Hearing ASL Instructors vs Teaching ASL to Deaf Children in Other Countries
Tonight, there has been a heated live discussion on two deeply sensitive topics on-going on Twitter right now. The first, Nyle DiMarco, posted that “Those that argue: Deaf people are systematically oppressed/marginalized by hearing people. Because of that, our job opportunities are super limited & tough to find. When “qualified” hearing people, out of all jobs, chose to teach ASL/Deaf Studies, what job is left for Deaf ppl? That is an excellent question.
Deaf people for years have had difficulties trying to find a stable job in many field, however, when it comes to finding a job that they know their language the best, it is often that hearing people are given those jobs. And, again, hearing people are given jobs that teaches ASL at a higher level such as ASL II and III.
Those that argue:
Deaf people are systematically oppressed/marginalized by hearing people. Because of that, our job opportunities are super limited & tough to find.
When “qualified” hearing people, out of all jobs, chose to teach ASL/Deaf Studies, what job is left for Deaf ppl?
— Nyle DiMarco (@NyleDiMarco) March 28, 2018
Don’t take our word for it. Read the thread and how people are responding to his question. Majority of responders agreed that their “Hearing” instructors were often wrong and misleading when teaching ASL. Thus, Nyle brings up an excellent point: How do we get our community and our education community to understand that hiring Deaf instructors should be their first priority?
Sometimes some gaps are “missing” and administrators want to fill in those gaps to meet the demands of their students to make sure that they get the education that they want, however, when unqualified hearing instructors take over those positions, what are administrators really saying?
Again, these are questions that we’re asking. There’s no one-click button to solve this problem, yet, it does bring to the point that opportunities for “deaf” instructors in high schools and colleges should be under constant discussion.
Agreed! My school runs an ASL lab where we have to go to practice and there are tutors there. Only one is a CODA & he mainly helps the interpreting students on questions about interpretation. The rest are Deaf and help more of the beginning students.
— Manic Pixie Nightmare (@awefulsweet) March 28, 2018
https://twitter.com/MaddieMormino/status/979033284263989248
all of my sign language teachers have been Deaf, from my very first lesson. Deaf people can still read, write, point, and spell, which was how we learned. it made learning organic and we retained more because we couldn’t just give up and start talking.
— skriker (@heatheriley) March 28, 2018
When I was studying ASL under a Deaf professor, we also studied Deaf culture and the Deaf experience and I don't see how someone who wasn't Deaf could have expressed that in a meaningful way.
— ༺b l ü d h a v e n༻ (@hugebeeinthecar) March 28, 2018
https://twitter.com/JacquelynMari11/status/979116767434846213
And then, Andrew Parsons, a huge Twitter user, started the discussion about if you wanted to spread ASL to Deaf children to other countries, should you do it?
His answer. Don’t.
He believes that missionaries and non-governmental organizations should instead give local teachers and elders money and resources to expand beyond their small schools to spread ASL to Deaf children.
https://twitter.com/adrparsons/status/979171083768119296
So the question that begs of us is: Is he right?
https://twitter.com/adrparsons/status/979189220383244288
