- Aaaa... (MARTÍN)
- Aaaa... (OLIVIA)
The exact day, at San Joan de Déu Hospital
when they told us that Olivia had hearing loss,
I really don’t remember that day.
I do remember when they presented us with the treatment plan for her deafness.
But it was presented as a problem that we needed to solve
and the solution was this... it was talk of implants,
when the implants could be placed
and all of the studies they could do,
and the results that they had had with implants.
And then of course, one gives total trust to the person
and the doctor that is in front of you. They are offering you a solution
to a theoretical problem that has appeared.
And that in some way calms you. Right?
The way of understanding deafness
by most doctors and educators
is one of a disability that must be overcome,
Pablo Navarro Philosopher and Promotor of Catalan Sign Language (LSC) is one of a disability that must be overcome,
an illness to cure or a problem Pablo Navarro Philosopher and Promotor of Catalan Sign Language (LSC)
of the senses that must be corrected. Pablo Navarro Philosopher and Promotor of Catalan Sign Language (LSC)
This is the point of view of our society, Pablo Navarro Philosopher and Promotor of Catalan Sign Language (LSC)
This is the point of view of our society,
which trusts in science and technological advances
to make sense of the world.
And it is reductionist.
Understanding and comprehension are not synonymous concepts.
Understanding means, when presented with a question, identifying the elements,
clearly separating, classifying, measuring them, etc.
The origin is in the Cartesian Method, and it is the task of empirical science.
On the other hand, complementing it,
is the labour of comprehension.
Comprehension has to do with the meaning of things,
with the question of why.
It is the land of discussions, of narration, and other types of categories,
and includes certain spiritual traditions,
it is the base of philosophy, art, or social sciences.
Due to this, when we want to approach human reality, how humans are,
what we do is comprehend.
If we want to know who someone is, if we are curious about somebody,
we don’t ask about their biology,
what we want to know, what we are interested in, is their biography.
OLIVIA OUR BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER WHO SPEAKS ANOTHER LANGUAGE
- Yes, yes.
- Pablo help me for a moment.
- Yes, I will help you. Should I open it?
-Yes. Is it heavy?
-Yes. - It’s heavy, isn’t it?
- So, you were telling me about
how you met the mother of your children in Cuba.
- In Havana.
- What were you doing in Havana?
- What was I doing in Havana?
- I was studying medicine.
I had finished my medical studies,
I was finishing up.
- And Anna, is she the mother of the children?
- The mother of our children.
- And there are three.
Martin Gavín: Olivia´s Father - Then we embarked on a life project.
- And were all your children born in Vic?
- Yes, they were all born in Vic.
- And Olivia as well.
- And what was your experience with Olivia?
I suppose it was quite different than with the other two.
-Well, the placenta prematurely separated,
so they had to use forceps to get Olivia out,
it really was quite traumatic, they had to resuscitate her.
There we found out, the next day
her paediatrician told us that she had a cleft palate.
In the Vic Hospital they had doubts and so
what they did was send us to their reference centre,
which was the San Joan de Déu Hospital in Barcelona.
Later Olivia had other problems, she started to have apneas
due to the way she was born…
Her muscle tone was not adequate.
- But she was not premature.
The problems are from the placenta displacement.
- No, no.
In theory no.
It was from various causes.
Olivia has a mutation as well.
- A genetic mutation.
- She has a genetic mutation
that was discovered at the Vall d’Hebron Hospital,
there are only 20 cases of this mutation in the world.
- In the world!
- Yes.
But that doesn’t mean that there are only twenty cases.
- But it is rare, very uncommon.
- Yes, then we examined the syndrome to find out if it was
associated with the cleft palate and the deafness.
- Are the twenty cases of this syndrome
characterised by cleft palate, deafness
and more issues?
- No. The good thing is this. There aren’t more issues.
- Ah! Perfect!
- Cleft palate and deafness.
There aren’t any mental delays, or organ problems.
- Yes, the swans can eat bread if you give it to them.
- And how do you play? Explain, he doesn’t know how.
I know which one it is.
