November 7, 2017 - 17:59
Learning about deaf culture through reading Cohen's Train go Sorry and viewing Deaf Jam has been my favorite part of this class thus far. My exposure to deaf culture was minimal before taking this class. There is nobody in my immediate family who is hearing impaired and with the exception of my 11th grade precalculus teacher, who periodically mentioned his hearing air, there was little discussion about deafness at my school. I may have known that there were specialized school for deaf students, but I didn't think much about what that meant. Now, after reading the beautifully told narratives and watching the everyday expereinces of deaf high school students at Lexington, I have gained a greater understandstanding of deaf culture. While watching the film, I found myself struggling with the translation between ASL and english. What does it mean that fluid and symbolic langauge of ASL is translated into discrete, english words through an interpreter when deaf and hearing people communicate? How can we make up for what is lost in translation?