Welcome to National Deaf History Month! It runs through April, and during this time, I’ll be sharing posts about books by or in collaboration with Deaf, deaf and hard of hearing people.

Whew, that’s three terms: Hard of hearing, deaf, and Deaf! I’ll be using all three throughout April. Click this link to see what each word means according to Dr. Bill Vicars, Deaf professor of ASL and juggernaut of the internet. It’s worth it to educate yourself!

My goal is to introduce you to different lived experiences. We like to think that minority groups are all the same, but keep in mind that just as they say in the autism community, “If you’ve met one autistic person, you’ve met one autistic person,” and that applies to D/deaf people, too.

I’ll also add in some perspective from what I’ve learned in an Interpreter Training Program about Deaf culture where appropriate.

Last week, I shared a memoir by Anne M. Bolander called I Was Number 87. While I’ve looked mostly at specific D/deaf women, this week I read a book about how deafness and being a woman intersect. Do deaf women experience America differently than hearing women? Or deaf men?

Women and Deafness: Double Visions was edited by Brenda Jo Brueggemann and Susan Burch. The book is broken into three sections: community work, authority in schools and motherhood, and cultural manifestation (creativity). Each section has essays authored by different people, and each easy includes a works cited page, so this book feels more academic in nature. However, it is readable, and even enjoyable.

Because it is the end of the semester, I was not able to finish the whole of Women and Deafness; however, I read enough to share some information with you. In the essay “Female Matters: Female Dynamics within Deaf Schools,” Jessica Lee explains the gendered was in which deaf boys and girls were taught (your basic scholarly/trades for boys and mothering/housekeeping for girls). Yes, this was same with hearing children, but the marked gender differences continued for decades after a shift in the hearing community. One passaged I highlighted emphasized not only the differences in what boys and girls should do upon adulthood, but how educators thought boys’ and girls’ brains needed to be taught differently:

When a board member of the school quizzed the pupils, he asked a young boy to “give a sketch of Alfred the Great, his reforms, laws, etc., and contrast the condition of the country on his succession, with the condition at this death.” More questions followed. “How did the science of chemistry originate?” He then asked a female student, “Could you have had your choice, at what period of the early time in America would have preferred to live, and why?” He followed up: “Which is your favorite flower and why?”

The essay emphasizes the rigorous academic nature of what the boys learned versus the delicate and emotional content for girls.

In another essay called “Was Helen Keller Deaf? Blindness, Deafness, and Multiple Identities,” author Kim. E. Nielsen explains why we think of Keller as the blind woman instead of the deaf-blind woman. Part of the essay reveals Keller’s relationship with Alexander Graham Bell, about whom I’ve written before. Overall, Nielsen’s essay looks at the different identities Keller embodied and how dismissing some of her identities (woman, deaf) in favor of others (blind) changes how we think about this famous historical figure. Consider how Keller grew into a woman but was never seen as a sexual being nor a mother because she was viewed as disabled.

Lastly, Sara Robinson authored the article “The Extended Family: Deaf Women in Organizations.” For Deaf people, clubs and organizations were a “family,” often in lieu of their blood families that could not sign (90% of deaf children have hearing parents). However, much like mainstream America, organizations typically refused women, non-Christians, and people of color membership. Instead, local clubs were organized by women, who made events special, and the community noted that women added a nice touch to events to make them look pleasing and the food taste good, too. Therefore, membership increased.

In addition, Deaf women organized social services. For example, the Pennsylvania Society for the Advancement of the Deaf later, in 1902, established the “Home for the Aged and Infirm Deaf.” On paper, men ran things, but women actually kept the operation going, including financially, nutritionally, socially, and with maintenance upkeep. Because Deaf people could not communicate unless they were face to face, social events were not only fun, but combatted isolation.

I’m still reading Women and Deafness, so maybe I’ll post more about it later. Until then, I hope you learned a bit from my posts this National Deaf History Month and encourage you to seek out books to learn more. Better yet, make friends with a Deaf person. Many hearing people who learn sign language started because they made a Deaf friend. There are, of course, different Deaf cultures and languages in other countries. Australia uses Auslan. Canada has both American Sign Language (ASL) and la Langue des Signes Quebecoise (LSQ). England has BSL (British Sign Language). I even know someone who used Mexican Sign Language (LSM) with his family when he visited. Therefore, I hope you are not only interested in my journey learning American Sign Language, but take the time to check out resources in your countries about your deaf communities. Cheers!