“But the Deaf are inferior to the Hearing, aren’t they?”
On one of my email listserves, Gardy Van Gils, a Deaf woman from Holland, sent this story of what happened in a meeting of Deaf and Hearing people in her workplace discussing how Deaf and Hearing can work together more effectively, when one woman stood up and said what was on her mind. Read the story in the link below to see what happened next. This story points to why it is useless to change what we call ourselves by, since Hearing people’s attitudes will still be of us as “disabled” people until we are able to get societal attitudes changed.
- Read: Surdophobia by Gardy Van Gils
Jack said,
August 24, 2008 @ 8:51 am
Don,
This is very interesting!
I wonder if some of those hard of hearing/hearing impaired (non-signer) people have the surdophobia characteristic too?
DT said,
August 24, 2008 @ 8:56 am
This is great, Don; may I have your permission to post this in it’s entirety (thus giving you the credit) at a couple of deaf discussion forums I frequent? Thanks in advance.
DrDonG said,
August 24, 2008 @ 9:18 am
DT,
Of course, you can! The more people who are aware that these attitudes have never really gone away, even among people who SHOULD know better, as this woman should have, the better off we all will be in understanding why we need to work together to put a stop to this.
Jack –
I would say for those HH/nonsigning Deaf, it is more of “learned” surdophobia — they have been taught to think of Deaf as “less” than Hearing.
RLM said,
August 24, 2008 @ 10:17 am
Don G,
Thanks for sharing Gardy’s enclosure with us, DR readers/viewers. I am not really surprised at all about this whole thing which is considered very common occurence in many places beyond imagination.
One deaf associate professor recently dealt with the same issue at the hearing community college in MD few weeks ago. The hearing peers weren’t considerate of this deaf professor on equal footing during the lunch breaks. They expressed sigh when the deaf professor asked them nicely if they could make their communication more accessible for that deaf person. Interpreters also got tired of interpreting all day.
Should the interpreter(s) get the break, too? Interpreters are humans, but we, deaf people could be at great disadvantages, too. Hearing people should make more efforts to intergrate deaf people to see them as equals, not someone to help with.
The coining term of “surdophobia” seems good one! Is that this term Frenchy or what?
Robert L. Mason (RLM)
Candy said,
August 24, 2008 @ 10:35 am
Interesting. I can see that happening in a Mental Health environment because most of these mental health professionals were taught that the deaf are inferrior. Look at DSM 4, for example. DSM 4 that covers deaf people do not necessarily reflect all the deaf, yet, that is what some mental health professionals think. Unfortunately.
She ignored that ignorant hearing professional. I would not have.
And, when you say that for those HH, it is more of a “learned” surdophobia, are you referring to all HH?
Granted, there are some deaf and HH people that think that way, most are DOH, unfortunately and never was given the opportunity to explore the deaf community. Simply put, if one isn’t well informed about a community, one would be very ignorant.
We can’t just sit there and let people walk over us. Complaining doesn’t do much either. Be assertive.
Anyway, I still think we have come a long way and are better off than we were years ago. People are becoming more aware of the deaf community. We still got a ways to go.
Does discrimination ever ends? No. Will it ever completely go way? no.
DrDonG said,
August 24, 2008 @ 12:09 pm
RLM –
The coining of Surdophobia comes from the latin Surdus (Deaf) [this is the derivation of the French 'Sourds' and Spanish 'Sordos' meaning Deaf] and the Greek Phobia (fear).
Candy –
It isn’t just Mental Health professionals — it can be teachers of the Deaf, interpreters, social workers, AND, many, many, many Hearing people who have never had any experience with or exposure to Deaf people.
As for the “learned surdophobia” comment, I wasn’t talking about all HH people — I was including Deaf people in there — all of us have been exposed to those attitudes about Deaf people, and to some extent or other, many of us have ‘learned” them. When I was young, my mother told me that when Deaf people have “guttural” (her word) speech, they had to sign and live in the “Deaf ghetto” (or something along those lines). So growing up, I had a form of surdophobia — did I want to live in this “Deaf ghetto”? Horrors!
I would bet that many Deaf/HH of Deaf also have a form of surdophobia in one way or another — that they think English is better than ASL, that Hearing people know more or better or more correctly than Deaf people, that only Hearing people know how to write correct English and if you need help with your English, you can only go to a Hearing person, etc. etc.
Have we come a long way? Sure, but hardly far enough, and this story shows that even though we think we’ve come a long way, that doesn’t mean we’re done.
prefer to be anon said,
August 24, 2008 @ 12:30 pm
Isn’t it hard to follow when two or more hearing people are signing and talking amongst each other? (You are the only Deaf in the group.) (I try to avoid being in this situation)
DrDonG said,
August 24, 2008 @ 12:36 pm
You know, Candy,
I saw on one of the blogs some discussion about those of us who are into Deafhood stating that it appeals to people in a certain age range (I’ve seen a wide age range — from 60+ to 20s which contradicts this idea) and who are afraid of “change” (Deaf people will accept change, as long as this change benefits us and can fit within a Deaf-centered way of life — look how readily we accepted VPs, pagers, email, etc.).
