“The Psychological World of Deaf People”

 

 

To begin this presentation we would like to point out that we have changed the name from Psychology of Deafness to the Psychological World of Deaf People.  The wording may seem insignificant or not important, but if you analyze the impact words and labels we use have for people, then the significance is great. If we talk about deafness, we are viewing it as an illness, something to be cured; if we talk about psychology of deafness then we are looking at this from a pathological perspective, something that is wrong.  But seeing it as the psychological world of deaf people we are viewing the world of people who are deaf and how their culture and world is defined and perceived.

The psychological world of Deaf people….what is it---what type of world—a world of visual language, culture, education, psychology, sociology, biased testing, pathological perspectives, oppression, prejudice, discrimination, stereotyping, linguistic centrism, audism, solidarity, customs, traditions, families, abuse, addiction, faith, amazing stories, authentic love,   identity, a Deaf identity, and simply stated….Deaf is a way of being.

In viewing the psychological world of deaf people, we will explore various perspectives in this world; deaf people’s perspective of deaf people; deaf people’s perspective of hearing people; hearing people’s perspective of deaf people.  As we begin this exploration into the Psychological World of Deaf People, basic information needs to be outlined; i.e. deaf versus Deaf, pathological/medical versus culture/cultural, and ethnocentrism and audism.

When speaking about hearing loss or deafness, the world is full of myths. One in particular is "deaf and dumb" or “deaf – mute”. Many believe that if a deaf person cannot hear, he or she cannot speak. What about a person who lost his or her hearing at age 40? Is she or he already able to speak? Through speech therapy, people deaf from birth may be able to speak, perhaps the tone of voice and volume are not exactly the same as the hearing person’s, but sounds and speech are emitted.  Language is not only the spoken word. It is a much broader concept that encompasses various channels through which we can communicate; including the senses, body gestures, movement, eyes, artistic expression, writing, signals, signs, etc. Hearing individuals often reduce these other avenues of language thus reducing the full potential to produce language in various channels, not only via the spoken word.

            For this presentation; Deaf compared with deaf, Deaf will encompass people who identify themselves as Deaf, use their native sign language, and embrace their own Deaf Culture. 

The lower case‘d’ of deaf denotes the absence of hearing; the medical diagnosis of deaf.   As diverse as our world, our societies, our people are, so is the diversity of Deaf/deaf people; thus the psychological world is just as diverse.

Deaf people, universally, comprise a complex, rich, and multi-faceted society.  Just as each hearing person has unique, intrinsic qualities so do deaf people, whether the person is deaf, hard-of-hearing, hearing-impaired, or deaf-blind – all ‘deaf’ people bring some elements of homogeneity and heterogeneity to the arena of humanity. 

Deaf/deafness

            The term ‘deaf’ seems like a word that is easily understood and explained, but in reality, ‘deaf’ people are some of the most misunderstood people in society.  Deafness can be viewed from two perspectives, pathological and cultural.   The pathological perspective views deafness as an audiological deficit that needs to be repaired, something is wrong, something is broken, and therefore ‘impaired.’  The most intense and graphic example of deafness as a pathological condition was the eugenics and holocaust experiences of deaf people in 1930s – 1945.  During this time frame, the passage of the Sterilization Law and the T4 Program were directly responsible for thousands of deaf people being forced to be sterilized or eradicated. The reason, they were deaf.  Deafness in that place and time was seen as purely pathological and something that had to be erased.

In the 21st Century, two constructs of deafness are dominant and compete for shaping deaf peoples’ destinies. The one construct is seen as deaf people in the category of disability; the other construct is deaf people as members of a linguistic minority. There is a practice of capitalizing Deaf when referring specifically to the second construct/category.   In the disability construct, deafness is associated with the absence of hearing, silence, individual suffering, personal incapacities, and achievement in overcoming great obstacles. In the minority construct, deafness is associated with a unique language, history, culture, social group, and a set of social institutions.  The first construct/category is governed by an audiologic criterion that decides which children will receive special education, consulting with audiologists.  In most countries of the world, audiology and special education are intimately related; the role of special education is to achieve as far as possible what audiology and otology could not do – minimize the child’s disability.

The ‘labeling’ of the deaf child as disabled is legitimized early on by the medical profession and later by the special education and welfare bureaucracy. When the child is sent to a special school and obligated to wear cumbersome hearing aids, his or her socialization into the role of disabled person is promoted. In face to face encounters with therapists and teachers the child learns to cooperate in endorsing a view of him as disabled. Teachers label large numbers of these deaf children emotionally disturbed or learning disabled.  The deaf child is then treated differently, placed in a less demanding academic program where he learns less, thus the label is self validating.  In the end, the” troubled person’s industry” creates the disabled deaf person.