Before your brother cut in,
now he is done, after him it’s my turn,
and now it is your turn. -It’s his turn.
- He already did it! - He already did it!
- Did he cut in?
- Yes.
Let’s see…
A butterfly!
- You made a mistake before, you have to find a match.
That’s not it.
- I will win!
- Now me.
- Try, let’s see.
- The only option that the
doctor gave was an implant?
Did they tell you about sign language?
They didn’t give you any other options?
- None. Automatically this one.
Maybe since they saw we are deaf parents Carlos Casado and Mònica Fernández: deaf parents with deaf children
they didn’t say anything to us. Carlos Casado and Mònica Fernández: deaf parents with deaf children
If we were hearing parents, Carlos Casado and Mònica Fernández: deaf parents with deaf children
who knows… Carlos Casado and Mònica Fernández: deaf parents with deaf children
They offered us the implant straight away. Carlos Casado and Mònica Fernández: deaf parents with deaf children
They offered us the implant straight away.
Sign language and other options
weren’t spoken of.
Nothing. - Nothing.
- But in regards to being deaf, you know more than them.
- Certainly. But what can we do?
They do it in an industrial manner one after the other.
It happened straight away…
- You have to realize that in most cases with hearing parents
there is a dialogue with the doctor. With us, it must have been different.
- Were we with your mother, or with an interpreter?
- No, on the day of the tests we were with my aunt.
- With you aunt, yes.
They presented the option of implantation and we said no.
- We didn’t say no directly. We said we would investigate
and look into other options. They were stunned.
For us it is different. We have grown up deaf,
in a natural way, without implants. They were surprised…
- In your opinion, is the implant a good or a bad thing?
- It isn’t a bad thing. It is each person’s personal choice.
We were confident in our decision to not implant.
I can’t say if it is good or bad. Each person…
The technology today is better, yes.
- Why did you choose not to?
- Because it has consequences.
- For example?
- For example, economic consequences
we could not take on.
- Limitations such as being submerged in water
although with the modern ones you can,
but not much is known.
- They don’t know for sure.
And if he gets hit…
they informed us that in some cases
they must replace the implant, if they get hit in the head,
which results in another
operation and more expenses…
And more uncertainties. That is why we decided not to.
- And in addition to the economic reasons? What consequences are there?
- An implant is never for forever.
They must make sure there are no infections,
and you never know what could happen in the future.
My fear, if I am being honest,
is that it reminds me of experiments with lab rats...
I prefer that things be as natural as possible. -The identity….
In the case of people with Down syndrome or someone with another condition…
There is no solution for Down syndrome, correct?
- None. They leave them be.
Well it should be the same with the deaf.
In the end, it is a complete person,
equal to people who hear.
They just have one sense less.
- I agree.
- That’s the way it is, he has his identity: he’s deaf.
There is nothing else.
- Yes.
- What happened?
- Right now it is on.
- Yes, yes. She is twitching.
- I don´t know what happened!
- Oli!
- It’s on.
- Turn it off!
- Oli!
- In surgery we put the highest volume. There is no problem…
- Okay
...it could be a response.
- …to the noise no? - Well that would really be fantastic.
- Ay! It’s that…
- Look! Look! - I have turned it off.
- No, we turned it off and she did this to her ear,
which means she is hearing.
- I am going to turn it down a bit and then up again.
Give me a second. It is on.
- Oli! Hello!
- You can see it goes tac when she hears.
- Okay, now it’s on,
let’s leave her be.
- She’s scared, it’s normal.
It also happens to those with a cochlear implant.
- Okay.
- She doesn’t know what she is feeling, what it is.
There’s a noise…
When Olivia was born and I saw that I had a daughter
who was unell,
I felt like I was on the other side of society.
I felt like until that moment I had lived on the good side
and I didn’t know how this had happened. That I had taken a step
and ended up on the bad side.
“Oh poor thing, she’s had a daughter who is ill”.
It was like “Oh poor thing who doesn’t have any money” or “oh poor thing is fat and ugly”,
or “goodness that family, look how unlucky
they are because they have problems with addiction….”
Well I was now on that side of society and from that side
everything seems very inaccessible.
