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Chapter eight: Conclusions
Initial summation
8.1 It is a major task to try to reduce the life
experiences of Deaf people (even on the basis of
interviews) to a series of key points. It is probably not a
good idea to try. However, a list of adjectives appear and
re-appear as themes in the discussion - frustrated, angry,
independent, private in Deaf people's discourse;
bad-attitude, indifferent, for hearing people and,
necessary, unavailable, expensive, 'prying' for
interpreters. To make sense of this, we need to place the
results in the context supplied by the Deaf researchers who
actually met with the participants in the study. Their
views are an important framework for this report.
8.2 Deaf people feel that they are disadvantaged in most
contact with hearing people but have no alternative but to
'grin and bear it'. Social interaction is constrained
severely. While other minority groups often face similar
problems of lack of language use in the majority community,
those minority groups are usually within a tight-knit,
hereditary culture, living in close proximity. In that
case, language can be established early and appropriately
and opportunities for bilingualism in the children are
provided naturally. Deaf people in contrast, are
distributed throughout the majority community, are actively
lobbied and pressured to drop their cultural and linguistic
stand by an 'inclusive' education system, are discouraged
from accessing the services and structures within society
by the lack of interpreter provision and are severely
affected by lack of achievement of bilingualism in the
hearing majority.
8.3 The interviews identified no cultural centres, no
celebrations of their language, no within-community,
official, self-help structures and no advocacy. There are
no public information services in an accessible language
form which would support community growth and advancement -
this situation alone creates a risk of stagnation and
starvation of cultural growth. The Deaf researchers who
travelled around Scotland over many weeks, considered the
picture to be gloomy and consider that it should be of
great concern to policy makers in Scotland.
Results in Perspective
8.4 The current situation of interpreter provision
viewed through Deaf eyes is that it is a necessary but
incomplete service. Few people who were interviewed were
able to call upon interpreters at need, none believed there
was an emergency service and most were daunted by the
perception that they would have to pay personally, for the
privilege of interaction with hearing people in their own
country. Although such a service is necessary, there is no
sense of ownership of that service among the Deaf
community. All interpreters are hearing and because they
often must work in circumstances where Deaf people are at
their most exposed socially and personally, they are
associated with situations of loss of control, personal
data giving and pleading. Not surprisingly, Deaf people
dislike this feeling of dependence, considering the supply
of personal information
through the interpreter, as a supply of information
to the interpreter. Deaf people describe this as
'prying' (
BSL sign) - although the meaning of that
sign is more complex and less derogatory of the person.
Nevertheless, it implies that Deaf people feel exposure of
their personal circumstances in this situation. For many,
this is unacceptable and they prefer to avoid the third
party solution altogether. This 'hope for the best'
approach of writing, lip-reading etc in interacting with
for example, the medical personnel, is potentially damaging
to personal well-being as indicated by their stories. As a
result, Deaf people's solution is simple - hearing people
should learn to sign.
8.5 For bilinguals in the Deaf community, there are
possibilities for growth through information access to
English in written or even spoken form; for monolingual
Deaf users of
BSL, at present, there is reliance on
hearing partners, relatives or children. Deaf users of
BSL usually blame their own lack of
skills in the second language, not the circumstances in
which they find themselves. Higgins in a book in the early
1980s termed the Deaf community in the
USA, "Outsiders in a Hearing World".
This remains appropriate and accurate as a summary
description of the situation we find at present in
Scotland.
8.6 Good experiences where hearing people had
unexpectedly signed to the Deaf person were considered
happy instances. However, too many interactions with
hearing people ended in frustration and complete collapse
of the interaction. Writing down and attempts to speak were
also problematic.
8.7 New media were unfamiliar to the Deaf groups
although there was support for video telephones, for
BSL information delivered to computers
or handsets. Any approaches which would offer
BSL in an accessible way was welcomed.
Minicom use seems to be in decline and a huge majority
preferred
SMS use on mobile phones. Minicoms were
not to be withdrawn but were now considered of much less
value partly because those textphones placed in hearing
services were not operational.
8.8 The group interviews tended to confirm the findings
in the individual sessions. In the few cases, where hearing
people had signed in a transaction, there were positive and
happy reactions from the Deaf people.
