Mother Sign Language

Description:

In 1988, Nora Groce wrote a ground-breaking book titled, Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language: Hereditary Deafness on Martha’s Vineyard. From the seventeenth century to the early years of the twentieth, the population of Martha’s Vineyard manifested an extremely high rate of profound hereditary deafness. In stark contrast to the experience of most Deaf people at the time, the Deaf Vineyarders were so thoroughly integrated into the daily life of the community that they were not seen—and did not see themselves—as handicapped or as a group apart. Deaf people were included in all aspects of life, such as town politics, jobs, church affairs, and social life. On the Vineyard, hearing and Deaf islanders alike grew up using a sign language. This unique sociolinguistic adaptation meant that the usual barriers to communication between the hearing and the Deaf, which so isolated many Deaf people, did not exist. In this image, Call idealizes the Deaf mother welcoming the ships and sailors coming to and from the Vineyard as a vision of the socialization of sign language and the acceptance of Deaf people within the general community.

Attribution:

David Call (1962- )