It seems like happiness will never be yours.
It is as if you’ve drank the magic potion
of unhappiness and misery.
But it happened to me
and thanks to this… Well, when you are very down
is when you can put things into perspective and you realize your standards of
measuring things weren’t well balanced, and that happiness is not…
being the most beautiful, the richest,
and the one with the cutest kids.
It has nothing to do with those things.
- Do you want juice? - Yes.
- Water - I drink.
Mmmm, after we will buy you a giant croissant.
Bye.
They have no foundation.
- How did you discover sign language?
- One day I noticed some
deaf people signing on the street
Anna Targarona: Olivia’s Mother deaf people signing on the street
I saw a group of deaf people signing. Anna Targarona: Olivia’s Mother
I started to cry in the middle of the street. Anna Targarona: Olivia’s Mother
And when I got home Anna Targarona: Olivia’s Mother
And when I got home
the first thing I did was to get on the internet
and look for the Association of the Deaf of Osona
and I found the Association of the Deaf of Vic.
I called and had an interview with the secretary, Judit.
I remember it as if it happened yesterday, that interview.
- And Judit gave you some advice…?
- Judit was very harsh and very clear at the same time.
Very realistic, and she told me:
“Anna, what you are looking for, the public sector won’t give it to you,
they won’t help you with language and communication with your daughter."
- What information has helped you with mourning this loss or to look
at it from a different perspective?
- The most useful information we got was, when after one year we
got into contact with the Association of the Deaf in Vic.
- After one year.
- After one year because Olivia is profoundly deaf.
After all the diagnoses and everything we learned that
Olivia was born without cochleae and of course,
of all the prosthesis that help the deaf to hear,
to be able to feel, there is the cochlear implant.
But of course if you don’t have cochleae this option isn’t possible.
- And so, with Olivia, since she doesn’t have cochleae
we began to look, at Sant Joan de Déu Hospital, at other
prosthetic options, the only option was an implant in the brainstem.
The implant in the brainstem is quite different.
Let’s say that the cochlear implant goes towards the auditory nerve,
however the brainstem implant goes straight
to the base of the brain.
Martín came to the association
asking for information about
sign language
Judit Farrerons Catalan Sign Language Interpreter (LSC) sign language
and if it was the best option for childhood. Judit Farrerons Catalan Sign Language Interpreter (LSC)
And I thought of Judit Farrerons Catalan Sign Language Interpreter (LSC)
And I thought of
a very special book, “Seeing Voices” by Oliver Sacks.
And since the author is also a doctor
I thought that Martín would understand perfectly.
The book makes clear that
the only way for communication to reach
100% without losing anything is by using sign language.
With oral language information is lost,
and in the future if they were to put a cochlear implant
or a hearing aid we don’t know if it will work correctly or not.
Instead,with sign language, we have the guarantee
that communication reaches 100% because it is a visual language.
I thought it was appropriate for Olivia
and I lent my book, which I had highlighted all over because
I must have read it ten times.
I think I know it by heart.
So, I lent it to him.
I asked him to please read it.
Shortly after he told me that he wanted to learn sign language,
and that he had given a copy of the book to his whole family and the teachers too.
- And how do we know what is a language and
what isn’t a language?
- Different criteria
have been established,
some are related to
the units which form
languages.
Maria Josep Jarque: Linguist Specialized in Sign Language languages.
Sometimes I say that they are like LEGO. Maria Josep Jarque: Linguist Specialized in Sign Language
- Different pieces Maria Josep Jarque: Linguist Specialized in Sign Language
- We have different pieces, Maria Josep Jarque: Linguist Specialized in Sign Language
that in the beginning don’t mean anything.
We may have red and white pieces,
which may be grouped into six by two or two by one,
with corners that stick out. But when we combine them…
- It could be a tree.
- It could be a tree, it could be a table,
it could be a house. No?
Yes. That would be the equivalent, the small pieces
would be what we call phonemes.
The big pieces would be words.
And if we join words, we now have phrases, we now have speech.
Therefore all language…
- Has smaller units.
- This is a prerequisite.
