Deaf Culture and Community

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American Sign Language (ASL) is a complete language that is used by members of the Deaf community. These members may be hearing, hard of hearing, or deaf. ASL has its own grammar rules, visual context, and defining characteristics that are more than simple hand gestures and visualizations. American Sign Language is not a worldwide language but is specific to the United States and Canadian Deaf communities. This course aims to teach a basic set of ASL signs, skills, usage and cultural information to teachers and caregivers. We also recognize that the preference for learning ASL is to be taught by a member of the deaf community, so we strongly encourage participants to consider furthering their ASL education through multiple means.  

​Deaf community members are just like any other community members. They have families, jobs, responsibilities, and are capable of many things. While they may not be able to hear as well as hearing community members, this is not seen as a disability. Unfortunately, there are many myths that have perpetuated over the years, regarding the Deaf community. ​

Let’s clear some of them up. 

1) Deaf people can't drive.

1) ​​Deaf people can and do drive.
They simply rely on visual cues as opposed to auditory (ex: lights on emergency vehicles as opposed to sirens).

2) ​All deaf people read lips. 

2) ​​Only about 25% of the spoken English language is readable on the lips.
Some deaf people are skilled lip readers, but many are not. It should never be assumed that a deaf individual reads lips. 

3) ​Deaf people wear hearing aids. ​ 

3) Not necessarily!
Some hard of hearing people may wear hearing aids. There are different levels of hearing loss. 

4) ​Deaf people can’t use the telephone. 

4) There are many options for telephonic communication including video conferencing, relay services, videophones, text messaging and more.

5) Deaf people live totally different lives than hearing people. 

5) ​Deaf people lead similar lives to hearing people only with subtle differences.
They drive, watch TV, have jobs, go to school, and much more!