Author: Christina Oros (Page 2 of 3)

Research Journal: Themes and Structure

April 25, 2015 / Christina Oros / 0 Comments

There are several themes and ideas I hope to address in my play. Depending on the type of information used, these themes may overlap and/or blend together. Some the central ideas include:

Education of the Deaf: how do students, teachers, parents, and administrators perceive it? Does it need to be improved or reformed? How and why?
Self-Identity vs. Societal Perception in the Deaf Community: What influence does society have on the formation of self-identity in the Deaf Community?
Differences between the Deaf and Hearing “worlds”: What cultural differences exist? Are they really so different after all?
Motivation: What motivates hearing people to engage with the Deaf community and vice versa?

To help keep these themes at the forefront of the writing, I’m going to continue to reflect on the notions of “stories” and “identity,” as well as the interplay between these two things (Thanks, Eakin!). So to that, I hope my final piece answers the following questions:

What are stories? Who tells them? Why do they tell them? Does the way/manner (spoken, sung, danced, signed, written, painted, etc.) in which people tell these stories matter and how?
Does one’s concept of identity influence the stories they tell? Or does society’s concept of another’s identity influence the stories that one chooses to tell?

Structure

Ultimately, the final structure will depend on the information gathered from interviewees and other sources. Hopefully, it will follow the structure below:

Here we have the typical dramatic structure of a play complete with exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. This will work best if the play follows one (perhaps, two) main character and creates an action depicting his journey. This could ultimately work with a Deaf adult character as the “lead” taking the audience through his/her journey in the education system and include scenes of identity conflict and resolution. This “lead” character would recall his/her story told with the various perspectives of his family, friends, audiologists, therapists, community, Deaf community, etc. So far, using this structure would lead to the following scene break down:

The audience is introduced to the main character as he/she recalls their story beginning with diagnosis. This section would include information from the young child’s perspective, parents’ response to diagnosis, reactions of family and friends. Additionally, it would include statistical information about Deafness and its culture.
Conflict: here the parents and child are faced with a choice—what educational route to the take for their child. ASL? Total communication? Oral only communication? This section will include different viewpoints of how to raise a child with a “disability” (is it considered disabling or different?). Are there more limits or restrictions placed on this child?
The education system: In this section, the main character will show the audience his/her journey through the education system. Dialogue and information will include teachers, administrators, parents, peers, and therapists from both the Deaf and hearing community. It will conclude with his/her graduation and pursuance of a career.
Self-realization: Here, the main character will begin to fully express his/her self-identity. At this point, the story will continue with more dialogue and monologues from the “lead,” showing his capturing and exposition of his own story.

Interview Questions

April 25, 2015 / Christina Oros / 0 Comments

Questions about Deaf culture

Name, Age, Location, Education/Career
Do you use American Sign Language (ASL)? Would you consider yourself fluent? Is it your primary mode of communication? How many years have you been signing?
What is your involvement in the Deaf Community, if any?
How long have you been involved in the Deaf Community? And in what capacities?
How connected do you feel to the Deaf Community? Describe this connection and how it has changed/evolved.
Do you consider yourself part of the “hearing world” or “deaf world”? Both or neither? Why?

Questions about personhood (story)

Describe a typical day/week in your life.
What are your favorite hobbies? Activities? Sports?
Who is your role model and why?
What are 3 words friends would use to describe you? What are 3 words your family would use to describe you? What are 3 words you would use to describe yourself?
What something people underestimate about you? Why do you think that is the case?
If you were to write an autobiography, what would you title it? Why?

Note: Questions that include identifying information will be changed to protect identity. Depending on the interviews involvement in the Deaf community, the second set of questions may be altered to reflect their opinions of the Deaf community. For example, “what something people underestimate about you?” may be rephrased to a Deaf education teacher to say “What something people underestimate about your students? Do you think it is true? How to you and your students respond to that judgment?”

Research Journal: Estimates of ASL Users

April 25, 2015 / Christina Oros / 2 Comments

Finding accurate data on the number of American Sign Language (ASL) users in the United States has proven to be a difficult challenge. In my research, I stumbled upon a great paper that analyzes the different sources of estimates. Written by Ross Mitchell at Gallaudet University, the article “Why Estimates Need Updating?” also proposes solutions to improve the system of recording and recognizing ASL users in the United States. The current estimates on ASL users range from 100,000 to 15,000,000—that’s quite a difference. This article clearly lays out the various sources and their estimates in this chart:

Firstly, some of these higher estimates are based on the number of deaf people living in the United States. This is likely because deafness is being conflated with ASL usage. Many people suffer from age-related hearing loss but that does not necessitated ASL usage. Additionally, associating deafness and ASL usage does not account for other users, such as Children of Deaf Adults (CODAs), interpreters, audiologists, and speech therapists. In order to accurately determine the number of ASL users, these factors need to be considered. Some of the estimates were taken based on need for a courtroom interpreter, only accounting for users who could not communicate in English neglecting bilingual users. When these estimates were compared to the language rankings in the United States, ASL was placed high on the list. However, based on research and estimates by Mitchell, “ASL-only users would have easily outnumbered many other non-English-language-only groups.” Meaning that the number of people only using ASL is likely great than those exclusively using another non-English language.

