Sociology 3701: Worksheet-"Through Deaf Eyes" edited from longer, 2-hour version

1. How did the first permanent school for deaf children in the United States get started and who was its teacher? Where did the language now known as American Sign Language come from?

2. What was the role of Alexander Graham Bell in promoting the oral method of deaf education?

3. How did oralism come to dominate deaf education in the United States?

4. What was the "discovery" of William Stokoe, after he came to teach at Gallaudet in 1955?

5. What was the excitement and the controversy over Marlee Matline and "Children of a Lesser God?"

6. Describe the events leading up to the appointment of the first deaf president at Gallaudet University?

7. The Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf is located in Faribault, Minnesota. Here is the url of its website: http://www.msad.state.mn.us/
Investigate the school online in preparation for your group discussion;; click on "About," and then later on "News," and "The Companion." Summarize your impressions below.

Sociology 3701: Groups--"Through Deaf Eyes"

1. What if you were a parent (whether Deaf or hearing) and you learned that your baby was deaf? What would you be thinking about? What challenges would be involved in raising your child?

2. The Deaf community contends that deafness is not a disability but a difference and that what is needed are not medical interventions but civil rights. How would you evaluate that argument? In what ways does the Deaf movement resemble other civil rights movements?

3. As your child got older, would you want her/him to attend the Minnesota Academy for the Deaf? What would be your attitude if, as your child got to be middle-school age, s/he were determined to attend the Academy?

4. What would you see as the pros and cons of "mainstreaming," that is, including your child in regular "hearing" classrooms? This seems to be the predominant current approach to educating deaf children.

5. In the Deaf community, cochlear implants (which create a kind of hearing but without all the nuance of ordinary hearing) have been controversial. If deafness is not a disability, then it doesn't need fixing. What do you see as the pros and cons of that argument?

6. If a culturally Deaf person had the chance to have full hearing, what do you suppose would be their decision and why?