- It has these atoms, basic elements.
- Exactly. It has these smaller units
which don’t have meaning and when we we combine them, we give them significance.
Another characteristic is that
you must have rules for combining
and making new units, you must have the ability to be creative.
- Infinitely creative.
- Infinitely creative, you have a few elements…
- But with these few elements…
- You can combine them in many ways so as to
have infinite combinations.
Another characteristic is that it is linked to a culture,
a community of users.
- And sign language? Does sign language
meet these requisites?
- Sign language meets these requisites.
- Each and every one? - Each and every one?.
- Am I in the shot?
In oral language, Josep María Segimon i Valentí: Ex-president of the Federation of the Deaf of Catalonia (FESOCA)
when we speak or write Josep María Segimon i Valentí: Ex-president of the Federation of the Deaf of Catalonia (FESOCA)
to express something, Josep María Segimon i Valentí: Ex-president of the Federation of the Deaf of Catalonia (FESOCA)
let’s take for example the phrase: Josep María Segimon i Valentí: Ex-president of the Federation of the Deaf of Catalonia (FESOCA)
let’s take for example the phrase:
“The bird lands on the tree branch”.
In oral language these words are put in order,
one after the other:
“The bird lands on the tree branch”.
A sequential phrase.
- A sequential phrase, yes.
However, in sign language you can use both hands
and make use of classifiers; this is the bird.
The example is:
“The bird lands on the tree branch”.
It doesn’t have a sequential order like in oral language,
because we can sign simultaneously with both hands.
Isn’t it true that hearing people can’t do that?
They would need to have two mouths!
- Bla, bla, bla - Bla, bla, bla
Their natural language, intertwined with their identity
is sign language. Everything else necessary
for their development will come.
- Yes.
- What is important is that they can express themselves,
communicate, and be understood
and if they know sign language that is possible.
From here, their education will develop as it should.
She is so stubborn! I said “supper time!” and now she is alone.
When Olivia is close to deaf people
or on her birthday when I invite deaf people
to our home, her attitude changes,
her way of being changes, and she expresses herself more.
And she talks a lot more.
And really since Olivia
began to attend Tres Pins School...
- His head hurts.
…I think that with sign language
Olivia’s world has been opened up…..
- He hit his head on this. …to one day say:
“Look, I can express myself, from now on I can express myself
and I can say what I feel, I can say what I like,
what I don’t, what hurts me, and what feels good.”
And really, I don’t know, it’s fantastic.
From Monday to Friday they go to school.
Right now we are on vacation.
At four-thirty they finish,
and we pick them and come home.
Sometimes we play a little,
sometimes we practice writing a bit.
When it is time we shower, have supper,
trying to maintain a fixed routine,
we try to get them to bed early,
around nine because
the next day they have school, Tres Pins,
the only bilingual school, it is far, in Montjuic.
They have to go to bed early
because they have to get up early.
- Do you take them by car?
- No we can’t, we work,
they go with their grandparents in the metro,
and then they transfer
and take the funicular in Paral·lel.
- I will hang it up.
- Do you want to do it?
Go ahead, one moment.
Whos’s name is here?
Is it yours?
- It’s mine.
- And what is your name?
- O.L.I.V.I.A.
- Yes.
Go on, hang up the sign.
- My name is
O.L.I.V.I.A. - O.L.I.V.I.A.
- Yes! Amazing!
Good, now we are going to tell a story.
- Pepita, with all of your years of experience
and having met so many fathers and mothers,
have you noticed that parents with a deaf child
go through a mourning period?
- In all cases, yes.
They have birthed a child who is different,
they find themselves with something Pepita Cedillo: Teacher and Writer
unexpected and unknown. Pepita Cedillo: Teacher and Writer
- To have a deaf child. Pepita Cedillo: Teacher and Writer
- Parents who have never Pepita Cedillo: Teacher and Writer
had contact with deaf people Pepita Cedillo: Teacher and Writer
had contact with deaf people
that have a deaf child are perplexed.
It is normal.
Naturally they need to live through a process of accepting the new situation.
