DAWSONM@IUBACS.BITNET (Mark Dawson) (08/11/90)
Index Number: 9755
Hello-
My name is Mark Dawson, currently student at Indiana
University, in Bloomington, Indiana. I have some questions about
Deafness and Sign Language I would like to ask members of this
group, but since this is the first time I have posted anything, a
short Bio is in order:
I am currently finishing a M.S. in Instructional Systems
Technology in May of '91, my B.A. is in Folklore, also from Indiana
University. I got interested in ASL after watching a Deaf story
teller on television After much hoop jumping I managed to get the
University to let me take ASL (we only have three classes) as my
foreign language. I am not involved in Deaf ed, nor any other
related field, I just really like the language alot. Eventually I
would like to do a Ph. D. in Deaf Folklore or Culture Studies
(among the other 87,000 areas of folklore I find gosh darn fun...).
I was also a street performer for about 8 years, and I am also
interested in the dynamics of all kinds of performance, from
storytelling to dance to music....plus the all important hat pass.
If you ever get a chance to watch a really good street juggler,
fire-eater, or the like, really sit and watch how they work the
crowd, and how the show is connected from the time the crowd is
hawked till the hat pass is done, fascinating!
Ok, here are some of my questions: Since it seems the first
thing people ask when the subject of signing comes up is "That's a
universal language, isn't it?" and the ever popular "Oh, that's
where people use gestures for English...." I spend a large amount
of that time explaining that's not the case at all. Because of
this, I have often wondered if putting books on how to Sign using
ASL (as opposed to SEE), ASL dictionaries and such in the reference
section of bookstores as opposed to foreign language helped promote
these common misconceptions about the language. Recently I had the
change to talk to the manager of a local B'Daltons about it, and
between the two of us I wound up with a ton of questions.
First, it occurred to my that my problem with where the books
are placed is most likely a pretty academic attitude, since I am
not deaf, and not a member of the deaf community. I am thinking in
purely linguistic terms. Where should these books be placed,
according to the deaf community? For example, she places books
about American Indian languages in culture/ethnic studies because
while the language is foreign to English it is part of American
culture, as opposed to a geographically foreign place. Usually
these books are coded by the publishers as reference books, an
pretty much any bookstore you go to will place them in reference.
Do people feel this helps promote ignorance among the hearing
population? Does anybody care? More questions to follow later!
Please feel free to respond to me directly to my BITNET
account here at IU....
Thanks for you info!
Mark Dawson
DAWSONM@IUBACS