n I am writing this in response to Dean of College of Arts and Sciences Jeffrey Henderson’s letter (“ASL part of BU education,” April 27, p. 6). After taking many of the classes in deaf studies here, I disagree with Henderson’s statement that American Sign Language should not being considered sufficient for the foreign-language requirement because ASL does not have sufficient “culture, art, cinema, history, literature, etc.” to qualify as a language worthy of study here at Boston University.
ASL and Deaf Culture, in fact, have all of these things. I have taken courses here in “History and Culture of the Deaf,” “Psychology of the Deaf” and “Deaf Literature” as well as ASL I through V. The courses all fulfill Henderson’s requirements.
The Deaf Community has its own jokes and many famous artists: Chuck Baird, to name just one. It has its own movies, poetry, comedians, plays and other such cinema forms.
One small example is the yearly ASL Festival at Northeastern University. There are even famous deaf storytellers, such as BU graduate Ben Bahan.
There is a rich history of the deaf in America and throughout the world that the general hearing culture has little to no exposure to. (What is the Milan Conference and its impact was on the Deaf World?) All of these aspects of Deaf Culture have common themes running through them.
These themes, which reflect many common experiences resulting from growing up deaf, are what unite the Deaf Community. It is true, there is no one place that deaf people are found, but nonetheless, they are a largely united group.
Yes, Deaf Culture does include people of many ethnicities, but so does French culture. Just as someone who has spent significant time in England and France, deaf people can be bicultural as a member of the Deaf Community.
As technology improves, there is an ever-increasing amount of videos documenting Deaf Culture, history, cinema and literature. There is an increasing number of video blogs online.
There are websites dedicated to deaf art and deaf festivals, such as the one held at Northeastern in March, which are videotaped. There are many signed videos available that cover a wide variety of issues, content and topics.
This is just a brief description of the existence of Deaf Culture as equal to that of any other linguistic culture. Given more space and face-to-face interaction, I could show many other examples. Many, when seen, are more convincing than English alone can convey.
Considering that BU offers courses with such titles as those listed above, as well as considering examples of Deaf Culture, it is clear that the argument that ASL lacks a culture that can support in-depth study, analysis and discussion is, at best, misinformed, at worst it is outright ludicrous.
Patricia Bickford
CAS ’07
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