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June 21, 2006
Ph.D. = Please Help the Deaf
Categories: Travel
During my New Orelans trip, while "talking" to John, the pastor of the deaf church we were helping out, I mentioned that I was a professor. He asked (via Jerry, the pastor of the church in Knoxville that is fluent in sign but can hear) if I had my Ph.D. I told John "yes". John then remarked that Ph.D. stood for "Please help the deaf."
I am not sure how much I accomplished while I was in New Orleans, but I certainly leared a lot about deaf culture. I learned a few signs to help me get by. (I know the ones for "bathroom" "work" "shower" "tired" "lazy" "hard" "angry" as well as a few more words and about 30% of the alphabet). I learned that "disability" is certainly a relative notion. When working with a group that is primarily deaf, I -- with my general lack of sign-language ability -- was the disabled one, not anyone who had been born without the ability to hear). I was forced to reflect on the experiential/epistemological difference between a hearing person and a deaf one. While we were at dinner one night, "Tiny Dancer" began playing on the restraunt radio. Pat, another volunteer who was able to hear, turned to me and said "Can you imagine going through life without ever having heard this song, or any song for that matter?" What does having no access to music do to your experiential framework? This is not a question of pity, but a question of philosophy. Much of the epistemology and philosophy of language I've encountered totally neglects the experience of a deaf person and their sign language. Are the rules different? How can they not be?
So thanks to all of the folks on the trip for helping me learn about deaf culture and giving me interesting food for philosophical thought. I enjoyed it!
Posted by Nakia at June 21, 2006 09:33 AM