Have others read Jane Roland Martin, devotes a chapter in "The
Schoolhome" to a discussion of the situation on Martha's Vinyard. There
the hearing people on the island had to accomodate themselves to the
non-hearing because the folks who knew how to build the boats were
_congenitally_ "disabled" with deafness. In the tightly coupled
structure of the (pre-investment) island, the interdependence of the
"able" and the "disabled" made the ability to communicate in alternative
ways valuable for ends all required. But with the onset of the current
gentrification of the island, the need to heed the "disabled"
disappears, and recent migrants have not had to learn sign to
communicate for ends vital to the propogation of the community.
food for thought.
Have a reflective Memorial Day (it's still May 31, btw).
konopak
<jkonopak who-is-at ou.edu>