8.9 The results offer a glimpse of Deaf life as told to
Deaf researchers in sign language. There is much in what
they say, which can be used to build a better understanding
even if we are not yet able to give concrete examples of
existing better practice.
8.10 Most of the issues which appeared in the Mainland
interviews were also apparent in the tiny communities in
Stornoway and Lerwick. All of the demands for hearing
people to learn to sign are prominent and all of the
difficult experiences of contact are replayed there. In
addition, these groups suffer from extreme isolation from
each other, from other Deaf communities and from
information. Lack of a meeting place means infrequent
contact and lack of opportunity to be updated on events
elsewhere. There appears to be no formal Deaf support from
the Mainland and as a result, networking with other Deaf
people is intermittent.
BSL competence is affected by lack of
use. Service provision is reported as almost non-existent.
Enabling technologies seem not to be available and
consequently, information sources are not accessible. One
might expect there to be a major role here for the Deaf
community itself to ensure the maintenance of
BSL among its far flung members.
Final Points - answers to the research
questions
8.11 The study provides a rich and varied set of
responses from Deaf people which is difficult to summarise
without recourse to a full community and cultural
description. There were four starting questions which have
been examined through a set of scenarios in individual
interviews and in focus groups in several locations in
Scotland.
To what extent are
BSL users able to access public
services using
BSL?
8.12 There were no instances of direct access to public
services through
BSL, reported by the Deaf people in
Scotland. All access occurred by adaptations and by the use
of intermediaries.
What are
BSL users' experiences in accessing
and using
BSL?
8.13 On the whole Deaf people reported frustration in
contact with hearing services which contributed to their
sense of marginalisation.
What alternative means of communication are used
when
BSL is not available?
8.14 Deaf people reported difficulties in the personal
adjustments of trying to speak, lip-read or read/write when
in contact with hearing people. Textphones, fax and mobile
text messaging were all in use (with the last one seen as
most dynamic and effective at this time) but none were seen
as complete solutions.
Alternative means of communication when
BSL can be provided in a different
way
8.15 Most important means of support was the provision
of trained and registered
BSL interpreters. At present, these are
insufficient in number and availability in Scotland and
there exists no emergency service. Provision of
BSL video and
BSL on the Internet was seen as an
important goal for information dissemination.
8.16 However, taking all these into account, the
priority for Deaf people was that more hearing service
providers were able to sign effectively and their proposal
was that this should be achieved initially at school and
then later on, as an initiative of the service providers by
continuing education in
BSL for staff who come into contact with
Deaf people.
References
Brennan M (1992) The visual World of
BSL: an Introduction in D Brien (ed)
Dictionary of British Sign Language/English,
London: Faber and Faber
Brennan, M. and Brown, R. (2000).
Equality before the law. Durham: Durham University
Deaf Studies Research Unit
Brien D, Brown R & Collins J (2002)
The Organisation and Provision of
BSL/English Interpreters in England,
Scotland and Wales,
DWP In House Report No 102
Dye M and Kyle JG (2000)
Deaf People in the Community: Demographics of the Deaf
Community, Bristol: Deaf Studies Trust
Jones L and Pullen G (1987)
Inside we are all Equal, Brussels:
EUD
Kyle JG and Allsop L (1997)
Sign on Europe, Bristol
CDS and Brussels:
EUD
Kyle JG and Woll B (1985)
Sign Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press
McPake J and Johnstone R (2002)
Translating, Interpreting and Communication Support
Services across the Public Sector in Scotland,
Edinburgh: Scottish Executive Central Research Unit
Powers S, Gregory S and Thoutenhoofd E (1998)
The Educational Achievements of Deaf Children,
London:
DfEE
Tymms P, Tate G, Walker A & Taylor Fitz-Gibbon C
(2003)
The Education of Deaf and Hearing-Impaired Children in
the
UK: Final Report to the Nuffield
Foundation, Durham: Univ of Durham
CEM Centre
Appendices
1. Shetland and Lewis
2. Individual Interview
Schedule
3. Group Interview
questions
4. Description of the
Sample
5. The
BSL Access Model
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