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[Large Text: Write more Deaf characters!]
When answering questions about deaf and hard of hearing characters, I have noticed they are overwhelmingly about:
A character who is deaf in one ear or hard of hearing because of an accident
A character who was born deaf and knows sign language, but seems to have 0 connection to the broader Deaf community
This is not the experience of most d/Deaf people! So, here’s your primer to Deaf community and culture, and writing a Deaf character, because they are sorely underrepresented.
(Disclaimer: this post was written using viewpoints I, a singular Deaf person in the United States, have encountered. I tried to make this as general as possible to encompass many Deaf views, but it is possible that I have misconstrued something. Do not take this guide as the be-all and end-all of your knowledge on Deaf culture. Keep reading and researching the Deaf community, and explore viewpoints from many different Deaf people of all backgrounds.)
Keep reading
A few points from observation in Australian Deaf people.
Fingerspelling is very common. Very common. While those who are fluent will get around a lot by using signs, there are variations of types of signing. For instance, i know one Deaf person who will avoid fingerspelling at all costs, and when she has to, she commonly gets confused about if she spelled it right or not, because it is based in her second language (English). However, another person i know is 5th (?) generation Deaf, and his dad, obviously also Deaf. This family all grew up signing. However, they LOVE fingerspelling. So much fingerspelling. Half the time i will be learning new signs from the first person, and the second person, who spells a lot, will be learning at the same time, or his son, in a different conversation will ask what signs were used for a word, because he just spells it.
Part of this comes from the different types communication for Deaf people. For a long time, oralism was the only allowed method of communication. However, as this started to be changed, there were different methods of communication. Sign languages are proper languages with different grammar structures and names (in Australia it’s Auslan). However, this means that it has less input from hearing people, and that there are also versions of sign language such as Signed English. This borrows a lot of signs from the sign language of the area (in this case Auslan), but where the sentence “i brought milk at the shop” would become more like “shop, buy milk” in Auslan, Signed English keeps the grammar of English and so has a lot of ‘filler’ type signs such as 'at’ and 'the’, from this sentence, which would be ignored in Auslan and probably other sign languages as well (won’t pretend to know any enough to say). So, for older signers, there is the potential that there will be large changes in how they sign. An Auslan user will likely understand a Signed English user, and i think? the same the other way around. HOWEVER!! An ASL user would NOT understand, as it uses signs from Australian sign language, Auslan.
Obviously, i only know from Australia, and this Signed English type of thing might not happen. But there is a lot of variation!
All good points! I’m definitely coming from an American perspective, so it’s always nice to hear from Deaf people around the world :) [smile face]
ASL has a variation called “Signed Exact English” too, that uses ASL signs but spoken English grammar! ASL drops a lot of those filler words as well.
And I agree I did understate the commonality of fingerspelling, I spell for clarification/specificity a lot, but I have met too many people who think that they can just fingerspell whole sentences and that means they “know sign language”, unfortunately.
To respond to some other thoughts I saw in the notes:
The majority of Deaf people will be cool with you being a part of the Deaf community if you learn sign language and Deaf culture and engage with them. Most people aren’t super exclusive about it. You may find some people who do gatekeep, but yes, they are not the majority opinion.
And yes, Deaf Space is generally more accessible! I’ve found other accessibility in the Deaf community way easier than in the hearing world. This is partly due to Deaf Space design and accommodations, but also I believe there is higher instance of disability among deaf people–a lot of conditions have deafness or hearing loss as a part of it!
Mod Rock