That is why I think we need, I don’t know if in the hospitals or somewhere else,
some help for the parents to go through this mourning process,
which occurs, naturally…
Not to go through this process, I think it’s not normal…
...it is repressed, and it stays inside and it ends up coming out later.
- Later and badly.
- It could be, yes.
- Births which appear to be funerals.
This sadness, in some way, the baby has to perceive it.
- It is due to lack of information.
These boys and girls, in some cases, feel guilty
about their parents’ sadness, they identify themselves as the cause
and it harms them.
- They grow and…
- Often the fathers and mothers don’t realise that their sons and daughters
have internalized the unrest
and some try to make their parents happy so as to compensate,
and they internalize…
- The mourning process can be longer or shorter,
but it is impossible to evade.
- Impossible.
- It needs to be shortened.
- That is why we need professionals to accompany them.
That give information.
It isn’t only that, we need psychologists who are specialized in the mourning process
and can accompany them.
Because when parents are all of a sudden
told that their child is deaf,
I think about what should be
Mercè Calafell: Catalan Sign Language Interpreter (LSC) I think about what should be
said to them and who should say it… Mercè Calafell: Catalan Sign Language Interpreter (LSC)
I would like and think Mercè Calafell: Catalan Sign Language Interpreter (LSC)
there should be an Mercè Calafell: Catalan Sign Language Interpreter (LSC)
there should be an
organization or something that could
help these parents to
understand and accept that their child is deaf,
that their child isn’t ill,
that their child is a normal person,
that what they will need, more than anything else is visual communication,
visual, that sound will be learned eventually.
- Besides sign language, what difference is there?
You already had two children, and you had already had the experience
of being a father, and being a father for the first time is one thing,
certain experiences, and the second time you have different experiences,
but with your third child came something new, something different,
what has this experience been like?
- Look, the difference is as if I had
a very beautiful daughter
that speaks another language and therefore you need to do
everything you can to develop yourself to be able
to communicate the best way possible.
- Pick it up with the spoon,
you eat it and that’s it.
- You’re dirty here.
- It’s nothing.
- You, eat.
Let’s go to bed and read a book, ok?
- The snail
climbs the mountain.
- He is lost
- He is lost, pity!
- Dirty and lost.
- Lost - Pity!
- He don’t know where his house is.
- The house
- Until he finds a…
- Tree. - Snail, come, come. Snail.
- The snail goes up the tree
where he meets
a bird.
Hello snail!
At night,
the stars
- The moon - The moon.
The snail
goes inside
his house to sleep.
- The moon
and sleep.
- Bravo!
All done!
Good night!
Turn off the light!
Children learn to speak, speaking.
Basically.
That is the answer.
- Like swimming. - Like swimming.
There is a difference.
To speak you need a community, you need
a context, you need another person. Swimming…
- The water would be the community.
- But with the water there is little interaction.
Children, in childhood,
boys and girls
need interaction, they need
others to learn to speak.
And therefore, you can never learn a language
from a television programme,
from exposing a child to cartoons
for example in another language,
the child will never learn this language.
The child always needs others.
- If you put a programme on in German for a child
every day, the child won’t learn German.
- No, the child won’t learn German.
children don’t make an effort to
learn languages, learn languages,
are learned naturally
through play, eating, fighting,
expressing their feelings,
through curiosity and asking questions,
therefore, languages are learnt
through living. - Yes, yes, totally.
We don’t actually teach sign language,
we just sign.
In the same way that
a hearing child
is not taught oral language,
the child is just spoken to. Correct?
- Yes, we speak and that’s it.
- We sign: we explain how things work,
how the world works,
with a language that naturally makes
the information enter through the eyes.
We don’t explicitly teach signs,
but rather we communicate naturally.
It is important between 0 and 3 years.
- Why is it so important in this stage?
- Because at birth the brain
is predisposed to receive this
external content which complements
the cognitive development.
If information is not received,
if there isn’t adequate feedback,
the cognitive faculties
of the brain do not develop enough,
and later when they reach primary school age,
it is very difficult to teach.
- And if sign language arrives late, for example
at 7 years or 15 years, what happens?Is there a big difference?
