It is my immense pleasure to place this book – ‘Sign Language and Bilingualism in Deaf Education’ in your hands. I am involved in the field of deaf education since 1981.But until I attended ‘The Deaf Way’ in 1989, had no proper understanding of sign language and deaf culture. Moreover I only harboured the same misunderstanding and prejudice about these concepts like any other staunch ‘oralist’.
But ‘The Deaf Way’ proved to be a turning point in my life. It gave me a new vision. I realised the power and potentiality of the deaf. I found that in developed countries where sign langauge and deaf culture have been accepted, deaf people have progressed rapidly and have successfully become even lawyers, physicians, teachers, school administrators, air pilots, chemists, psychologists, social workers and other professionals; whereas in countries where oralism is prevalent and the deaf people are looked down upon and not accepted as just another sociocultural variation in society, there have been no such accomplishments.
As a result, after returning from ‘The Deaf Way’, I started proclaiming the importance of sign language. But I had to face strong opposition and criticism. Knowledge is power. Hence I started collecting the information for which World Federation of the Deaf, Gallaudet University, Swedish Association of the Deaf, ISLA (International Sign Linguistics Association), IASCAL (International Association for the Study of Child Language) and many others whole heartedly assisted me. The field of linguistics is fascinating indeed. And the study of sign language is still more fascinating.
I found that sign language is more than a communication medium for the deaf. It is the very basis of his cognitive, social, academic and emotional development. It is the foundation of deaf culture. To prohibit the use of sign language is nothing short of linguistic genocide and cultural genocide too. In fact, a part of the human race – the deaf people have been kept out of the bounties of human progress, because of the infamous congress of Milan in 1880, which passed a resolution to promote ‘oralism’ and to stop sign language in deaf education. And thus just for ignorance and prejudice, the deaf were oppressed for merely a full century.
It has been repeatedly observed and documented upon that deaf children lag substantially behind their hearing age mates in virtually all measures of academic achievements in spite of the efforts of dedicated. committed, hard-working teachers and adequate financial support. In the late 1960, a philosophy called ‘Total Communication’ was brought into action which encouraged the use of ‘signs’. As it calls for the teachers to use ‘signs’ the classroom, it has come to stand as a symbol of opposition to oralism and as such has enjoyed substantial support from the adult deaf population. But it was observed that although it resulted in a drastic improvement in the communication between deaf children and their hearing surroundings, their spoken language skills were not improved to the same extent.
Later during 1970-80, it was repeatedly observed by linguistic researchers working in different parts of the world that the reading and writing levels of deaf children of deaf parents are higher than those of hearing parents. It was also realized that SIGN LANGUAGE is the natural language of the deaf having a grammar of its own. These findings coupled with the demand of deaf associations and a growing awareness about deaf pride gave a boost to the movement for BILINGUALISM, which gradually became firmly enrooted.
I still remember vividly an incidence at ‘The Deaf Way’. The organizers of the conference had advised the paper presenters to have a meeting prior to presentation with the interpreter. There was a sentence in my paper which stated that the deaf students could go to normal school after completing their education at the deaf school. The interpreter asked me curiously, “What do you mean by ‘normal school?”. I said, “Where you and li.e. Hearing persons go”. He politely suggested to me to delete this word from my paper as, when we call ‘normal school for the hearing students, we indirectly call the deaf schools as ‘abnormal’.
However, the deaf are not abnormal. Similarly, I was often using the word ‘deaf-mute’. But the deaf are not mute. They can talk in sign language, they can sing in sign language, they can present intellectual wit, conversation, evocative disputation and poetry too in ‘sign language’. Since then I have never used the word ‘mute’ for the deaf. For this reason only, we have changed the name of our ‘Deaf Mute School as ‘Rotary Deaf School’. I have observed similar changes in the concepts of deaf educators in Maharashtra State. Prior to attending the ‘Sign Language Orientation Seminar’, they were skeptical, but at its end, all confessed that their prejudices are cleared. After seeing the results of the ‘State Level Seminar on Sign Language and Biliugualism’in 1994, and other such seminars in different parts of Maharashtra, I am pleased to note here that positive attitude is definitely developing in the field of deaf education in Maharashtra. I think, its entire credit goes to the genuineness and worthiness of sign language.
I have written various articles on deaf education. Many of them regarding sign language and bilingualism are included in this book. The reader may find repitition of some points viz. deaf culture, sign language, cognitive growth, language acquisition and learning, identity, socialisation, human rights and so on. However this repitition is unavoidable as these themes are too interlinked to be separated from each other. Hence, I appeal to you to look at this subject with a positive attitude.
In the ‘Annexture’, I have included the articles of Dr. Lars Wallin and Bonaventura. These articles, as per my experience during the orientation seminars, provide the very basic and vital information in a simplified way. Even though its translation in English, from its original Swedish and Danish scripts is a bit of poor quality, I am confident, it will clear the prevalent misunderstandings and prejudices about sign language and therefore will help in making a way for the implementation of bilingualism.
Later, I have also included the resolutions passed in international conferences which provide the guidelines suggested by the WFD. In short, my prupose of including all these various materials in this book is to keep in front of the readers not only the limited parameters of deaf education, but also to enlighten him about the total magnitude of this subject vis-avis the deaf.
Merve Garretson. Ms. Jean Lindquist and staff of the WFD and Gallaudet University as every letter of these dignitories ends with a pat of appreciation and encouragement.
And last but not the least my sincere appreciation goes to my colleagues of the Rotary Club of Ichalkaranji and also to the staff of our Rotary Deaf School, especially Principal Mr.Gajendra Nidgunde and Mr.Ananda Ranadive. All of them have stood by me in every project of welfare of the deaf. I am for ever grateful for their kind co-operation at every step of the development of our Rotary Deaf School. Once again a very big ‘Thank you’ for all those who have helped me directly or indirectly in the publication of this book.
As usual, I shall end my preface with these words. “My efforts will be continued till the deaf in my country will be able to enjoy life like ‘The Deaf Way’.