But you say “we can’t just sit there and let people walk over us. Complaining doesn’t do much either. Be assertive”.
The reason we’re into Deafhood is because it has a lot of explanatory power for why so many Deaf people are NOT being “assertive” as you put it, and why we have NOT been able to make much inroads into the political processes and the goals we have had in common.
It is not that we are afraid of change — on the contrary, we WANT to see a change. We want to see changes in the social structures, educational system, etc. But we want to see changes that will benefit us all, not just a few.
DrDonG said,
August 24, 2008 @ 12:43 pm
PreferAnon –
Not sure what your point is —
But yes, simcomming is not an effective way of communication for us, because Hearing people tend to make the speech and English primary in their minds rather than the signs, so the signs will be more English order, and because the brain really can’t handle two tasks simultaneously, much of the signs or the grammatical aspects of the signs will be deleted (unconsciously), resulting in a linguistic muddle when one is attending only to the signs (if one is not lipreading or hearing the spoken words).
For those of you who know more than one spoken language, try this experiment: on paper or a blackboard, write a sentence of your choosing while speaking the same sentence in the other language.
That’s why it’s much better for Hearing (and Deaf) people to use only one language at a time — Spoken English or ASL. Don’t mix the two.
Brian Guy said,
August 24, 2008 @ 1:41 pm
Interesting this - someone said to me that ’superiority’ is the extreme version of inferiority - one need to mix with those that they perceive as ‘inferiors’ if they are to overcome their own personal inferiority complex.
I find this true amongst a good proportion of hearing professionals especially those who do not act as our allies when we wish to change the status quo (policies, procedures or any other items preventing our equality or access to the higher echelons for instance). Also sad to say that this also applies to deaf professionals who look down their noses at deaf community members and yet they are in positions of power in their organisations.
This is a double edged sword but basically why are there people out there who need to hang on to positions where there are others better placed to take over as they have a better insight into the baser issues here. The way forward is for people to identify and confront this ’surdophobia or superiority complex’ and I bet you that should they recognise and overcome this the workplace would be a truly better one for everyone, or am I being too idealistic here?????
DrDonG said,
August 24, 2008 @ 1:55 pm
Brian,
Very good observations. Whether you’re being idealistic or not, well, we have been challenging Hearing people to confront their own audistic attitudes, so challenging Deaf and Hard of Hearing people to confron their own surdophobic or superiority complex attitudes fits very well too, and I think, entirely appropriate toward understanding what is behind Deafhood.
It is not easy for Hearing people to do it, and it’s not going to be easy for Deaf/HH people either. We all have been exposed to these attitudes and ideas, and they have taken root in all of us in various ways. Even me. But I do try to be conscious of when I might be engaging in audistic/surdophobic/superiority complex modes of thinking, and to change how I think and speak, and when someone points out to me tht my words or behaviors are not “Deaf-friendly”, I think about it and change as appropriate.
Jean Boutcher said,
August 24, 2008 @ 6:12 pm
Don,
I agree with your comment (August 24, 2008 @ 12:09 pm).
I wrote a message with the attachment of “Surdophobia” to a number of deaf professionals. Overwhelmingly, I received many replies, asserting that they have been treated negatively. One of the very important deaf professionals whose name I shall not be disclosing herein wrote as follows:
“Thanks for sending that article over. The Dutch lady’s “surdophobia” obviously is what we in the USA call audism. I’ve lived with it most of my professional life, and believe people would be amazed to know who my so-called audistic friends were!”
Others have also said that deaf protégés at Gallaudet ARE still jealous
of them in different manners.
Was i shocked to see the names of the jealous ones? No, I was not!
But what surprises me is that he has not changed an iota for over
25 years. What is worse is that he still mouths without signing to his
oral friends at Gallaudet. In my analysis, I think that deaf protégés
have what Psychologist Adler would term: “Inferior Complex”.
What I wrote to the people this afternoon is as follows:
What I wrote to the people this afternoon is as follows:
Dianrez said,
August 24, 2008 @ 6:35 pm
“Surdophobia” sounds like an useful word, but could turn out to be with overtones of fear, hatred, even racism.
I’d hesitate to throw it at any hearing person as it might make them reject the whole idea. As a tool for discussion, it might have severe limitations. No one wants to be told they are behaving in a less than helpful way toward other people. “Audism” might be a less emotionally charged word.
There is some truth in it, however. I’ve seen hearing people indignant when they realize deaf people drive a car or get promoted on the job: “they can’t do that! They’re deaf!” Some hearing people have resented it when they work alongside deaf people…they feel they should have better work or privileges because they can HEAR.
On another tack, hearing people can be afraid of deaf people, especially signers. They fear that they will make a mistake or appear stupid, or offend without meaning to.
