There are a wide-variety of ways in which d/Deaf people can choose to communicate, or be taught to communicate. The two actual languages are English and American Sign Language. Both are naturally-occurring, passed down from generation to generation, expand (with new vocabulary), contract (with vocabulary becoming obsolete), contain arbitrarily-created and agreed-upon vocabulary, and are treasured by their respective cultural communities.

English can be spoken, heard, and written. ASL can be signed, seen, and video-recorded. There is no naturally-occurring way to "sign English". Nor is there a naturally-occurring way to "speak ASL".

Several different systems of communication have been created over the years to provide grammatical English instruction to Deaf students. Teachers of the Deaf and Parents of Deaf children have attempted to legitimize these instructional communication systems as bona fide "modes of communication" and force Deaf students to learn them.

Manually Coded English Systems (MCEs)

• Seeing Essential English (SEE1)

• Signing Exact English (SEE2)

• Linguistics Of Visual English (LOVE)

• Signed English (SE)

• Conceptually Accurate Signed English (CASE)

• Rochester Method (Fingerspelling everything, with a few allowed signs such as "AND" and "THE")

While all of these systems have a place and use, once students leave that particular educational setting, no one else uses them in the world at large. Deaf students who don't know ASL yet are communicatively stunted in their ability to connect with their local Deaf ASL community.

Almost every d/Deaf child who grew up signing a rigid MCE ends up graduating and meeting adult Deaf ASL users, and eventually sheds the created rules for ASL's natural visual/gestural grammatical rules and syntax. ASL is easier for Deaf Americans because it's what works and what the community at large uses and accepts.

More information about MCEs (history, comparison, etc.) can be found here.

Can Deaf drive?

Of course...if they've studied, practiced, and passed their written and practical driving test, and are old enough to possess a license and road-worthy vehicle! Being Deaf doesn't preclude one from driving. In fact, driving safely requires visual acuity and sharp environmental-awareness senses. Deaf drivers tend to scan the up-coming road(s), areas/vehicles around them, and are more keen to see flashing lights and traffic signals faster than hearing drivers—who are usually distracted by their phones, their music, their passengers, or a million other things on their minds!

Can Deaf work?

Of course they can! Though in early industrial times, Deaf were usually relegated to loud working conditions (can't become "deafer!") like printing presses/newspapers, linotype book setting/printing houses, laundry, machining, etc., now almost any profession has opened up to be accessible to d/Deaf person. There are:

• Deaf Doctors

• Deaf Nurses

• Deaf Pharmacologists

• Deaf Therapists

• Deaf Social Workers

• Deaf Linguists

• Deaf Lawyers

• Deaf Elected Officials

• Deaf Interpreters

• Deaf Teachers (K, Primary, Secondary, College, Graduate)

• Deaf Truck Drivers

• Deaf Computer Programmers

• Deaf Business Owners

• Deaf Writers/Publishers

• Deaf Designers

• Deaf Artists (Painters, Sculptors, Wood-Workers)

• Deaf Actors

• Deaf Architects

• ...and many other professions are seeing a rise in d/Deaf/DeafBlind employees and independent contractors!

Can Deaf live independently?

Yes they can! Just like hearing people, Deaf people are all over the spectrum and in every level of society and socio-economic status! Living independently is not correlated to hearing status.

Deaf Americans who identify as Deaf ASL users—anywhere from 10 million to 33 million (census numbers are not accurate or well-kept)—are less than hearing Americans (300 million+). Certain incidences may seem disproportionate to the overall population though, whether over-reported or under-reported.

Prior to the passage of the Rehab Act, Section 504 (1974) and then the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA, 1990), many sectors of American Business were not easily attained or broken-into by Deaf ASL users. We are now starting to see the professionalization of Deaf Americans, those who will no longer settle for menial factory, janitorial, or industrial jobs. This raises the ability of Deaf Americans to live independently and leads into the next myth...

Can Deaf have families and raise children successfully?

Deaf have always had families and always raised children "successfully" (whatever that might mean to you). These children grew up and became functioning, productive citizens of the U.S. of A.! Their experiences might have been more akin to those children of first generation immigrants to America—regarding acting as interpreters for their parents and growing up more quickly than children whose parents were already acculturated into hearing, English-speaking American society.

As CODAs (Children Of Deaf Adults), they bridged the linguistic and cultural gap between the outside world and their homes every single day. Some grew up bilingual/bicultural. Some had parents who only signed at home, but not out in public. And some had parents who read lips and used their voices to speak English. Some where elsewhere, in-between.

Can Deaf ever learn English?

Deaf can learn/acquire fluency with written English...including newer slang, idiomatic expressions, and turns of phrases if they are included in a written/visual format. But those Deaf from birth won't ever learn to "hear English" like those who are born hearing do. The lack of the sense of hearing, though, doesn't stop people learning languages that cannot be heard (Latin, Egyptian, Coptic, etc.). This means that Language is not just what is heard. Or what is spoken. Or what is written. It is all, and elusively, each one individually!

And those who are DeafBlind can learn ASL, English (written), and other languages with signed and/or written components.

Just like hearing people learn new words/phrases/idioms every day, so too can Deaf people!

Do Deaf have Deaf children?

In general, approximately 90%-95% of Deaf children have hearing parents. This means that barely 10% of Deaf Parents have Deaf Children, and are prepared to provide immediate direct-language communication to their Deaf child from birth! The other 90%-95% of Deaf children will have hearing parents who usually have almost no exposure to ASL, Deaf Culture, or their local Deaf Community and Resources. These parents are easy targets of well-intended medical practitioners who immediately push for surgical intervention, oralism/lipreading-only communication approaches, and withholding the natural, visual/gestural language which Deaf children need to thrive and succeed.

In California, a recent law was passed, informally called the "LEAD-K" (Language Equality & Acquisition for Deaf Kids) Law. This law focused on the language deprivation seen in d/Deaf children being sent to public school systems (3-5 years old), who couldn't even begin to learn their age-level content because they had little-to-no foundational language with which to build upon!

The LEAD-K Organization has a model bill that can be used by other states who want to ensure that all children are school-ready, have a strong foundation in a naturally-acquired language, and the families' communication preferences and school districts' offerings effectively match.

What other questions do you have? Bring them to class and be ready to ask your presenter. If you have time, do some research into your own question and see if you can answer it yourself...then Ask it, Answer it, and Educate all of us during class!