Another key reason for these inaccurate estimates is because the U.S. Census Bureau does not consider ASL as a non-English language. When collecting data on demographics, the Census poses the question: “are there non-English language SPOKEN at home?” Well, ASL is not a spoken language; it’s a manual, visual, gestural language. If an ASL user answers this questions with American Sign Language, the Census Bureau codes it as spoken English, despite the fact that ASL is not spoken. One simple suggestion made by Mitchell is for the Bureau to word the question as: “are any non-English languages USED in the home?” This would allow for ASL to be recognized as a language and to be coded separately from spoken English. Other suggestions include incorporating questions about ASL usage into the annual National Health Interview Survey or create an independent study to address the question. Considering these recommendations an effort should be made to collect accurate data on ASL users.

Mitchell, Ross E., Travas A. Young, Bellamie Bachleda, and Michael A. Karchmer. “How Many People Use ASL in the United States? Why Estimates Need Updating.” Sign Language Studies 6.3 (2005): 306-35. Print.

Research Journal: Non-Manual Signs

April 25, 2015 / Christina Oros / 0 Comments

I thought this chart gave a nice overview of non-manual signs and how they are used in ASL. This gestures can convey important information about grammar and emotion that add to the content of a message.

Research Journal: Signing Isn’t Just About the Sign

April 25, 2015 / Christina Oros / 0 Comments

Sign language is often spoken of as a “manual” language, meaning that the signers’ hands produce the language. But in fact there is a much more to the language then simply hand motion. Facial expressions, head and body movements, and posture all factor into the meaning of the signs. One study suggests that ASL should more appropriately be described as a “visual-gestural language—where gesture is a generic term referring to body movement.”

Facial expression and body movement help form the sign. They add intensity. They provide grammatical and prosodic information. They also act as adverbs or adjectives. A particular combination of movements determine whether a sentence is a question, an assertion, or a command. It can also indicate negation or structural information about the sentence.

The Facial Action Coding System (FACS) has been used to identify the universal movements of when people experience one of the six basic emotions (happiness, fear, sadness, disgust, anger, surprise). But now it’s been used to code expressions in ASL. The results below show what behaviors occur with various types of questions when signed in ASL. These behaviors indicate eyebrow raise, eyelid movements, and altered eyebrow shape. Slight changes in facial position determine what type of question is being posed.

Baker-Shenk, Charlotte. “The Facial Behavior of Deaf Signers: Evidence of a Complex Language.” American Annals of the Deaf 130.4 (1985): 297-304. Project MUSE. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.

Research Journal: Cochlear Implants

April 25, 2015 / Christina Oros / 0 Comments

As I watched the documentary, Sound and Fury, I began having more and more questions about the Deaf community and cochlear implants. Cochlear implants have been a contested issue in the Deaf world since they were introduced about 30 years ago. Members of the Deaf community see cochlear implants as an affront to their culture and community. As ASL users, they do not rely on speech or sound to communicate and they do not view deafness as something to be “cured.” For pre-lingually deaf (deafness before language learning occurs) children, the implant is most effective before age one or as young as six months. In this case, children are not deciding to get implanted but rather a parent is making that choices. Because they cannot decide for themselves, Deaf community fears that the CI affirms deafness as a disability rather than allowing deaf children to learn sign and develop a sense of Deaf culture and pride.

Since the CI was first invented, technology has improved vastly. The number electrodes used has increased allowing for better and more diverse reception of speech and sound. Cochlear implants have gotten smaller and easier to use. The CI works by bypassing the hair cells of the inner ear and directly stimulates the cochlea nerve with electric pulses. A microphone outside of the skull receives sound input and the processor must determine the frequency of the sound and how it is to be interpreted.

When I studied this in several of my speech and audiology classes, we were told that speech through a cochlear implant does not sound like the speech a hearing person listens to. Some people describe it as robotic or electronic, but what does it really sound like? Thanks, YouTube for answering that question!

This video plays the speech stimulus given and how it is heard by a deaf individual through a cochlear implant.