It takes sensitivity and understanding, and knowing how to be helpful to get past this attitude and communication problem. Not all of us can do it, much less some hearing people.
Paul said,
August 24, 2008 @ 7:21 pm
Wow! OK, so granted this article is over 10 years old, but sadly I suspect the situation has not improved much. I’m hearing and a sign language interpreter. I will say that what I see between Deaf & hearing colleagues in various situations where I’ve interpreted is that I see a lot of mutual respect between people who work closely together, but outside of that I see a fairly low glass ceiling for many Deaf employees. It’s no secret that Deaf people are disproportionately unemployed and many who are working are underemployed. I know talented, qualified Deaf people, some with graduate level degrees, who cannot find work or are working in entry level positions.
In addition to this phenomenon, I see other d/Deaf people who have been limited by the low expectations of parents. Parents who have meant well, but have taken advice from the only resource the think to ask, the medical community who is often unversed in the variety of resources available and the pitfalls of an oral only approach for many d/Deaf people (including those with cochlear implants). As a result, they often end up undereducated, un/underemployed and perpetuating this stereotype that Deaf people are limited to a life of collecting SSI (one form of government financial assistance in the US, for any international blog readers) payments or low-level jobs.
These are just my anecdotal observations but based on this article, probably not uncommon.
Mishkazena said,
August 24, 2008 @ 7:37 pm
I’m unable to see your vlog.. due to bad Internet connection. I get a rough idea from reading the comments. If it’s me, I would immediately confront that arrogant person and also the other hearing people for tolerating her attitude, telling them they have no business working with the Deaf people if they are unable to recognize that Deaf people are equal peers. That kind of attitude has to go.
Seriously this kind of attitude is prevalent in the Deaf Education and helping professions, contributing to the oppression of Deaf people. This attitude cannot be tolerated at all. period.
I’ll wait until I get back home, then watch the vlog. I hope I got the context of the post correctly. In fact, Don, I was planning to blog about this topic soon. : )
Gardy van Gils said,
September 4, 2008 @ 4:18 pm
First of all, I want to thank Donald G. for placing my article on his blog. Great to read all of your comments.
I’m the Dutch Deaf professional/woman etc. who have wrote the keynote Surdophobia.
My name is Gardy van Gils.
I think it’s very interesting to find out which motives hearing people have for working with D/deaf people.
copy from Brian Guy:
“Interesting this - someone said to me that ’superiority’ is the extreme version of inferiority - one need to mix with those that they perceive as ‘inferiors’ if they are to overcome their own personal inferiority complex.”
I’ve heard of this theory too. Once, a college psychiatrist, have told me about this.
He also said to me that there were a lot of hearing professionals working in Deaf area’s who are ‘misfits’ in the regular society.
In Dutch we have a great saying for this: “in the country of the blind people, the one-eyes are the king”. It’s important that we have developed antenna to recognize these “one-eye dictators” who don’t want get us empowered.
Also we have to collaborate with those who treat us as equal human beings.
Being aware of this phenomenon is very important for all of us, also being aware of our self-image too.
For example: (I love storyteling, so before you go to sleep, listen to this one)
Last week, I visited a notary with my 77 years old mother and we’ve brought an interpreter with us. I was astonished after what she have said to the notary. For your information: my mother is Deaf, borned Deaf with Deaf parents, and she got me, a Deaf daughter, she got a Deaf granddaughter which is my daughter. (are you still with me?)
She said to the (hearing) notary: I’m sorry, I can’t sign, always using my voice. Can speak very well and my daughter, she want’s to bring in the interpreter because she need a one.
(The interpreter translated her voice in the backside, because the notary couldn’t understand my mothers words. She didn’t noticed that. Still believing the notary and she are well understanding each other).
It’s painfull, absolutely painfull for me, to see my mother in this way. But I can’t blame her for this attitude. Like many Deaf people in the Netherlands and Europe and everywhere, she’s been punished structural in a physical and psychic way when using sign-language, her mother-language. For over many years, I have tried to learn my mother that everytime she talks about Deaf people like they are persons with low skills, as they are inferior human beings when they sign, or that they’re always not well lettered, she also talks about herself and put down everyone of us: her parents, me, my daughter, her friends, her family. Her self-image is damaged forever. I just have to accept that and respect her even it’s so hard to see the scars.
A lot of Deaf and hard of hearing people have built up an existential fear for being themselves. They still need respect and help for building up a more adequate self-image.
For me, it’s really going to far to call them surdophobes.
Looking forward to your comments.
Goodnight.
Gardy
jesse said,
January 8, 2009 @ 2:04 pm
but the deaf ARE inferior to the hearing. THEY CAN’T HEAR, for goodness’ sake. on the basis of interacting with the outside world, they are at best 20% less worthwhile than people with all 5 senses; probably more like 50%.
DrDonG said,
January 8, 2009 @ 5:34 pm
Jesse,
All I can say is, you need a big education in Deaf 101….