British Sign Language For Dummies

Chapter 1

Discovering Who's Who - And How They Communicate

In This Chapter

Looking at appropriate terms for deaf people

Communicating: how different groups of deaf people communicate in different ways

Making yourself more lipreadable

Looking at some principles of good communication

In this chapter, we talk about the different terms used to describe people who don't hear. This is the starting point of good communication - getting the descriptions right. We look at the differences between those who describe themselves as 'deaf' (with a small 'd') and those who use 'Deaf' (with a big 'D'). We look at the variety of communication tactics which you can use with different groups, and show that not all deaf people sign, and not all deaf people lipread. Knowing what's what and being flexible will make a big difference to your whole experience of communication.

Different Groups of Deaf People

Terminology is changing all the time - that's what happens with all living languages. In any subject there may be words that become commonly used, and those that go out-of-date . . . and some that no longer carry their original meaning at all and can even become offensive.

Who's dumb?

Deaf-related terminology changes like that of any other language. Take 'deaf and dumb', for example, which was originally used to mean someone without hearing or speech. Decades ago, this was a common term and there were 'schools for the deaf and dumb'. Older people may still use this term, but its meaning has now changed and the term can cause offence. Dumb now has another meaning, 'stupid', and nobody wants to be called stupid! There may be many reasons why a deaf person chooses not to use their voice - one of them being that they are a BSL user's - and BSL is not a spoken language. Deaf-mute is also not used. It may be more appropriate to say 'deaf without speech' if the deaf person has chosen to use other methods of communication. True 'muteness' is a different matter and is not directly related to deafness.

Generally unacceptable terms to describe deaf people include: deaf and dumb, deaf-mute, stone deaf, Mutt and Jeff, special needs (a better term might be 'have special requirements' or 'additional requirements/support'), non-hearing (what woman would call herself non-male, for example?) and anything with '-challenged' at the end.

Understanding who's who

So what about other terms? What terms used to describe deaf people are generally acceptable to use now, and what do they mean? The following sections cover some terms and their descriptions that you may find useful.

deaf

When you use the word deaf (with a small 'd') you're referring to anyone with a hearing loss, for whatever reason, and at whatever level. The term is mostly used by deaf people who use methods other than sign language to communicate.

Out of a population of about 60 million, there are approximately 9 million in the UK who have a hearing loss to some degree. That's 1 in 7 of the population!

Deaf

Deaf (with a capital 'D') is quite a different matter, and refers to the Deaf community. Just as we might use capital 'B' for British or 'A' for Australian, so a capital 'D' is used to show that this is about a person's identity, not about their medical condition. The defining characteristic of a Deaf person is that they use BSL as their first or preferred language. People who are Deaf often share a common 'Deaf culture' which includes Deaf history, education, clubs, social events, sports (such as the Deaf Olympics) as well as sign language. Those who do not use sign language would not use the capital 'D' (unless of course it's at the start of a sentence!). Sometimes you may see the term D/deaf which includes those who are 'hearing impaired' as well as those are part of a linguistic minority group (BSL users).

BSL is the first or preferred language of about 70,000 Deaf people in the UK.

You can be part of the Deaf community without actually being Deaf yourself. A CODA is a Child Of Deaf Adults who is hearing, but raised in the Deaf community by parents who are Deaf. A CODA is likely to be bilingual - switching easily from BSL to spoken English, but may consider BSL to be their first language.

Hard of hearing

Hard of hearing is not just a term for an old person who may be losing their hearing. You can be hard of hearing at any age for many reasons. The term tends to refer to someone with a mild or moderate hearing loss. Hard of hearing people might rely on the hearing they've got (residual hearing), and use technical devices such as hearing aids and loop systems to amplify the sound. A HOH person may also be relying a lot on lipreading to communicate, and has possibly joined a lipreading class to help them with this. More often than not, someone who is HOH has lost their hearing later in life, in any regards after they have acquired language. So a hard of hearing person is, a lot of the time, said to have an 'acquired hearing loss' rather than a 'congenital' one (i.e. born deaf).

Out of 9 million people in the UK with a hearing loss of some degree, approximately 8.3 million of these are 'hard of hearing'.

Hearing impaired

Hearing impaired is a generally acceptable term used to describe someone who has a hearing loss. It could refer to someone who is born deaf, or became deaf later in life. Some people prefer the term 'hearing impaired' to being described as 'deaf', especially if they are relying on residual hearing.

The term 'hearing impaired' would not be used by someone who is Deaf (with a capital 'D'), as he or she is part of a Deaf cultural community, and doesn't consider himself or herself to be 'impaired' by their deafness.

Deafened

We might say 'that music was deafening' if it's particularly loud and those with so-called 'selective hearing' might say they are 'deafened' to the sound of your voice. But this term also refers to a unique group of deaf people - those who have suddenly lost their hearing (normally in adulthood) and have acquired a severe or profound level of deafness. This might be caused by several things, including noise damage (for example a bomb blast, or industrial noise), a trauma to the head (such as a car accident), an illness, or even a severe reaction to medication. Of course, the cause might also be unknown. A deafened person has perhaps not had any time to get used to losing their hearing. It could even happen overnight. Imagine if that happened to you, how your life would change. Your ability to communicate with your family, friends, at work, on public transport . . . everything will have been affected. You can no longer hear the radio, the TV, use the phone, or hear that double-glazing salesman at the door (some would say that's the only advantage!). If you suddenly lose your hearing, you won't automatically know how to lipread - it's not something you've ever had to do. You're also unlikely to want to learn BSL - what would be the point, if your family or friends don't know how to sign?

One of the other challenges with being 'deafened' is that other people may have no idea you have a hearing loss. After all, your voice would stay the same; there'd be no issue with your speech. You may not wear hearing aids, as they can take a while to get used to, and some deafened people might be concerned about the stigma of wearing them. It's not as if you'd be wearing a bright pink t-shirt saying 'I'm deafened', so others are likely to be completely unaware and babble on regardless. This can cause a huge amount of frustration and bewilderment, which is why 'deafened' people are in a group of their own. They have unique communication requirements, and support needs.

There are approximately 150,000 deafened people in the UK

Deafblind

Deafblind is the term used to describe someone with a dual sensory loss - it could be that a person was deaf and lost their sight later, or blind, and lost their hearing later. Or they may have been hearing and sighted and lose effective use of both senses later in life. Due to immunisation against Rubella, it's becoming rarer for a child to be born both deaf and blind (the main cause was the mother contracting Rubella while pregnant). Someone who is part of the Deaf community (see above) and loses their sight (maybe due to a syndrome called 'Usher') would write Deafblind (with a capital D), for the same reasons as given above.

In the UK, there are approximately 24,000 registered deafblind people.

. . . And how do they communicate?

The preferred method of communication for a deaf person will usually depend on which of the main groups he or she belongs to. The following sections walk you through each of these preferred methods.

Deaf (capital 'D')

British Sign Language! The language of the Deaf community in the UK . Presumably you're reading this book because you want to learn to sign. Well this is the group to practise with. Don't go practising your signs on anyone who happens to be wearing a hearing aid. It's only Deaf people who use BSL as their first and preferred language, in Britain. Unless they've learned the language for another reason, anybody else won't know what you're on about, and might think you're performing a mime act.

If you...