From the vantage point of the cultures of Deaf communities, deafness is not a disability.  British Deaf leader Dr. Paddy Ladd puts it this way: “We wish for the recognition of our right to exist as a linguistic minority group… Labeling us as disabled demonstrates a failure to understand that we are not disabled in any way within our own community” (Ladd, 2003)

The troubled persons industry associated with deafness “the audist establishment” vigorously resists efforts to replace their construct of deafness. Audist policy is that Sign language is a kind of primitive prosthesis, a way around the communication impasse caused by deaf peoples’ disability.

            What constitutes the psychological well-being of a person?  How do we define normal?  What is normal?  We define abnormal, but until we realize that ‘normal’ is largely connected with culture, language, societal norms, we tend to view people who do NOT fit into our culture, our language or our society as being ‘abnormal’ and/or psychologically impaired.   However, there are bona fide diagnoses that do define abnormal behavior as measured using mental health standards.  Does deafness adhere to these mental health measures?  Do the psychological challenges/dilemmas that are within the D/deaf communities result from the pathological/medical issue of deafness or are the challenges/dilemmas within the D/deaf communities actually responses to years of frustration, prejudice, discrimination, paternalism from an outside, hearing population, the majority? Does different equal pathology?

            Drs. Sussman and Brauer (1999) observe that psychotherapists, and in turn, societies in general, still pathologize deafness and are hard put to describe healthy deaf personalities.  (Andrews, 2004).  Our term ‘normalcy’ needs clarification.  Where are D/deaf people on the standard bell-shaped curve that reflects our ‘average, ‘normal’, ‘non-deviant’? 

Exploring the psychological make-up of any individual, we have: parent/child relationships, attachment, physical characteristics, language and emotional development and sociological development.    In parent/child relationships, approximately 90% of deaf children have hearing parents.   Most hearing parents do not become fluent in sign language, the natural language of deaf people.  Given the importance of communication for any relationship, the inability of a child to communicate effectively with a parent will compromise the relationship.  Attachment with deaf people, deaf children, deaf infants; what is done to stimulate, foster, support and embrace the deaf person?  The language development and literacy competency are directly related to the early intervention techniques used with deaf infants and children.  Listening devices, hearing aids, cochlear implants do not make a deaf person become hearing.   The assistive listening devices may enhance the residual hearing, but the devices do not make the deaf person hearing.   Also, it is an erroneous assumption that those who learn speech-reading or lip-reading are proficient in literacy skills.  Almost 2/3 of the 42 sounds of English are either invisible or look like some other sounds formed on the lips (Hardy, 1970),  Literacy competency for deaf individuals is directly related to early intervention using native sign language, proficient signers, and signing linguists that teach using native sign language.   All of the above directly relate and impact the psychological ‘make-up’ of a D/deaf person. 

            Language and literacy; voicing and communication; linguistic centrism and audism, sign languages and speech-reading are aspects of psychology and D/deaf people.  We as a society value the spoken language; as people we want to hear voice; we as society embrace linguistic centrism; we force the main language (spoken language) on a cultural group that use visual language (sign language).  A component of the linguistic centrism influence is audism.

Audism is a term used to describe discrimination or prejudice against deaf or hard of hearing people based on an auditory condition.  We assume the culture of hearing people is superior to the culture of deaf or signing culture, or that deaf people are less capable (skilled, intelligent, etc) than hearing people. Audism accepts, unquestioningly, the attitudes, conditions, or behaviors that promote stereotyping of abilities based on auditory condition, a tendency to regard deaf persons as inferior, in need of medical intervention, unworthy of communication access, or unsuitable for employment.

Language/Communication/Sign Language

  Culture and language are intertwined, especially within the Deaf Community.  One of the components of Deaf Communities is sign language.  But do all deaf people sign?  No.   Each person has their unique skills and talents for production and reception of language—THEIR language!  But several things we DO know.  From the perspective of American Sign Language, ASL, research has proven that ASL is a language with rules, grammar, syntax; a complete natural language, not like English. This research has been seen in many countries as well; Mexico, Spain, Cuba, Sweden, France, etc.

