DEAF CULTURE

1. Presentation DEAF CULTURE WHAT IS IT ??? By Simon Mahony

2. Deaf Culture • In the Deaf community, we have our own language which is Australia Sign Language – AUSLAN. As 90% of Deaf children are born to hearing parents, the culture is often learnt at Deaf school or through social activities involving Deaf people. Deaf culture is a positive aspect of Deafness and shows the different between hearing and Deaf people. Some examples of Deaf culture are: By Simon Mahony

3. Examples of Deaf cultures: • Getting Attention – Deaf people tap each other on the shoulder, flash overhead light on and off, stamp feet on the floor and wave hands to gain attention of another people. • Facial Expression – Deaf people communicate using a lot of facial expression more than hearing people. • “The Long Goodbye” – At social gatherings and parties, Deaf people tend to say goodbye to people at least one hour more actually leaving. It is important for them to approach their friends and say “goodbye”, when will I see you again? This starts another conversation of when they will meet again. Friends would be offended if someone left without saying “goodbye”. This is why we have the famous “Long Goodbye”. • Flashing Light – In a Deaf house, flashing light are quite normal To gain the attention of each person the over head lights can be flashed on and off. Other special devices are the Telephone Flasher, Door Bell Alert, Baby Cry Alarm. These are special flashing light devices which set lights on and off. By Simon Mahony

4. Examples of Deaf cultures ~ continued • Kitchen – Once a again at social functions, in a Deaf house, the most popular room in the house is the kitchen because of it is bright light and comfier. Sometime, a large number of Deaf people will stand around talking for ages in the kitchen and other rooms will be empty. • Pride – Deaf culture is important to us a source of pride in ourselves as Deaf people and of full acceptance of our deafness and our language. There is an enormous social and lobby network in the Deaf community in Australia and around the world. • Way of talking – During conversation, Deaf people tend to be very direct. While a hearing person may talk about something in a subtle way without referring to it in a direct manner (i.e. if someone walked in the room whom we had not see for along time and had put on weight, the hearing person would say “Oh, you are looking so well”, where as a Deaf person would say “Oh you are looking so well”, where as a Deaf would say “Oh you are so fat!”) This is usually because the Deaf person has properly never heard how to be subtle like hearing people have and relies on visual rather than verbal information. By Simon Mahony

5. Contact Behaviour with Deaf People.Do’s and Don’t s: • The following are some examples of Do’s and Don’ts when communicating with deaf people. • When you need their attention, avoid using your hand to turn their face towards them, e.g.; tapping on the shoulder gently or waving in front of their face (not too closer right in the face). • It’s okay to tap on the arm to gain attention. Do not poke your finger on their arm or shoulder etc. • Distance between the persons while they are having a conversation is important. More space than usual is generally require allowing free use of hand, arm space and some body language. • It’s okay to walk pass between two people while they are signing to each other. They will usually just lift their bands to continue their conversation. There is really no need to bow down to avoid blocking their view (Just be quick). By Simon Mahony

6. Contact Behaviour with Deaf People.Do’s and Don’t s: ~ continued • Be careful with your eyes contact. It is important to maintain good eye contact during conversation (avoid staring) but to acknowledge you are still tuned in. • Physical contact is greater with Deaf people. It’s part and parcel of their culture. • Be aware of long goodbyes. Make an attempt to quickly wave goodbye to those you have been talking to before leaving. Don’t shout out “Bye!” then leave. Your absence will be noticed. • Make sure there is good light when conversing. Be responsive to the Deaf person asking you to move to be in better light. You will usually find groups talking in the most lit room, e.g.; Kitchen. By Simon Mahony

7. Culture • A Culture is a set of learned behaviours of a group of people who have their own language, values and rules for behaviour and traditions. • A person may be born into a culture; he/she is brought up according to the values of the culture and his/her personality and behaviours are shaped by his/her culture values. Or, a person may grow up in one culture and later learn the language, values and practices of different culture and become “acculturated” into that culture. • Culture is neither “good” nor “bad”, so one culture is not better or worse than another. By Simon Mahony

8. Auslan • Auslan is the native sign language of the Australian Deaf community. • It is a visual, spatial, multi – dimensional language incorporating facial expression, mouth and body movement, finger spelling and handshapes which represent words and concepts. • The morphology and syntax of Auslan are different from the structures found in English. By Simon Mahony

9. Facial Expressions • In a spoken Language the rise and fall of the voice adds meaning to the words spoken. In Auslan, the face has these duties and supplies additional subtleties and nuances of meaning. The meaning of signs are altered, shaped, enriched and amplified by facial expressions. • The signer must learn to be expressive with eyes and mouth as well as with the eyebrows. The eyes will open wide, or squint to narrow slits, the mouth will open and close, the lips will purse and stretch, the cheeks will puff out, and even the tongue will sometime protrude. By Simon Mahony

10. Body Language • Body language is an essential element of Auslan. Information is communicated not only by the face but also by the head, shoulder, torso, legs and feet. • The head may tilt forward, back or to the side, especially when questions are asked. • The shoulder may shrug, the body may bend forward and backward and twist. • The incorporation of the whole body into the expression of sign language is absolutely required for clear, understandable communication. By Simon Mahony

11. Finger spelling • Refers to the use of twenty-six distinct handshakes which represent the twenty-six letters of English alphabet to literally ‘write in the air’. • Fingerspelling is an integral part of Auslan, but if used exclusively becomes a code for representing English. By Simon Mahony

