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COPYRIGHT AND CITATION INFORMATION:
© Linderman, Albert, 1996. Cite as: Linderman, Albert
(1996). The influence of deaf culture on the sense-making of Deaf
Americans. Paper presented at the International Communication
Association annual meeting, Chicago, Illinois, May 23. Available
at: http://communication.sbs.ohio-state.edu/sense-making/meet/m96linderman.html
ESSENCE OF THE PROJECT:
Deaf people in America compose a complex, multi-faceted society.
The majority hearing society historically has had significant
control over key components of\ Deaf society. These components
include; the language taught to Deaf children, philosophy and
approach to the education of Deaf children, and employment opportunities,
both in the hiring and advancement stages. These societal constraints,
combined with the individuality of the person, has resulted in
a society which has some elements of homogeneity and some elements
of heterogeneity. With this research I am seeking to identify
common "Deaf" sense-making actions or verbings. I expect
these verbings to be grounded in certain fundamental assumptions
and dispositions Deaf people have towards life. I made the following
assumptions in this research:
a. Each Deaf person has by virtue of the primary use of the eyes
for language a view of the world that differs qualitatively from
people who use their ears in deciphering language.
b. Deaf people are "normal;" in that they develop physically,
mentally, emotionally, and spiritually in ways common for any
person, given a similar set of circumstances. Deafness is best
considered as a difference, not a deficit. It is a difference,
however, which, because of the lack of the sense of hearing, does
bring about significant communication challenges in life not faced
by most hearing people.
REASONS I TOOK THIS ROAD:
....relates to my background in anthropological studies and the
need I perceive to more adequately probe Deaf individuals to find
the essence of this apparent "dark matter" called "Deaf
Culture." As is the case in astronomical circles where dark
matter has been postulated due to observed natural effects, yet
unelucidated, Deaf culture has been accepted in many circles as
reality, though its essence remains obscured.
THE BEST OF WHAT I HAVE ACHIEVED IS:
I spent dozens of hours each with three Deaf individuals. With
each per son I recorded 7 hours of interview (a process which
covered several months). In the interviews I probed the individuals
concerning decisions made in life. These decisions involve areas
such as choice made when life circumstances changed, two or more
options were presented, or the path of life led to certain barriers.
These probings included; how each sees the decisions now, how
each saw the decision at the time, and how each perceives other
Deaf people, hearing people and family members would evaluate
the decisions. I also interviewed, using the sense-making interview,
another 9 individuals an average of 30 minutes each. Based on
the interviews in conjunction with reading in the field of ethnic
studies I conclude that the nature of Deaf culture parallels that
of other societies known as oppressed peoples. This parallel is
demonstrated in the disclosures of Deaf people in this research.
There are also commonalities among those who are Deaf and use
Sign Language. These are:
WHAT HAS BEEN PARTICULARLY HELPFUL:
... has been the ontological and epistemological assumptions as
well as the theory of the subject proposed by Sense- Making. As
one who has been delving into the complementary fields of anthropology
and personology, and their corresponding roots in philosophy,
I have been refreshed by the articulation given by Dervin and
others to some of my thoughts. As an example, when writing about
participatory communication in South America, Dervin and Huesca
stated: "All explanations are assumed to be potentially useful
fictions leading to the question, what do different explanations/fictions
allow in terms of actions and possibilities? . . . this approach
. . . acknowledges that both the knowing and the standards of
testing the knowing are made and contested in communication. Further,
in assuming both ontological as well as epistemological incompleteness,
this approach provides not only epistemological justification
for a view of participation as made in communication but an ontological
mandate as well. An epistemological mandate merely requires tolerance
of difference; an ontological mandate suggests interdependency"
(Dervin and Huesca 1995 "The Participatory Communication
For Development Narrative: An Examination Of Meta-Theoretic Assumptions
And Their Impacts." Chapter to appear in Jacobson, Thomas
L. and Servaes, Jan. THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO PARTICIPATORY COMMUNICATION.
Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, International Association for Mass
Communication book series, in preparation.
I affirm the need for interdependency among the various segments and factions of humanity. The assertions concerning interdependency suggested in the paragraph above inform and motivate my work.
WHAT I HAVE STRUGGLED WITH:
. . . the difficulty of finding a good way to avoid the use of
"Why" questions. Sense-Making suggests using interview
questions such as, "What led you to choose that?" This
general, fuzzy term "led" is not easily translatable
into American Sign Language. I have found the need to be more
specific in the asking of these types of questions. The specifics
I chose have been to ask about motivations, reasons, and causes.
The word concept "cause" is similar to "led"
but gives a sense of reacting to a situation as opposed to a more
generic word which could allow the respondent to speak in proactive
as well as reactive terms. Also I have been unable to avoid the
feeling that, as a hearing person, I am affecting the responses
more than I would like.
WHAT WOULD HELP ME NOW:
. . . more experience in using Sense-Making philosophy and methodology
and indications for further development of my research.
. . . an understanding of the role of the individual's volition
in sense-making.
. . . a means of unpacking the primordial attachment Deaf people
have with others who are Deaf.
PROJECT ABSTRACT:
Deaf people in America compose a complex, multi-faceted society.
The majority hearing society historically has had significant
control over key components of this society. These components
include; the language taught to Deaf children, educational philosophy
and approach, and employment opportunities. However, these societal
constraints, combined with the individuality of the person, have
resulted in a society which has some elements of homogeneity and
some elements of heterogeneity. This paper attends to identifying
through the use of Sense-Making interviews the conditions in which
Deaf people have cohesive "Deaf" ways of information
seeking and engaging the world.
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