      In this brief presentation, one cannot present all the linguistic features of Sign Language, but a few that apply to the different languages in the world are:  phonology, the simultaneous formation of a sign-handshape, location, motion, and palm orientation; morphology, the study of the smallest meaningful unit in language and how units are used to build new signs and words.  In ASL, examples of morphemes are; summer, ugly, dry…location of the sign changes the meaning.  Other elements of ASL linguistics, but definitely NOT the ALL of the linguistic structure are:  temporal aspect (forms that are adjective and verbs, verb action is done TO time, i.e. ‘study continually’.), various types of classifiers, non-manual markers, eye gaze, facial expression, body shifts, and pauses.  The linguistic features are numerous, and definitely Sign Language is a bona fide language!

  Linguists know that the brain has the capacity to acquire language, naturally, and pass the language to other people.  This brain function happens whether it is a spoken language or a signed language.  Many assumptions about sign languages have been debated, discussed, and researched. 

 

Sign languages are not the same as spoken languages.  Sign languages are languages with grammar, syntax, sentence structure and discourse...visual languages that are not spoken languages on the hands.

How do we apply this to the psychological world of D/deaf people?  What are the measures/characteristics/standards for recognizing the well-adjusted D/deaf person and removing the pathological view of psychology of D/deaf people? 

Identity ---

Self consciousness is an undeniable and inescapable attribute of all human beings. “Where did I come from?” “For what purpose do I exist?” So many of the unanswerable questions that come to mind of even young children, center on one’s sense of identity and his/her search for it. A person with a healthy sense of self can confront such questions, even as a child; and though unable to find answers, can accept the unanswered questions without inner turmoil, specifically when family and friends are supportive.

 

There are many definitions of identity.  “Oneness” and “unity and persistence of personality”. At the heart of a healthy perception of self is the sense of being “all together”. The expression “at one with one’s self”, which implies a healthy self awareness, meaning “to be comfortable in one’s skin”

 

If a deaf person, child to adult, is viewed with the construct of disability, as one that cannot, they become very sensitive to the differences in what they can do and what hearing people can. They incorporate into their life the view of having limitations that exclude them. They become aware of the behavior of hearing persons that identify deaf person as different or inferior. All this takes a terrible toll on the self esteem and sense of personal identity.

 

          Is the acceptance dependent on WHO the individual person is as opposed to WHAT label a particular institution may place on that person?   The Church has been a strong supporter of the worth of every individual, no matter what their status, class, ethnic identity or physical/intellectual capabilities.  It is within that context that D/deaf people have the right to see themselves and celebrate themselves as fully human, fully capable of achieving goals, not to be restrained by artificial, oppressive, and ultimately false identities given to them by others. 

 

Self-concept, and self-esteem, self-image, are dependent on various factors.  Bat-Chava (1993) has interpreted research findings in that the level of self-esteem is directly related to several variables, having deaf parents, communicating with one’s family using sign language, and using sign language in school (Bat-Chava, 1993 1994, 2000; Desselle & Pearlmutter, 1997) 

 

Characteristics of a Well-Adjusted Deaf Person

How do healthy, well-adjusted Deaf people handle the "differentness" of being Deaf? The simple answer is they don't. They don't have to, because they are not different. Deaf people today define themselves as a cultural and linguistic minority. Yes, they speak a different language than do their neighbors, and they share a culture with each other, rich in poetry, art, social norms and every aspect of humanity that culture reflects. But having your own language and culture doesn't make you more aware that you are different from people of other cultures. Language and culture are just aspects of existence. A fresh-water trout doesn't feel the water around its body and notice how it isn't salty, or wonder what it's like to be a salt-water trout. Fresh water is that fish's environment, as our language and culture are part of our environment.

A Deaf person is like a member of any other linguistic minority dealing with life in the world. He socializes and lives with people who speak his language, and he deals with spoke language, and the majority culture, when he needs or wants to. No big deal

We take the characteristics of a well-adjusted Deaf person (Dr. Allen E. Sussman) and apply them to our lives.  We take the Hierarchy of Needs from Abraham Maslow and apply them to our lives and the lives of D/deaf people. 

From Dr. Allen E. Sussman, Professor Emeritus Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C., the characteristics of a well adjusted Deaf Person are:

The Psychological World of Deaf People as perceived by Deaf people is often NOT the same as perceived by hearing people.  Deaf people, generally, tend to see the cultural view, the linguistic richness of a signed language, the solidarity of a group of people sharing faith, sharing in the history of oppression, suppression, prejudice, and discrimination.  