- A big difference.
You both have "university degrees"…
- The emotions…
- Ah! It goes on top.
- Let’s return.
- OI wanted to ask you both:
What is the difference emotionally before and
after starting with sign language?
- When I started to learn sigh language
Monxo Sempere: Journalist - When I started to learn sigh language
I got to know myself better. Monxo Sempere: Journalist
I use gestures because I have emotions Monxo Sempere: Journalist
I use gestures because I have emotions
I express myself better with those gestures.
Before learning sign language,
my family said to me:
“Don´t gesture, don’t vocalize you look like a clown”.
These are the emotions of a deaf person.
The same way that a hearing child
has expressions that help them to express themselves,
repeating things or with the tone of voice.
It’s the same.
So we must understand that sign language
isn’t just about access to information,
but it is also a way to express emotions in an efficient way.
Directly questioning them,
evidently taking into account each different case and human freedom...
what advice would you give, as a professional psychological,
language specialist, linguist, and also philologist,
what advice would you give that they should value,
what would you say?
- I would tell them that the child that is born
needs to be, above all, a child,
they need to eat, to play, to participate in society,
they need to be able to fully develop.
If there is a language, sign language,
they need to make that the development
is harmonious, fluid…
- Because it is visual. - Because it is visual,
I would never stop offering it.
I would give all of the possible options
and accompany them in their growth.
And I would make sure to sustain,
as much as possible that the child,
be a child with all capital letters, be happy, that the
child not dedicate all their time learning
spoken language but rather spend time playing, eating, jumping,
going out with others.
- I like how you explain that,
we speak a lot about linguistic privation,
but it is more than that, it is the
privation of childhood,
it is like a stage that is a right.
To be a child. - They are the rights of the child,
we must guarantee the right to childhood.
For parents that have a deaf child,
the most important factor should be
that their child can communicate. Without full
communication everything else will be useless.
Communication is the key that
opens their vital development,
the possibility of acquiring an identity, and much more.
I will give you an example.
Now I will ask you:
which animal do you like more, a dog or a parrot?
- A dog.
Me too.
Because a dog, even though it doesn’t speak, communicates,
you can understand them, etc.
The parrot speaks but it doesn’t communicate,
if you want it to bring you something it won’t do it.
a wall and the hood was
perfectly pronounce the word, but the significance,
cognitively, what it is, they don’t understand it, they don’t learn it,
it is impossible.
In exchange, I saw in a nursery class in Girona,
a child that was 3 or 4 years old, at most,
that saw something on television,
a movie, and he explained it to a classmate.
He had as much vocabulary as any speaking child.
Because the movie is:
“They attacked them with a machine gun
and the car went flying into a wall,
and the hood was crushed and screams….”
Here there is vocabulary that
no child would use speaking to explain a movie.
“…they crashed against
a wall and the hood
was crushed and screams….”
This vocabulary is not that
of a speaking child at 4 or 3 years of age.
I have been asked many times
to take Olivia to the school which is closest to my home.
Yes, she would integrate
but we are talking about “plant mode”.
They would like to have Olivia in class
as if she were a plant, that she just sits there…
of course I said to them
“my daughter already speaks sign language,
she would be very angry in that kind of a class”
- She already asks the teacher to sign to her.
- Of course, for her it is a sign of disrespect
if we speak and we don’t sign, it is disrespectful to her.
And she, I have shown her what her rights are, she demands them.
- Now we can do it because she is sleeping.
- Now she is sleeping, she is ill, poor thing.
At Sant Joan de Déu Hospital, there was a speech therapist
and this thing of sign language… No.
A father came with a child that was deaf,
and no mention of sign language or school for the deaf…
“He will speak, he will be able to communicate with everyone,
and he will be a normal person….”
And I am not in agreement.
I say no. He will be a normal person
if he starts to understand first with sign language.
His first language is sign language.
And from here, he can understand any language.
The motive of profits is combined
with the partial view of the doctors
that only look at hearing.
The deaf community or deaf person
integrally exists, everything:
friendships, communication, a happy life,
a relationship with others without complexes.
