The Deaf as a People Group

The Deaf as a People Group

Deaf as an Ethno-Linguistic People Group

Orville Boyd JenkinsCompiled from material by Vesta Sauter

Developed March 2004Last edited 27 May 2009


• Four basic elements are foundational to understanding the Deaf as a people group:

• their language, • their social interaction, • their educational identity, and • their political structure.



• Four basic elements are foundational to understanding the Deaf as a people group: their language, their social interaction, their educational identity, and their political structure.


•These four basic elements or characteristics define the Ethnographic Core of the Cultural Deaf, or Core Deaf

Aspects of the Deaf Worldview


Language - Social – Political - Education

Four basic elements

• One of the key elements that identify the Deaf as a people group is that of the use of signed language. The Deaf individuals that have signed language as their

heart language will fit into the category often referred to as the “Core” Deaf.

• These individuals depend heavily on the national signed language and not on any blend of their language with the national, or access, language of the country. Although their ability to read and understand the access

language of the country may vary, their language is not related to it.

Language

Four basic elements

• Knowledge of the majority language may offer a little more accessibility to information but it has little or nothing to do with the dynamic found among those who share the national signed language.

• The use of the national signed language is the first pillar that supports the concept of the Deaf People Group.

Language

Four basic elements

• Social Interaction -- this cultural element directly related to the linguistic identity of the Deaf People Group.

• The uniqueness of Deaf culture is obvious even to the casual observer but nowhere is it more identifiable than within the social structure of the community.

Social

Four basic elements

• Deaf Clubs: Gathering in Deaf clubs on a regular basisIn countries all around the globe Coinciding structures associated with the Deaf

clubs extend into the broader deaf community(relationships, support systems, decision-making

patterns)

• A dynamic unique to those who are part of the Core Deaf People Group.

Social

Four basic elements

• Deaf adults nearly always marry other Deaf although the percentage of Deaf children who have Deaf parents is relatively small.

• Still there is the more than just a natural affinity of those who share this language and social foundation.

Social

Four basic elements

• The Core Deaf, making up the 30 million Deaf worldwide and constituting the Deaf People Group, typically have attended a residential Deaf school somewhere in the country where they grew up.

• The common experiences of classroom, dormitory, and almost always, an oppressive system of oralism, builds some sort of bond between Deaf adults who are part of the core group.

Education

Four basic elements

• As in most people groups the political (social) dynamic is a key part of the foundation for their core values.

• Politics in the Deaf community is centered on leadership within that core group.

• Typically this has nothing to do with how much or how little hearing loss there is.

Political

Four basic elements

• An individual may be totally deaf when it comes to their auditory senses but not an accepted part of the Deaf community, and its political structure, because of a reliance on oralism instead of signed language.

• The politically involved Deaf person will feel out of place in most hearing settings where there a total political vacuum exists for him/her.

Political

Worldview

The 4 circles of the ethnographic core


Language - Social – Political - Education


Orville Boyd JenkinsCompiled from material by Vesta Sauter

Developed March 2004Last edited 27 May 2009



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The Deaf as a People Group

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