Is there a Psychology of Deaf people…..do Deaf people have a different psyche than hearing people…..or is the Psychological World of Deaf People a world that strives to take the negativism, the pathological, ‘fix-me’ mode and convert the negativism to the “I Can”, “I Will”, “I am OK being Deaf”, World.  

      The Psychological World of Deaf People is a world filled with possibilities, hopes, dreams, humor, language, skills, education, relationships, struggles, and solidarity.   It is a world that is open for others to explore and embrace.  It is a world that welcomes people who accept Deaf people for WHO they are, not WHAT they are.  It is a world that is rich in culture.  It is world that says, “We are here; we are of value; we are children of God;   God makes no mistakes.”  Cherish us, accept us and let us all embrace each other as God’s children. 

Suggestions for Successful Service to the Deaf Community

 

For individuals and agencies who wish to best serve Deaf/deaf people and their families, following are suggestions based on these guiding principles. First, professionals should be sensitive to the cultural history of Deaf people; second, professionals should find ways to meet the variety of communication needs of all members of this population; and third, professionals should be aware of and have a working relationship with local and national resources that specialize in serving the needs of people with hearing impairments (Zieziula, 2001).

If we are hearing professionals, counselors, psychologists, teachers, pastoral workers, priests, etc. we need to recognize that being hearing tends to afford us a higher status than might have otherwise happened. What we need to do first and foremost is to examine one´s own attitudes intensively, be sensitive to hearing-deaf relations in any arena, work toward a status of mutual respect, and understand that hearing professionals do not always have all the answers. Deaf professionals do not, either.

This process requires mutual teaching. Hearing and deaf people must be open to understanding and working with each other’s perspectives as part of an ongoing educational dialogue.  Many examples of positive hearing-deaf working relationships can be found in research and in daily life (for example today, two women from different countries, with different languages, one deaf – one hearing) churches, groups and schools for the deaf throughout the world. Forging alliances, building projects together, working collaboratively, promotes healthy examples to all deaf and hearing, and ultimately deaf and hearing are served in a more complete and unique way, training future generations to recognize this as a status quo.

 

By:  Consuelo Manera Soto, PhD, NCC

   Maryann Barth, MA, NCC, RTC

References

     Andrews, Jean F (2004).  Deaf People, Evolving Perspectives from psychology, Education and Sociology,Allyn & Bacon, Boston, MA

     Bat-Chave Y (1993)  Antecedents of self-esteem in deaf people.  A meta-analytic review.  Rehabilitation psychology, 38(4), 221-234.

Cornett, Orin (1994). Who Am I? A Deaf American Monograph, Vol. 44.

     Desselle, D.D. (1994)  Self-esteem, family climate, and communication patterns in relation to deafness,.  American Annals of the Deaf, 139, 322-328

     Humphrey, Jan, and Alcorn, Bob (1995). So you want to be an interpreter: an introduction to sign language interpreting, 2nd edition. Amarillo, TX: H&H Publishers.

      Humphries, Tom (1977). Communicating across cultures (deaf-/hearing) and language learning. Doctoral dissertation. Cincinnati, OH: Union Institute and University.

Ladd, Paddy (2003) Understanding Deaf Culture: In Search of Deafhood, Great Britain, Cromwell Press, LTD

     Lane, Harlan (1992). The mask of benevolence: disabling the deaf community. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

     Paul, Peter V., (1993)  Toward a psychology of Deafness, Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives,  Allyn & Bacon, Boston, MA

     Pelka, Fred (1997). The ABC-Clio companion to the disability rights movement. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio.

     Scheetz, Nanci A., (2004).  Psychosocial Aspects of Deafness.  Allyn & Bacon, Boston, MA

     Schirmer, Barbara R., (2001).  Psychological, Social, and Educational Dimensions of Deafness.  Allyn & Bacon, Boston, MA

      Sussman, Allen (1995).  Psychosocial Aspects of Deaf People/Psychology and Deaf People.  Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C.

     Sussman, Allen (1974).  An investigation into the relationship between self concepts of deaf adults and their perceived attitudes toward deafness (doctoral dissertation, New York University, 1973).  Dissertation Abstracts International, 34. 2914B

     Sussman, Allen & Brauer , B. (1999)  On being a psychotherapist with deaf clients.  In I. W. Leigh (Ed.), Psychotherapy with deaf clients from diverse groups (pp 3-22) Washington D.C, Gallaudet University Press.

Zieziula, F. (2001). The World of the Deaf Community. Hospice Foundation of America E-Newsletter. Vol.1, Issue 6