However, if you only understand the deaf as a patient
you lose out on a whole different world.
That is the problem.
The economic benefit, for the most part of hearing people,
I have seen this in different conferences
with related companies:
companies that make implants, hearing aids, batteries…
And there are speech therapists who want to make money
that give their support and make speeches at the congresses…
some see the deaf as a business opportunity.
These parents should be curious and knock on different doors,
they shouldn’t settle on the first information given by the doctor or the
opinion of the first educator, they should
widen their horizons and ask questions,
the world of the deaf exists and it is marvellous.
What education professionals need to understand
is that there is a concept called the safety net.
- Safety net.
What does that mean?
To give all the methods of communication,
sign language, oral language…
- Written language also.
- And another concept which is called logogenesis,
which is to learn oral language through writing.
With all these methods, and with each child, at their rhythm,
according to each case, makes their own road.
We must imagine we are in a circus
and we have acrobats that
must cross a tightrope from one side to the other
and in the middle they are doing…
- Twirls. - Twirls.
In theory everything should be fine, but on occasion
that is not the case and they fall.
Well, this happens with technological aids,
in theory everything should be fine, but that’s not so with 100% of the cases.
Just as the acrobats have a safety net
in case they fall, to stop
them and save their lives,
and it allows them to go back and start again.
- Putting all your eggs in one basket has never been a good idea.
If you have many resources, why take just one?
- Sign language works in this sense
as a safety net. - Totally.
And it is very strange because many people
have made the same analysis
in different parts of the world and without being in contact.
Speaking with a speech therapist, he said to me:
“it’s that I have always thought of it this way,
that it was a safety net. Isn’t?”
The problem isn’t the existence of the prosthesis,
the existence of hearing aids
or of this operation.
The problem is in the selling of miracles with
these apparatuses.
Because it is accompanied with the lack of informing about sign language,
because sign language, in some way
would devalue this type of scientific miracle
that is about to arrive.
The consequences are serious.
Because at the end of the day, they are a group of
professionals that understand the hearing apparatus
but do not understand
or know any deaf adults.
They do not know the biography of any deaf adult,
they don’t know the community, the deaf people.
This group, which doesn’t know lany deaf adults,
will give advice to parents that also don’t know any deaf adults,
about what the best thing for their deaf child is.
I think that she went through her own process.
She, since her senses lwere immature,
needed a lot of
contact with the earth.
She always needed to be on the ground, touching the sand, the mud, the snow.
And later, of course, to begin to interact with others,
sign language was indispensable.
Because as much as you wanted to
explain thing with oral words…. - Come, stay stil for the photo.
-…these words don’t reach her.
So no matter what, we needed to communicate in sign language.
The medical sector actively advises against sign language.
So that is very frustrating as a mother because
you have a great need to get through to your daughter.
And that they advise against the only way you have to get closer to her,
is very hard to understand.
These parents need to be well informed.
At a political level as well as in society in general,
also in the government and everything,
the information is a disaster.
Parents can find themselves very lost,
if they are lucky enough to meet deaf adults,
then we are saved.
Then they must learn to sign,
whether they like it or not.
The important thing is communication.
If a child isn’t reached through a language
before 2 or 3 years of age,
they are lost; later it will
be very difficult
to develop on all levels.
To be safe, the most logical is to sign.
My impression is that, in the end,
that this is not respectful of human rights.
They are not treating my daughter like a person.
And on top of it, when I go, I am “the mother…
the mother that comes to annoy and to go against the grain,
and that has the audacity, how can it be that we
haven’t be able to get her to bow her head and cry in the corner”.
I notice that, “We’ve not broken this mother”.
- They say that sign language
can negatively affect the acquisition of oral language.
Is this true?
- There is a study that says yes,
others that say no.
And it says that not only does it not affect
it but rather helps the development.
- And which is correct?
- That depends on the professionals, they use one study or another.
These studies are questioned because they do not specify if the student
had access to sign language
before 3 years of age or later.
Although, each professional looks
initially for the studies that confirm their philosophy.
- Their own hypothesis.
