INTERCULTURAL ACTIVITY REFLECTION
Through Deaf Eyes
In my ASL I class we watched a movie called “through deaf eyes”. This movie opened my eyes to not only the history of ASL, but more importantly the people who use ASL. From the movie I learned that the Deaf community was originally viewed as people of lower class or less intelligent. I always knew that being deaf has no effect on one’s IQ, so this was surprising for me. The Deaf community has worked tremendously for all of their rights, but even with all this hard work, the Deaf community is still underheard from the main population and more often than not misunderstood by others. Deaf schools are losing popularity, more and more students enroll in mainstream schools, and bullying is still a common issue. Based on how hard and how far the Deaf community has come from where it started, I believe it’s safe to say that they will overcome all these obstacles and prevail overall.
In ASL I learned basic communication skills, presentation in ASL, and the culture of the Deaf community. Every week we would meet for two and a half hours of silence. This was a really different experience. For the entire class period, nobody would talk, and we had to at some times “guess” what our professor was trying to convey. I had to use a lot of my imagination and concentration. At first the class seemed very challenging and boring. More often[WLE1] than not, I couldn’t understand what the professor was saying, and I would spend most of my time trying to understand what was going on than actually learning the material. Growing up speaking both English and Mandarin I was not a stranger to learning languages. The reality of not being able to talk and leaning ASL was a new experience and challenging for me. I persevered through and after the half semester mark, I now understood how to communicate with the professor and started to enjoy the class. I found that we could sign jokes and share personal stories. This was a great experience for not only learning a new language, but also learning the culture of a new community.
Growing up in Taiwan I was never exposed to ASL or any Deaf community. For me, being deaf is with all due respect a “mystery”. I wanted to learn a new language in college, and I decided to take an ASL class as my first step towards debunking this “mystery”. My dream career is to become a medical doctor. I want to help a deaf person directly by signing ASL to them and not through an interpreter, I think it would support them even more. After taking this class, I’m incredibly moved by the perseverance that the deaf community has shown towards change and equality. Deaf is not a disability or disease, it’s just another way of communication. I speak both Mandarina and English, not one language is better than the other. I used to view deaf culture as this “mystery”. After taking this class, I now understand they have their own communities, movies, way of seeing the world, struggles, and stories.
Another take away from this class is I have even more drive to learn ASL. With my demanding major, it’s not easy to learn a new language and not hurt your GPA. This class definitely proved to me that I made the right decision to learn ASL and make it my third language. I feel proud to be working with the Deaf community and look forward to the day when I can help my patients directly. This course taught me a lot on what the Deaf community is about, but I would say more importantly, it taught me more on reflecting myself and gave me motivation to go even further with my ASL experience.