Sign Language Manualism

From the time Sign Language was initially adopted in America as early as the late 1700’s to the present, deaf individuals have had to face more and more decisions that have the potential to change the course of their entire lives. Both people in the deaf community and people in the hearing world have deliberated on the nature of the most effective method of educating deaf and hard of hearing children. Since education is the fundamental building-block of an individual’s mind, the approach to developing deaf children should be viewed as a high priority and as an essential aspect of their growth, future, and interactions with the world around them. This concept is reinforced by Belinda J. Hardin, who insists in her article that a family dealing
Legally, deaf and hard of hearing individuals are considered disabled, to an extent. They, like other groups of people with special needs, maintain special laws and considerations that ensure that they have the same rights and opportunities to thrive as other people do. Every person has the right to speak their own language, life their own life, and think their own thoughts. In her scholarly column published from the University of California, Jacquelyn H. Flaskerud says “The use of ASL is based on a historical foundation of natural laws (seeking peace and preserving one’s own nature), and the Constitution and Civil Rights that guarantee citizens of America the right to be individuals with the ability to make choices about lifestyles, religions, languages, and more” (Flaskerud 318). These ideas support the fundamental assertion that deaf and hard of hearing individuals maintain the right to exercise their individuality and embrace their own language. The use of the language itself, as Flaskerud pointed out, is rooted in the advocation for guaranteed rights for the disabled. Deaf and hard of hearing people have the freedom to embrace their deafness and to make the lifestyle choice to learn sign language as opposed to learning to speak along with the hearing world. Choosing Manualism over Oralism is essentially an exercise of natural civil rights
First, it is crucial to understand what deaf culture really means. As Jacquelyn H. Flaskerud eloquently and effectively describes in her column, Deaf Culture can be defined as “cultural membership within a group that is composed mainly of people who are clinically deaf and who form a social community with an identity that revolves around deafness and the use of sign language to communicate” (Flaskerud 317). There are some aspects of deaf culture that are essential to understand in order for one to be able to fully comprehend the importance of entering it and the benefits that accompany its membership. Members of the deaf community consider themselves as one communal, united identity just as any racial or ethnic culture that has its own traditions and characteristics. These people celebrate their similarities by embracing similar attitudes, perspectives, behaviors, and most importantly a single language utilized uniquely for their shared trait. When asked why it is important for deaf individuals to embrace their deaf culture, Tiffany Broda, a deaf educator in the state of Georgia who has had extensive firsthand experience with deaf individuals, explained that while she believes that it is important to be productive in the hearing world, it is also important to enjoy one’s own culture