Publish at November 28 2023 Updated November 28 2023
"Kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
Mark Twain - Thoughts and aphorisms
During a conference on learning at Halle Tropisme, I was working with sign language interpreters on the concept of learning. They had to translate the speech in real time. During the preparation phase, I tried to present them with concepts and neologisms so that they could translate them as well as possible. In particular, I explained the distinction between learning and apprenance.
To learn, they used a gesture that resembled filling a well with two fingers from the brain. I found this gesture distressing, as it conjured up the image of adding content to a pre-existing void. They suggested an old-fashioned gesture in sign language, which was the exact opposite of something coming out of the inside of oneself to reach the brain. It just seemed right.
As for apprenance, "an attitude conducive to the act of learning", the idea was to invent a new gesture in sign language. After much discussion, we came up with a gesture that seemed acceptable to the interpreters, according to the grammar used in the signing community: two waves of fingers meeting, going from oneself to the world and from the world to oneself. If in communication, a picture is worth a thousand words, then how much is a gesture worth?
At a time when generative artificial intelligence is capable of translating a word into sound or an image, and conversely, of switching from image to sound or text, only signed words and the incredible richness of the language of the deaf remain safe from technological intrusion - but for how long?
Sign language is probably one of the oldest languages in the world. According to observations of surviving skull bones from the earliest ages, the first articulated language is attributed to Homo Abilis 2,500,000 years ago, or at least the expansion of his brain leads us to deduce that the language areas we know today already existed. A closer look at the straightening of the skull in Homo habilis reveals a lowering of the pharynx and larynx, leading to the appearance of the Adam's apple and enabling vocal modulations. A higher palate means a wider range of sounds can be articulated. Nothing remains of the gestures that might have accompanied these vocalizations, but as soon as humans stand on their own two legs, they can use their arms and hands to complete their facial expressions and associated vocalizations. This use of gestures will continue to accompany mankind.
Sign language has a history as old as humanity itself. Signs have always been used to communicate, by deaf and hearing people alike, in a variety of situations. In the modern West, the teaching of sign language to the deaf really began in the 16th century with Pedro Ponce de León. It was he who formalized a sign language for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. However, the invention of sign language is often attributed to Abbé Charles-Michel de l'Épée. In 1760, observing two hearing-impaired sisters communicating through gestures, he created French sign language.
Although he wasn't the first to set up a communication system of this kind, he is a key figure in the deaf and/or mute community. Deaf language was banned in France until the 1980s. After more than a century of prohibition, the language finally offers the deaf and hard-of-hearing, and all those who wish to communicate with them, a means of expression and even more, a culture and a perspective of inclusion from their world.
Pedagogy adapted for the deaf and hard of hearing is a field of education that aims to meet the specific needs of deaf and hard of hearing people. Dominant characteristics that can interfere with learning include difficulty in understanding the surrounding world and difficulty in making oneself understood due to hearing loss and poor oralisation.
People with hearing loss may also experience cognitive fatigue resulting from the energy expenditure required to concentrate during the day, as well as social isolation and mood disorders.
To meet the needs of deaf and hard-of-hearing people, it is recommended to position the person close enough to the trainer to be able to lip-read, but also to have a view of the other trainees. It is also advisable to hand out training materials and the training plan in advance, to give preference to the use of overhead projectors and blackboards, to systematically transcribe in writing all oral information to be passed on to the hearing-impaired person, and to use an individual or collective magnetic loop, authorize LPC coders, support courses, communication interfaces, LSF interpreters, simultaneous transcription by professionals via the Internet on computers or video monitors, and written instead of oral examinations.
But beyond dealing with a difference or even a handicap, deaf teachers have other things to teach us. Alfredo Corrado, an American deaf artist and co-founder of IVT - International Visual Theatre, is the first theater dedicated to deaf culture in France. He promotes inclusive, creative, body-sensitive personal development practices, which are much needed today. The documentary "Alfredo Corrado" directed by Julien Bourges introduces us to this little-known pedagogy.
And if you'd like to find out more about the link between pedagogy and the deaf, contact l'Ampoule Fertile, which strives to move the lines between two worlds too often separated.
Sources
Wikipedia Origin of the language https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origine_du_langage
Alfredo Corrado | IVT. https://ivt.fr/spectacles/alfredo-corrado.
The 5 principles of open pedagogy - Prof Innovant. https://www.profinnovant.com/principes-de-la-pedagogie-ouverte/.
Wikipedia International https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Visual_Theatre.
Aqepa activities to raise awareness of deafness https://aqepa.org/des-activites-pour-sensibiliser-a-la-surdite/
Wikipedia sign language https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histoire_de_la_langue_des_signes
I'm interested. Who invented sign language https://www.caminteresse.fr/culture/qui-a-invente-la-langue-des-signes-11187553/
Pedagogy for the deaf and hard of hearing | crn. https://www.crn-handicap.fr/fiches/pedagogie-adaptee-aux-sourds-et-malentendants.
Deaf and hard-of-hearing people | INSHEA. https://www.inshea.fr/fr/content/personnes-sourdes-et-malentendantes.
Schooling for deaf and hard-of-hearing pupils: inclusive schools . https://www.cairn.info/revue-empan-2011-3-page-96.htm.
Schooling for deaf and hard-of-hearing children . https://www.education.gouv.fr/scolarisation-des-jeunes-sourds-ou-malentendants-89501.
Halle tropisme Recognition of learning https://tropisme.coop/agenda/reconnaissance-et-valorisation-de-l-apprenance
The fertile light bulb https://lampoulefertile.assoconnect.com/page/1678479-presentation
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