Pro-Tactile:%20DB%20People%20at%20the%20Center

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Pro-Tactile DB People at the Center

• Chapter 4.2.1

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Overview

• Pro-Tactile is a philosophy and method
  developed primarily by aj granda (she prefers
  lower case letters for her name).
• Granda has developed this philosophy and method
  in close collaboration with Terra Edwards and
  Jelica Nuccio.
• It is central to this curriculum and to an
  understanding of the experience of DB people.

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Overview (cont.)

• This presentation explains Pro-Tactile and how
  it can (and should) be applied by SSPs,
  interpreters and others in the DB Community.

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Definitions Distinctions

• Pro-tactile is
• a philosophy,
• a method, and
• an attitude.
• It should not be reduced to haptics (relating to
  the sense of touch) although it is very much
  about touch.

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Pro-Tactile is a Philosophy
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Philosophy

• As a philosophy, Pro-Tactile asserts the right
  of DB people to define themselves and their own
  culture, and to not be dominated by
  non-deaf-blind thinking or the values of the
  dominant culture.
• This means to value touch and the DB Way, just as
  Deaf people value vision, ASL and the Deaf
  Community (as opposed to fitting in).

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Community

• As a philosophy, Pro-Tactile rejects the
  emphasis on differences such as degrees of vision
  or amount of hearing among DB people, which is
  based on an individualistic, case-by- case
  conception of what it means to be deaf-blind.
• Pro-Tactile affirms the value of a common
  tactile language but also community itself.

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Responsibility

• The philosophy of Pro-Tactile is centered in
  the DB experience but it is also about
  responsibility of the DB person to
• take the initiative,
• think for themselves,
• seek out information, and
• do tasks on their own rather than passively
  receiving information second-hand at the
  discretion of others.

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Autonomy vs. Independence

• The DB person who follows a Pro-Tactile
  philosophy does things by themselves (as opposed
  to alone).
• In the next slide the DB woman is shown the
  position of the elevator button which she then
  pushes herself.
• It is about responsibility and about a fuller
  experience.

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Empowering

• The Pro-Tactile philosophy says, DB can do!
  as in an earlier generations Deaf can do! or
  I. King Jordans famous quote, Deaf people can
  do anything but hear.
• Using touch and their intelligence Given access,
  DB people can do anything but hear and see.

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Pro-Tactile is Pro- (not Anti-)
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Pro-, not Anti-

• Pro-Tactile is pro-touch i.e. pro-tactile,
  pro-experience and pro-responsibility.
• It is not anti-vision, anti-hearing or anti-SSPs.
• Just as being pro-reading is not being
  anti-math, pro-ASL is not anti-English.
• While Pro-Tactile promotes the use of touch, it
  does not discourage any additional access a DB
  person may be able to make use of.

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Jorge (left) uses both touch and vision while
listening to Lee.
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Pro-Tactile is a Method
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Pro-Tactile as a Method

• As a method Pro-Tactile supports hands-on
  learning and hands-on experience rather than an
  experience limited to the DB persons partial
  vision / hearing or vicarious information.
• SSPs should tell the DB person about the
  environment and also facilitate touch as a part
  of the experience.

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Touch

• The next few slides illustrate DB people using
  touch as a part of the experience while using an
  SSP on a shopping excursion or learning about new
  art in the light rail tunnel. These are an
  illustration of the Pro-Tactile approach or
  method.

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Pro-Tactile and SSPs
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Sighted Pro-Tactile Method

• The way sighted people and deaf-blind people use
  touch will be different, but when sighted people
  are with DB people, this method instructs them
  (sighted people) to use touch to
• Maintain a presence (stay in touch with the DB
  person)
• Use tactile back-channel signals (including
  hands-on) for listening to a DB person. (See
  presentation, Tactile ASL)

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Staying in Touch

• The next few slides show pictures of sighted SSPs
  using touch to communicate non-verbally. This
  may simply be Im here or it may be
  back-channel information (feedback) during a
  conversation.
• This staying in touch precludes the DB person
  having to talk into a void.

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Here the DB woman uses a pro-tactile approach to
choosing bananas while the SSP stays in touch.
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Notice the SSP on the left staying in touch with
the DB man. The SSP on the right is doing the
same, while the two DB people are using one hand
to talk and one to listen and do back-channeling.

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Pro-Tactile is an Attitude
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Pro-Tactile as an Attitude

• Pro-Tactile as an attitude or value emphasizes
• The responsibility and ability of DB people to
  seek out and get direct information on their own,
  rather than to depend on mediated experiences as
  filtered through SSPs or others.
• A rejection of the pressure from the dominant
  society to conform to sighted-hearing norms.

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Pro-Tactile is for Sighted People Too
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Pro-Tactile for Sighted People

• Pro-Tactile is a philosophy that values
  equality of all DB people regardless of vision or
  hearing, and values the contributions of
  non-deaf-blind people who participate as equals
  in the DB Community.
• In the pictures that follow you see
  non-deaf-blind people listening tactually (while
  still using their vision).

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Sighted-hearing person
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Sighted-hearing person
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Sighted- hearing person
Sighted-Deaf person
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Radical

• Sighted people listening tactually (as well as
  with their vision) is a radical thing. It is
  parallel to hearing people communicating with
  each other using Sign Language (and no voice)
  when in a deaf environment.
• Thus Pro-Tactile is also political. It
  challenges sighted privilege.

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Conclusion

• Pro-Tactile is a philosophy, method, attitude
  and political movement.
• It is PRO-, not anti-.
• At its root it is egalitarian and values
  Community.
• It is inclusive, not exclusive.
• It challenges sighted privilege.