Respecting indigenous/local sign langauges

[BARBARA GERNER DE GARCIA]

From:   IN%"maf at amu.edu.pl" 12-FEB-1999 14:25:18.34
To:     IN%"BGERNERDEGAR at gallua.gallaudet.edu"  "BARBARA GERNER DE GARCIA"
CC:
Subj:   RE: Respecting indigenous/local sign langauges (was: @ handed in oz)

Barbara,
I tried sending this to the SLLING list, but it spit it back at me. Until I get
 the
problem fixes would you mind forwarding it?
tanx alot,
Mike

BARBARA GERNER DE GARCIA wrote:

>  I agree with Richard A. that there is a tendency by some - linguists and
 others
> - to see American Sign Language, ASL as "superior" and these folks usually
 gave
> give
> a laundry list of reasons. .(cut)
>         But more than the devaluation of the Sign Languages in such
 communities
> is the devaluation and dehumanization of the Deaf people who use these
> languages

I have to agree with Barbara. My principle experience with Deaf people and sign
language has been in Poland. In a couple of trips back to the US I found a
 slightly
condescending attitude among both Deaf and hearing Americans (more pronounced
 among
hearing people but present also among Deaf people) towards what I told them
 about
Polish Deaf people and Polish Sign Language.

The situations of Deaf people in Poland and the US differ in some important
 ways.
What was interesting is that Americans tended to interpret _all_ differences as
deficencies in Poland/Polish Deaf people/Polish Sign Language.

In some ways the situation of Polish deaf people is worse than in the US. There
 is
virtually no education beyond vocational school (and educational standards are
 not
encouraging)  and some types of access just don't exist and the level of
interpreting is scandalously low (exacerbated by the fact that the Polish Deaf
Association puts all its sign language efforts into Signed Polish, which Polish
deaf people respect, but won't use).

On the other hand, employment is much higher for Deaf people in Poland and
traditional social institutions for Deaf people are much stronger in Poland than
 in
the US.

As a hearing person, in the beginning I may have had delusions of "compassion"
 for
the "plight" of Deaf people. That didn't last long. Much more enduring is the
admiration I feel for their formidable coping and communication skills in their
dealings with the hearing majority. And I have similar respect for Polish Sign
Language many of the intracies of which still elude me.

As for Sign Language names, I would disagree with the person that said some sign
languages don't have signs for LANGUAGE. What do you think the SIGN means?

In Polish sign language, the ethnonym (maybe not the right word but close
 enough)
is SIGN, the sign LANGUAGE means "spoken language" and the combination LANGUAGE
SIGN refers to signed Polish. POLAND SIGN or SIGN POLAND (the latter is more
common) are used to distinguish Polish sign language from German or Russian or
Swedish sign languages. You'll never hear that nonsense about there only being
 one
sign language in the world from Polish deaf people who are well aware that Deaf
people in neighboring countries have different languages.

In English I sometimes use PJM (from Polish Polski Jezyk Migowy) since I think
 PSL
is too confusing (Portugal? Phillipines? Peru?) Although some initial
 combinations
are common in spoken Polish (ONZ for the UN) most hearing Polish people I know
don't much like the acronym PJM and prefer Polski Jezyk Migowy).

Fingerspelling is not as common as in the US (although I find the Polish finger
alphabet _much_ easier than the US or British ones). Only two or three ASL signs
are known in Poland the ILY sign is known by younger people (as something to do
when your picture is taken, especially in a group) but not really used
 otherwise.
Similarly the sign AMERICA is known although the Polish sign is still preferred.

Although many Polish Deaf people were interested in seeing some American signs
(such as I know) the usual reaction is "What a weird way to sign!". (some people
 in
Poznan now used a modified version of the American sign NEWYORK which might be
partly my doing, though I'm not from New York).

Final note. I told some Polish Deaf people about the current American trend of
adopting national ethnonyms instead of the traditional American signs for
 different
countries. (Replacing the traditional ASL sign JAPAN with the Japanese Sign
Language sign for example). The usual reaction is something along the line of
"That's very interesting and okay for Americans. I prefer Polish signs though."
(free translation).

 I-ESCAPE
Mike Farris







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Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 20:30:03 +0100
From: Michael Farris <maf at amu.edu.pl>
Subject: Re: Respecting indigenous/local sign langauges (was: @ handed in oz)
To: BARBARA GERNER DE GARCIA <BGERNERDEGAR at gallua.gallaudet.edu>
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