Research Journal: Sound and Fury

April 25, 2015 / Christina Oros / 0 Comments

This documentary from 2000 follows the extended Artinian Family of three generations. Below is a family tree to outline who is who:

Over the course of a year and half, the film documents the poignant struggle and clash between family members of the Deaf and Hearing worlds. At six years old, Heather, the oldest child of Peter, decided that she wanted a cochlear implant (CI). This device can be used with profoundly deaf clients experiencing a sensorineural hearing loss. It bypasses the damaged cochlea and use electronic stimulation to receive and process sound. Heather’s parents disapproved of the CI because they feared it would take her away from the Deaf world and their culture. Her father believes that as a deaf person his natural language is signing and his daughter belongs with the family in the Deaf world. While Peter Artinian and Nita, his wife, mull over Heather’s suggestion of a CI, Chris and Mari Artinian give birth to twin boys, one of whom is deaf.

Although Chris and Mari are both fluent in ASL and are closely connected the Deaf community, they decide that Peter (their deaf son) should receive a cochlear implant. Mari’s deaf parents are opposed, but Chris’ hearing parents are supportive. Mari and Chris agree that giving Peter the cochlear implant will afford him more and better opportunities in the future. At the conclusion of the 2000 documentary, Peter receives a CI and begins speech therapy. Peter and Nita Artinian decide against Heather’s implant and move their family to Maryland, where there is a large Deaf population.

In 2006, there was a follow-up to the film. At this point, Heather was 12 years old and her parents had opted for the CI for her and her brothers. Recently, Heather gave a TEDTalk at Georgetown University, where she is studying government and politics. Her talk focuses on “building a bridge” between worlds. In her case, she bridged the gap between the hearing world and the Deaf community as she knows it. She urges everyone “to reach out, allow other people in, try to understand different experiences, allow others to understand yours. No matter what your experiences are, positive or negative, you will make an impact.”

Research Journal: Fires in the Mirror

April 25, 2015 / Christina Oros / 0 Comments

The play by Anna Deavere Smith opens with this line from an interview with Ntozake Shange, a playwright, poet, and novelist. She says: “Identity is…it’s a way of knowing that no matter where I put myself, that I am not necessarily what’s around me. I am a part of my surroundings and I become separate from them, and it’s being able to make those differentiations clearly that gives us identity.” Fires in the Mirror is a compilation of monologues that are extracted from various interviews done by Smith. Smith’s project began as a reaction to the riots in Crown Heights in August 1991. These riots were in response to a motor vehicle accident, in which a car in the procession carrying the Lubavitcher Hasidic rebbe ran red light and swerved onto the sidewalk. The car struck and killed Gavin Cato, a seven-year-old Black boy from Guyana, and injured his cousin, Angela. Rumors about the police and medical responders only assisting the driver and passengers lead to tensions between the two groups. Later that evening, a group of young Black men fatally stabbed Yankel Rosenbaum. For three days, the violence and tensions continued between these groups in Crown Heights.

Smith’s project began with interviewing various people of the Black community and of the Jewish community. Some of the interviews are directly related to the events in Crown Heights in August 1991, while others centered on broader topics of race and religion. Then, Smith took each of the interviews verbatim and crafted them into several monologues. These monologues are told as individual stories, but together they produce a complete narrative of these distinct groups.

In her introduction, Smith discusses her experience of beginning this project. As a classical trained actor, she and her peers were taught “the spirit of acting is the travel from the self to the other.” But Smith wanted to flip this idea. Her technique would begin with other coming to the self, thus empowering the “other” to find the actor. She hoped that each interviewee would have their own experience of authorship by telling their stories and answering her questions. This idea of giving the voice to the characters directly is an important part of memoir and storytelling. Although Smith’s name appears as the playwright, the authorship and voice truly belongs to the interviewees.

When the play opened in New York in May 1992, Anna Deavere Smith performed every role. As the interviewer, she assumed the voice, the posture, the gait, and the personality of each of her interviewees. The audience had a mixed reaction. Some were pleased to see these diverse yet connected characters on stage. Others were uncomfortable and thought her portrayal stereotyped and stigmatized the cultures. Smith comments on this in her introduction to the text saying that this is the “uneasiness we have about seeing difference displayed.” Once again this expression of the “otherness of others” becomes prominent in my research. Society, generally, regards difference as bad and unwanted, but works like Fires in the Mirror open up audiences to view their neighbors and learn about the experience of the “other.”

Here’s a video of Anna Deavere Smith’s performance in Fires in the Mirror.

