deaf people
are and how different we are from them. Besides, it is possible that they are
scared of losing their power over us. I am currently a proud member of the
Deaf community. And I enjoy being with the advocates of ASL. It creates
positive feelings for me as a Deaf actor, poet, storyteller, and translator
However, I have compassion for those deaf”bats” who remain behind, for
example, deaf people coming from schools where they trave not been
given an ASL language base and who do not yet have a clear sense of self-
identity. My answer for them is Go get a good education. I believe that
their education has to be based on a very solidly developed bilingual
bicultural curriculum which reflects the use of ASL as the primary lan-
guage in an academic environment and English as the secondary lan-
guage. Then students can have the three R’s and have a history, science,
language, and arts curriculum that reflects Deaf culture so that they can
help formulate their self-identity and develop a sense of dignity. Once they
understand the Deaf culture better then they will understand and enjoy
their first language, ASL, as well as their secondary language, English. I
know what it will be like, for it is my story too!
a bat are over. And I have experienced a new birth
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
In Search of Self:
Experiences of a Postlingually
Deaf African-American
DIANNE K. BROOKS
Experiences of a Deaf African-American
247
pesanal pride that remains even today a fundamental core of my self
day My grandmother described her own youth and the prejudice she
encuentred growing up as the child of a Native American mother and an
thican-American father. She related vivid accounts of the Great Depres
son and of the family’s unsuccessful venture as operators of a moving and
hauling business. In spite of these obstacles and hardships, my grand-
other’s dialogues always concluded with a portrait of my family as
survivors whose sense of pride and tenacity could not be defeated
Those first twelve years were filled with many joyful events: Saturday
afternoons at the local theater matinee, roller-skating races around the
immediate neighborhood, family gatherings at Thanksgiving, Christmas
ind Bastet a school field trip to New York’s Hayden Planetarium; sum-
mer days at the local playground/recreation center, learning to gyrate
with a hula hoop around my waist; watching American Bandstand after
school each afternoon. There were the inevitable sibling free for all en
counters and grudgingly completed household chores. There were the
birthday celebrations and school plays. And there was finally, the last
joyous sound of music I was ever to hear a class trip to Constitution Hall
to hear the Washington Philharmonic Orchestra
Thus, I spent my early years in this family milieu, in a neighborhood of
other families like mine, all members of a proud, albeit struggling African-
American working class While my family’s struggle for economic sur
vival dominated our lives, a strong sense of determination and personal
pride provided the mainstay of my life. Then, at the age of twelve and in
the tenensuing years, my world went into a tallspin, and the strength of
my personal convictions and my sense of self were put to the best. My
journey into deafness began on a warm sunny spring day a few months
before summer vacation
For the first twelve years of my life. I was one of five normally hearing
siblings in my family. My existence revolved around my African
American family residing in the nation’s capital at a time that
characterize as a kind of twilight in the African-American experience
came of age in the pas…
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