Chapter 57

       After reading in the last chapter that Alexander Graham Bell "almost succeeded in wiping out Deaf culture" (pg 333), I was also wondering how he and other oralists managed to do this, and luckily, Chapter 57 had the answers.

       After an incredible and short "Golden Age" for Deaf culture, the oralist movement began, attempting to remove sign language and Deaf culture from the world.  While this movement was encouraged by many oralists, Alexander Graham Bell seemed to be the leader as he promoted the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf (the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf).  When reading the name of Bell's organization, it seems to me that his only goal was to help Deaf people learn speech.  Although I know and believe that this should only be an OPTION (not required) for Deaf people, this action of helping Deaf people learn how to speak still occurs today through the help of speech therapists.  It made me wonder how this promotion could lead to the almost-disappearance of Deaf culture.  

       However, this movement was much more than just attempting to promote speech to the Deaf culture.  Even though Bell "became a skillful signer and acknowledged the beauty of sign language, he believed that speech was of supreme importance and that deaf people should assimilate into hearing society" (pg 340).  He believed that becoming deaf was a curse, and could only lead to a terrible life filled with negative effects, including genetic traits (which, presently, we know does not determine deafness).  This view on deaf people led to Bell's attempt to actually STOP the growth of Deaf culture. As terrible as it is, Alexander Bell wanted to prevent deaf children from being born by "proposing legislation against 'the intermarriage of congenital deaf-mutes'" (pg 340).  I think this was extremely uncalled for, and showed how these prejudices can truly affect the world.  He came up with 3 "preventive measures", including "eliminating residential schools, forbidding the use of sign language in the education of deaf pupils, and prohibiting deaf adults from being teachers of deaf children" (pg 340) to make sure that these marriages and possible deaf children did not exist.  These rules affected the lives of everyone in the Deaf community, through people losing jobs, their language, self-esteem, and even their friends as schools were removed.  What is even crazier to me, is that it all almost succeeded!  With politics, education, and finances, the oralists had an extreme advantage over the Deaf community.    
       I was so glad to learn that even after this terrible time where oralists put Deaf culture on hold, "we are beginning to emerge from the "Dark Age" of the past century-but slowly" (pg 341).