The Deaf as a People Group

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The Deaf as a People Group
Deaf as an Ethno-Linguistic People Group
Orville Boyd Jenkins Compiled from material by
Vesta Sauter
Developed March 2004 Last edited 27 May 2009
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Deaf as an Ethno-Linguistic People Group
The Deaf as a People Group
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Deaf as an Ethno-Linguistic People Group
The Deaf as a People Group

• Four basic elements are foundational to
  understanding the Deaf as a people group
• their language,
• their social interaction,
• their educational identity, and
• their political structure.

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Deaf as an Ethno-Linguistic People Group
The Deaf as a People Group

• Four basic elements are foundational to
  understanding the Deaf as a people group
• their language,
• their social interaction,
• their educational identity, and
• their political structure.

• These four basic elements or characteristics
  define the Ethnographic Core of the Cultural
  Deaf, or Core Deaf

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The Deaf as a People Group
Aspects of the Deaf Worldview
Language - Social Political - Education
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Four basic elements
Language

• One of the key elements that identify the Deaf as
  a people group is that of the use of signed
  language.
• The Deaf individuals that have signed language as
  their heart language will fit into the category
  often referred to as the Core Deaf.
• These individuals depend heavily on the national
  signed language and not on any blend of their
  language with the national, or access, language
  of the country.
• Although their ability to read and understand the
  access language of the country may vary, their
  language is not related to it.

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Four basic elements
Language

• Knowledge of the majority language may offer a
  little more accessibility to information but it
  has little or nothing to do with the dynamic
  found among those who share the national signed
  language.
• The use of the national signed language is the
  first pillar that supports the concept of the
  Deaf People Group.

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Four basic elements
Social

• Social Interaction -- this cultural element
  directly related to the linguistic identity of
  the Deaf People Group.  
• The uniqueness of Deaf culture is obvious even to
  the casual observer but nowhere is it more
  identifiable than within the social structure of
  the community.

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Four basic elements
Social

• Deaf Clubs
• Gathering in Deaf clubs on a regular basis
• In countries all around the globe
• Coinciding structures associated with the Deaf
  clubs extend into the broader deaf community
• (relationships, support systems, decision-making
  patterns)
• A dynamic unique to those who are part of the
  Core Deaf People Group.

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Four basic elements
Social

• Deaf adults nearly always marry other Deaf
  although the percentage of Deaf children who have
  Deaf parents is relatively small.
• Still there is the more than just a natural
  affinity of those who share this language and
  social foundation.

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Four basic elements
Education

• The Core Deaf, making up the 30 million Deaf
  worldwide and constituting the Deaf People Group,
  typically have attended a residential Deaf school
  somewhere in the country where they grew up.
• The common experiences of classroom, dormitory,
  and almost always, an oppressive system of
  oralism, builds some sort of bond between Deaf
  adults who are part of the core group.

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Four basic elements
Political

• As in most people groups the political (social)
  dynamic is a key part of the foundation for their
  core values.
• Politics in the Deaf community is centered on
  leadership within that core group.
• Typically this has nothing to do with how much or
  how little hearing loss there is.

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Four basic elements
Political

• An individual may be totally deaf when it comes
  to their auditory senses but not an accepted part
  of the Deaf community, and its political
  structure, because of a reliance on oralism
  instead of signed language.
• The politically involved Deaf person will feel
  out of place in most hearing settings where there
  a total political vacuum exists for him/her.

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The Deaf as a People Group
Worldview The 4 circles of the ethnographic core
Language - Social Political - Education
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The Deaf as a People Group
The Deaf as a People Group
Deaf as an Ethno-Linguistic People Group
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Orville Boyd Jenkins Compiled from material by
Vesta Sauter
Developed March 2004 Last edited 27 May 2009