Since people are all "but why parents don't learn sign language", this is very normal in parenting groups on Facebook.

(Thread)

First off, notice "listening and spoken language" phrasing. That is on purpose. It's oralist revision of capitalizing on the trend of American Sign Language been seen as legitimate since the '80s.

LSL and ASL seems like reasonable binary choices. (it's not, it's propaganda) 1/

Second, notice how the person says "deaf community" and not "sign language community".

That's because every hearing parent fears losing their deaf children and being alienated. They don't know sign language communities also consist of ... /2

.. hearing autistic folks, CODAs (hearing children of deaf adults), SODAs (hearing siblings of deaf adults), hearing interpreters, hearing people with cognitive disabilities, hearing spouses and so on.

What is SL community (captioned, voiced, 7 min): /3

But honestly, sign language is available to anyone who want to learn the language and community is open to all.

Declaration on Rights of Sign Language Peoples (English subtitles, International Sign, silent, 50 minutes): /4

Reframing what it means to belong to a sign language community is not new. It's old.

Vittomakielinen, Minority Languages and Sign Language Schools and fears... (silent, International Sign, 7 min, 2013, @Drisanalg) /5

So, if deaf people complain about linguistic / cultural appropriation, refer to awti's video "What is the ASL Community" in tweet #3. Notice he says without deaf people, sign language die.

We just want stewardship of the language or collective intellectual property rights /6

With basic out of the way, it's sad this parent showed individualist ideology.

Because prior to medicalization of deafness (via Jean Marc Gaspard Itard), sign language wasn't that way. Sign language was a community affairs for deaf, hard-of-hearing and hearing people. /7

For accounts of mixed communities--

Inuit: https://youtube.com/channel/UC5s2zUkT_vIQnPzpwiD0r8A

Bengkala:

Martha's Vineyard:

Miyakubo: /8

Anyway, strictly oral students usually fall behind their hearing peers. Whereas bilingual-bimodal students, both deaf and hearing, keep up with their monolingual hearing peers.

Graph of language delay with CI. /9

Keep in mind, being bilingual-bimodal has been around for a long time. During the Golden Era of Deaf Education (1840 – 1912) where 40% of teachers were deaf, students still had to take articulation classes.

Being oral and being signing is not at the exclusion of each others. /10

First few years are the most important for language acqusition. Signing the most accessible way of acquiring grammar and vocabulary during the developmental years.

Those who didn't have complete acquisition of language who learn sign language still have lots of issues. /11

If you want to know what happen when a deaf person has incomplete acqusition of language, @wyattehall (FOLLOW THEM) published this: https://www.amazon.com/Language-Deprivation-Deaf-Mental-Health/dp/1138735396

You can find lectures elsewhere on YouTube from similar authors. /12

But please, do not blame the parent for making this choice. I blacked out their name.

. @tweetingala made this 9-mins subtitled video explaining why hearing parents end up listening to oralist organizations.

"Illusion of 'Neutrality" and "Choices'"

/13

Think the only other person I missed citing is
@KatBrockway
who brought up articulation classes was a part of sign language schools prior to Milan Conference of 1880.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the thread explaining why hearing parents make anti-sign language choices. 14/14