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The Language that Audism Loves to Hate

Happy 6th International Day of Sign Languages!

For the last 5 years, the International Day of Sign Languages has continuously been celebrated all over the world through different forms of art and events like commercials, online seminars, etc. In 2019, Gonketa, a painter, uploaded the process of painting his piece dedicated to the International Day of Sign Languages 2019 titled ‘Movement’ on YouTube. Meanwhile, in 2021, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) India released an advertisement for the International Day of Sign Languages where they featured how to order using Indian Sign Language (ISL). For this year’s celebration, let’s learn about sign language and talk about why you should learn sign language despite how well your hearing capability is.

Sign language is the language that caters to, but is not limited to the deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. It is the language that utilizes body movements—usually hand gestures and facial expressions instead of speech. There is no universal sign language due to the cultural differences in every country, but each country has a self-constructed sign language. Americans use American Sign Language (ASL), while Filipinos use Filipino Sign Language (FSL), and so on. Languages are all the same, the only difference is how it is being relayed which is possible in three different ways: spoken language, sign language, and even written language, a spoken language translated into text.

Through sign language, the deaf community can comfortably and seamlessly communicate their thoughts and emotions to others and even to themselves without having to learn speech and conform to the world of hearing. However, the deaf or hard of hearing people are not the only community that speaks sign language, other hearing individuals also do sign language and use that skill to teach the deaf community as well as the hearing community. They act as the bridge that makes interactions possible between the deaf community and the hearing community through conveying their thoughts and feelings as accurately as possible.

Most hearing individuals who know how to do sign language eventually become interpreters for deaf people interacting with the hearing community, and vice versa. Having a deficit of sign language interpreters, anyone who is capable of translating from sign to spoken is promptly qualified to become a sign language interpreter, ensuring the deaf not to miss out any information they need to hear.

Sign language interpreters started gaining recognition during the 18th century. However, sign language interpretation was already in use way back in the 14th century by John de Orleton, a deaf husband and father, who participated in court to protect his land and its ownership, and legally have his brother as his legal guardian through sign language. Since then, the deaf community has been able to enjoy opportunities accessible only to the hearing community.

However, despite the evolving growth of deaf awareness in the past few years, there is still this faint barrier that divides the deaf community and the hearing community from each other. It is understandable that both communities have different languages, but we should also acknowledge the fact that difference is not something that should hinder us from treating others with humility and respect. Although it is acknowledged that the deaf community has more limitations than the hearing community, it is still inevitable for one to feel unappreciated and to be perceived as less capable just because of deafness. Audism is a term that perfectly fits this behavior towards the deaf. According to Jacobi (2009), audism is the concept where one perceives oneself as superior based on their level of hearing. For instance, the more they are capable of hearing, the more superior they assess themselves which results in belittling those who are less capable than them. This concept applies to everyone—the deaf, the hearing, and other communities.

Audism can occur in various ways, both intentionally and unintentionally, such as assuming that all deaf people can read lips, talking loudly to let the deaf ‘hear’ you, excluding them from meetings because of their deafness, and using communication methods they are not used to restrict them from answering. So, what do you do first? Well, you have to ask what their preferred language and mode of communication are. You can ask if they prefer signs, reading lips, cued speech, or written language. It’s important to ask because not all deaf people have the same preferred method of communication, and while sign language is a prominently known language of the deaf, not everyone in the community actually uses sign language. Some are speech-trained, while others are equipped with a hearing aid or a cochlear implant.

In a 2022 study by Mitchell and Young, only 2.80% of the population composed of deaf, hard of hearing, and adult-hearing singers used adult sign language in the USA. While in the Philippines, Asuncion (2023) stated that according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), there were 1,784,690 people in the Philippines diagnosed with hearing difficulty in 2020. Furthermore, Narte and Rupero (2023) discovered that according to the Philippine Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (PRID), there are approximately 1,000 registered sign language interpreters in the Philippines as of 2021, while statistics on the definite population of sign language speakers itself still remain anonymous.

However, it is not the deaf’s sole fault for not learning sign language. Some parents are hesitant to introduce and teach sign language to their deaf children due to the fear that they might never transition to using speech. However, most children born with deafness are natural in sign language. The leading reason why they struggle to maintain it is because of hearing parents who lack knowledge in signing. According to the study by Humphries et al. (2016), children who learn sign at an early age excel better in terms of academic achievement and are more successful in using cochlear implants to learn speech compared to those who don’t.

Deaf people spelled with the uppercase D, are those who use sign language in communicating, proudly embrace the deaf culture, and view being deaf as an integral part of their identity. They are usually born with it and grew up with sign language as their first language. On the other hand, deaf people spelled with the lowercase d, are those whose deafness was inflicted by injury and do not associate themselves with the deaf community. Some of them are also not knowledgeable of sign language. They are more accustomed to engaging with the hearing community and are most likely the ones who were speech-trained at a young age, used a hearing aid, or went through a cochlear implant.

The deaf population consists of about 1.5 billion people (20% of the population), but not everyone in that 20% is fluent in sign language and is actually eager to help their fellow deaf people interact with the hearing community and even the deaf community with an uppercase ‘D’. Therefore, as part of the remaining 80% of the population, we should strive to create a safe and inclusive space for the 20% as they are more than deaf, most of them are also leaders, doctors, architects, teachers, and so much more! It is time to stop underestimating them just because of their condition and understand that anyone can make a difference.

Let us celebrate the 6th International Day of Sign Languages by getting a head start and learning some of the basic conversational phrases from American Sign Language (ASL) and Filipino Sign Language through different apps and websites!

American Sign Language:

Filipino Sign Language:

Written by Fatima Balahim
Pubmat by Marielle Sincuya and Angeline Ponce

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