- Yes, their previous hypothesis,
they all look to confirm it…
In any case, there are many variables
and you can make it go either way:
the age of exposure, if it has been between 0 and 3 years,
if they have learned in a natural community
or only with one person, If we don’t know this information…
The concept of “learn sign language”,
we need to know if it has been between
0 and 3 years of age or from the first year,
if it happened in a signing environment
or was taught by a single person, etc.
- What has sign language given to you that
you’ve needed in the past 24 years?
- Confidence. Self confidence.
To know that I, myself, am enough.
Before, I used to think that my model to copy
was that of a hearing person, I tried to hide
that I was deaf, I said I was audibly disabled,
that I had some hearing, that I was half hearing.
ow I say I am half deaf, deaf with some hearing,
now I don’t say I am half hearing, now I am deaf-hearing
sorry, half deaf.
- That is a change of view.
- But it’s true.
In the beginning it can be hard,
you see that everyone laughs
and you don’t know why, you have to ask.
But I am annoying and I ask,
I don’t care, and when they explain it you understand…
I have lived my life
just the same as the hearing.
I have had higher points than them
and some that are equal.
If it had been the opposite perhaps I would be unmotivated,
but I always have been able to do everything,
achieve everything, and I have been happy.
If a family has a deaf or a hearing child, it doesn’t matter
it’s the same. I have been able to do what I have wanted.
- Each year you have new students that
are the same age, for example 7 years,
the next year the students will be 7 years old again,
but each year you are a year older.
You are getting older, but in front of you,
you have people that are always the same age,
a little like the portrait of Dorian Gray, you know.
What is that like?
- They are always the same and I get older.
- Yes, this. How does that feel?
- A very good question,
interesting.
Each school year is a different experience
even if the students have the same age.
Because each student has a different story.
- Even if they are the same age?
- The attitude, the interest for learning…
the age causes similarities, but the way to earn
their respect and their interest,
that they achieve the capability to communicate,
is always the aim,
but we always arrive through different paths.
One may have differences in regard to language, another…
- Each has their differences, no two are the same.
- None are the same. Each is a different book.
You like to read right? - I love it!
- And your books, are they all the same?
- No, each has different content.
- There isn’t one that, page by page is the same as another.
Each book in its totality is a world, right?
Well, the same goes for children. - How nice!
- Like books, each child
is a profound world and different from the other,
each comes from a different family,
different parents.
I try to read the book that represents each one.
- Each person a world.
You must have met a lot of worlds! My goodness!
I think that the path, I can visualize it very clearly,
is not an easy path.
It is a difficult path with difficult moments.
But I think, I believe I have visualized the future.
So…fear? I wouldn’t call it fear.
Yes, I worry. But I am not scared.
I believe Olivia will make it.
I imagine Olivia being happy at 35 years old.
I imagine that over all these long years,
she will assimilate and develop
a variety of tools that I think will
help her and that will make her happy.
I imagine she will fight,
that she will fight for the rights of the deaf,
well, just like we will all our lives,
those of us who are in contact with this world.
For me, this is a personal opinion,
more than the concept of the deaf community
I like the concept of a linguistic community,
or a community of users
of sign language,
because it includes the hearing
who broaden the deaf community.
I am referring to translators, mediators,
the professionals such as
speech therapists and teachers,
also students who learn sign language,
the CODA,
which are the hearing children of deaf parents;
also the opposite case: the hearing parents of a
deaf child who have learned to sign
to communicate with them and educate them…
Also we have the hearing who learn to sign
because they like it
and that’s it, artists who use it,
friends of the deaf, partners…
Hearing people are present within the community.
Some hearing people are important to the
history of sign language,
they have helped with the grammatical study
and linguistic investigation, and have given their support
to help spread the language.
Many hearing people
come to live in the deaf village.
A community, a strange village
that doesn’t have borders,
which also has a magical, visual,
precious language… which I have fallen in love with.
Many hearing people have found their home
in the deaf village, and have stayed to live.
It happened to me.
- I´m the rabbit.
- I’m the horse.
I´m so hungry!
- I will open the door
to find some food.
It’s so cold!