Research Journal: Eakin’s How Our Lives Become Stories

April 25, 2015 / Christina Oros / 0 Comments

The first chapter of Eakin’s book How Our Lives Become Stories opened up an infinite amount of questions and perspectives to consider as I continue to flesh out my capstone project.

Early on, Eakin writes about the definitions of “I,” “self,” and “subject.” In terms of autobiography and memoir, these words can carry various meanings. According to Descartes’ philosophical writings, the bodily “I”/subject differs from the “thinking I.” Descartes posits in one of his first writings:

“On the one hand I have a clear and distinct idea of myself, in so far as I am a thinking, non-extended thing; and on the other hand I have a distinct idea of body, in so far a this is simply an extended, non-thinking thing. And, accordingly, it is certain that I am really distinct from my body, and exist without it.”

But how does this theory of dualism interact with individual experience? Eakin continues to explore this idea. He cites several scenarios, in which a person loses “body awareness” in one way or another. After this loss, these people have experienced a transformed sense of identity. Eakin introduces several other psychologists and theorists, who support this connection between the physical sense of self and the sense of identity.

Gerald Edelman, a neurobiologist, emphasizes the brain’s ability to adapt to the “ever-changing demands of experience.” Each individual will have unique and distinct experiences. Edelman continues to explain the “higher order consciousness, as the ability to construct a socially based selfhood, to model the world in terms of the past and the future.” Humans are unique in this ability because of the developed language system we possess. The brain is constantly experiencing various events and actively creating impressions. However, every time a memory is recalled, the recollection differs based on the context and circumstances. Some questions: Because this higher order consciousness is based in our language system, how does later developing language (especially in Deaf children) impact this ability? What is the impact on social development and selfhood development when the language system differs from most peers?

Eakin goes on to explain Kerby’s five registers of self: ecological (related to physical environment), interpersonal (relations with others), extended self (existing outside of the present moment), private self (not available to others), and conceptual self (self-information). These selves are developed throughout childhood by the home and school environments. Once again, how are these registers affected by language differences? What creates autobiography/memoir? The private self or the conceptual self or the interpersonal self?

Eakin’s writing presents some very interesting cases of the interaction between the physical body and the identity of self. One case discusses a male who injures his leg and as a result experiences an injury in his identity. No longer able to feel and utilize an essential part of his physical being, the man lost his sense of selfhood and identity. This idea of sensory deficit leading to an identity deficit was confirmed in a study of congenitally blind children that developed the pronouns “you” and “I” much later than sighted children. As I continue my project, I think this difference in self-identity will also be relevant to the Deaf community. It will be interesting to see how age influences the formation of self in this particular population.

Finally, Eakin emphasizes “every experience takes place within a vast background of cultural presuppositions.” Yet another point to consider. Deaf culture is incredibly specific and unique. It functions with its own rules and expectations. As Eakin already stressed one’s identity is influenced by experience, but that experience is informed through culture.

Research Journal: Meet Sapheara–Marvel’s Superhero with Cochlear Implants

April 25, 2015 / Christina Oros / 0 Comments

As I worked on my project proposal, the importance of self-identification made its way to the forefront. This concept of knowing oneself and your relationship to others is essential. Being able to relate and empathize with other people in a community is an important goal. So when I stumbled upon this article, I got incredibly excited.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/hearing-impaired-kids-superhero/story?id=26297293

Now, I’m not a huge fan of Marvel or comics. But a superhero with cochlear implants—that I can love.

Marvel teamed up with the Children’s Hearing Institute and the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary to create the newest hero, “Sapheara.” This character with bilateral cochlear implants will appear alongside Blue Ear, another superhero that sports hearing aids. Not only will the comics tell an entertaining story, but they will also serve as an educational tool about devices used by the hearing impaired.

Every time I read a novel or watch a movie or marathon a show on Netflix, I look for characters that I can see myself in. How is this experience different for someone with a hearing impairment or other disability? Do they struggle to find relatable material?

Often kids with hearing impairments and issues are embarrassed or anxious about their diagnosis. Too many times, these children hide their hearing aids or unplug their FM devices. They struggle through classes without their assistive devices because they fear ridicule and scorn. But a new superhero may change that. Sapheara is a character that they can relate to. Suddenly, someone that looks like them, acts like them, struggles like them is coming to life on the page of their favorite comic book. Seeing these heroes as strong and successful while utilizing their differences can be so encouraging to the young readers.

As a soon-to-be clinician, this news is thrilling. I think Marvel’s new superhero will bring empowerment and motivation to this population. Because these comics aren’t just targeted to hearing impaired children, other readers will also benefit from a new understanding of cochlear implants and other assistive devices.

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