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Through Deaf Eyes in Class
By the end of the movie, one realizes that it does not approach the deaf history topic from an aspect
of sentimentality or of conquering the incapacity to hear, nor does the movie rebut the physical
truth of being deaf. The movie takes a straightforward look at the life of those individuals who are
in a group of cultural-linguistics who use American Sign Language and usually describe them as
the “Deaf” and deaf individuals who, for different reasons, are not identifiable with the Deaf
cultural community. The movie evidently points out that there are intersections between the deaf
and the Deaf people and that discrimination and oppression are popular experiences. The movie
was full of surprises and tales that reflect on unusual experiences. There are puzzling events in the
lives of the Deaf people, which indicate the complex relationship with the hearing society. There
are outstanding themes that are highlighted in the story that make it interesting to watch.
The part that interested me is where I get to see the positive sides of the deaf. They are no
different from any other member of the society. They believe in the same things other people
believe in, they interact the same way as other people, the hobbies they have for instance to play
sports, participate in theaters and socialize with friends. The only difference comes in because they
are deaf. Thinking deafness as a huge sin came as a surprise for me. It is something that one has
no control over in cases where one was born with, and in cases where certain illnesses detected its
occurrences, the individual has little or almost no control over it. People looked down upon them
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for a very long time. It is unfair and rude. Not being able to hear is not a sin and it should not be
discriminated on whichever basis.
The most interesting part is where King Jordan points out that those people who hear tend
to measure a Deaf person’s intelligence on their ability to lipread and speak rather than on a deaf
person’s actual intelligence, abilities or knowledge. This was clearly highlighted in the Milan
Conference where people voted to forbid sign language in the schools and only lipreading and
speaking were allowed (“Through Deaf Eyes”). Despite the American people voting against the
move, most of the deaf schools in America went on to forbid the use of sign language in school.
The teachers were not allowed to teach since they could not help teaching the children how to
speak or lipread. Those students who used signs at school or in class were subjected to wearing
mittens that had short strings that attached them together so that they could not be able to sign. It