12. Auslan Handshapes • There are sixty-six handshapes used in Auslan. 38 major handshapes and 28 variants handshapes. • 25% of signs in the Auslan Dictionary use the B flat handshape. • 56% of signs in the Auslan Dictionary use the G point, 5 Spread and A Fist handshapes. By Simon Mahony

13. Culture Differences between Deaf/Hearing Australians Eye Contact Extended Gaze Nod Gaining Attention Visual Noise/Distractions By Simon Mahony

14. Auslan Five Parameters Handshape Location Orientation Movement Expression (Non Manual Feature) By Simon Mahony

15. Handshape • In Auslan there are 38 major handshapes identified for this Auslan Dictionary. (28 Variants have also been identified, making a total of 66 handshapes in all). Each of these major handshapes has been given a name which describes what the handshape look like (e.g., ‘Round’ or ‘Spread’), what number the handshape stands for (e.g., ‘Two’ or ‘Three’), or what familiar sign uses that handshape (e.g., ‘Okay’, ‘Kneel’ or ‘Perth’). • There are three types of signs: One-handed, double-handed and two handed. Signs made with one hand (e.g., WHO, COME, SMELL) are called one-handed signs. Signs made with two hands of the same handshape (e.g., ATTENTION, SCIENCE, SIGN) are called double-handed signs. Signs made with two hands of different handshapes (e.g., DOLLAR, COINCIDENCE, EGG) are called two-handed signs. Ref: Johnston. T. 2000 (2nd Ed). A Dictionary of Auslan, Signs of Australia By Simon Mahony

16. Handshape ~ continued One-handed signs Double-handed signs Two-handed signs Ref: Johnston. T. 2000 (2nd Ed). A Dictionary of Auslan, Signs of Australia By Simon Mahony

17. Location • Another element in a sign is its location. Location may mean point of actual contact or simply point near to which a sign is made. Where the sign is neither in contact with nor near a location is it said to be executed in ‘neutral space’ which is situated in front of the chest of the signer. These signing places are of two major types: those on or nor near the body proper (primary locations) and those on or near the hands (secondary locations). This is second types is, of course, applicable only to two-handed and double-handed signs. Ref: Johnston. T. 2000 (2nd Ed). A Dictionary of Auslan, Signs of Australia By Simon Mahony

18. Location ~ continued Ref: Johnston. T. 2000 (2nd Ed). A Dictionary of Auslan, Signs of Australia By Simon Mahony

19. Orientation • The third component of a sign is the directions in which the palm(s) and the hand(s) point. It is essential to know the orientation in order to produce a sign correctly or to differentiate it from other signs which share the same signing location, handshape and movement. It is necessary to specify two orientation – that of the palm and that of the hand. Consider, for example, WEIGH and BALANCE. The two signs are distinguished by the orientation of the palms and movements (WEIGH has palms up, movement up and down, BALANCE has palms down, movement opposite up and down). In the signs ROOM and FORWARD, the two signs are distinguished by the orientation, location, and types of handshapes (ROOM has palm down, hand near side of head and one-handed sign, FORWARD has palm back, hands near chest and double-handed signs). Ref: Johnston. T. 2000 (2nd Ed). A Dictionary of Auslan, Signs of Australia By Simon Mahony

20. Orientation ~ continued WEIGH and BALANCE, The two signs are distinguished by the orientation of the palms and movements ROOM and FORWARD, the two signs are distinguished by the orientation, location, and types of handshapes Ref: Johnston. T. 2000 (2nd Ed). A Dictionary of Auslan, Signs of Australia By Simon Mahony

21. Movement • The fourth component of a sign is movement. Movement can be large scale and move the hands through the signing space or it can be small scale and change the orientation of the hands (twisting and bending the wrist) or moving the fingers in some way. The last kind movement usually changes the handshape. Movement through space can be in a straight line, a series of straight lines, arcs or circles. Some examples include: Ref: Johnston. T. 2000 (2nd Ed). A Dictionary of Auslan, Signs of Australia By Simon Mahony

22. Movement ~ continued Ref: Johnston. T. 2000 (2nd Ed). A Dictionary of Auslan, Signs of Australia By Simon Mahony

23. Expression (Non Manual Feature) • The fifth component of sign is expression. Expression is the non-manual component of signing – of relatively minor importance in the formation of individual signs, but of fundamental importance in the construction of phrases. The head nod and the head shake have been included in this section though they could equally be considered to be head movements, rather than facial expressions. They are included because of the close connection they both have with other facial expressions and because of the similarity in the use of both with other facial expressions. Indeed, either the head nod or the head shake is often made simultaneously with another facial expression. The facial expressions are listed below: Ref: Johnston. T. 2000 (2nd Ed). A Dictionary of Auslan, Signs of Australia By Simon Mahony

24. Expression (Non Manual Feature) ~ continued Head: Mouth: Shaking Grimacing Nodding Pouting Tilting the head to one side Pursing the lips Tilting the head forward Poking out the tongue Tilting the head back Gaping Rounding the lips Eyebrows: Sucking in air Raising the eyebrows Blowing out air Lower the eyebrows Eyes: Squinting Open the eyes wide Ref: Johnston. T. 2000 (2nd Ed). A Dictionary of Auslan, Signs of Australia By Simon Mahony

25. Example of Auslan Parameters By Simon Mahony