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Deaf Women’s Use of Sign Language and Deaf Identity: Focusing on Growth Over Time
Copyright 2024 ⓒ Korean Speech-Language & Hearing Association.
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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate how Deaf women’s establishment of Deaf identity has changed throughout their life experiences of acquiring sign language. This research was conducted based on a life historical perspective.
To explore the perspectives of Deaf individuals on the relationship between acquiring sign language and Deaf identity, in-depth semi-structured interviews (N=5) were conducted. The in-depth semi-structured interview format provides an opportunity for participants to respond to the interview questions freely from their own point of view.
First, Deaf women responded that the acquisition of sign language and higher education experiences at universities have led to a shift in their perception of being Deaf. Second, they responded that the acquisition of sign language, higher education, and participation in Deaf society have helped in establishing Deaf identity. Third, the participants reported that the expansion of educational opportunities after acquiring sign language had overall positive impacts on their attitudes towards life. The acquisition of sign language, a positive attitude towards sign language, and educational experiences appeared to significantly influence the establishment of bicultural identity among Deaf women.
The results indicate that language acquisition and school experiences have a significant influence on Deaf women’s identity establishment. A Deaf woman seems to be in the process of forming her identity from the perspective of biculturalism. Moving away from the viewpoint of disability regarding Deaf people, there is a need for various follow-up studies and the development of educational programs on Deaf identity.
Keywords:
Sign language, Deaf women, Deaf identity, educational experiencesⅠ. Introduction
How do we experience our educational lives while acquiring a language? Does the acquisition of a language help us establish our social identity and respect the people we interact with? Although the experience of acquiring a language varies from person to person, how do an individual’s social relationships change before and after language acquisition?
It is said that the language an individual uses carries social meaning (Holmes, 1997). This means that through the language an individual uses, we can understand which social group they identify with and feel a sense of belonging to, what social status they pursue, and which conflicting social values they particularly choose and aspire to. Previous studies (Coupland & Coupland, 1995) have shown that language symbolizes an individual’s social identity. These studies are significant in showing that the language an individual uses reflects whether they agree or disagree with the norms and values pursued by the mainstream of that society.
Deaf women have so far been perceived only from the perspective of disabled women or social minorities, and qualitative research on the lives and language of Deaf women has not been conducted much until now. To what extent do Deaf women perceive the sign language they use as a beautiful and accurate language? How do Deaf women perceive the role of sign language in establishing their social identity? The quantitative study by Park and Nam (2022) showed that attitudes towards sign language among the Deaf influence the relationship between Deaf identity and Deaf culture awareness. A positive attitude towards sign language played a significant role in establishing Deaf identity and recognizing Deaf culture as equal to hearing culture. However, since this study shows the overall trend between variables, it is necessary to analyze in-depth through qualitative research how attitudes toward sign language change during an individual’s growth process and how it affects identity establishment and cultural awareness. This study aims to explore, through a life history approach, how attitudes towards sign language and Deaf identity change as Deaf women learn sign language, interact with others, and grow.
1. Deaf Identity and Acquiring of Sign Language
The Deaf identity development theory (Glickman, 1996) define how Deaf individuals identify with or do not identify with Deaf culture and the Deaf community. This theory categorizes Deaf identity from a cultural perspective into four types: Hearing identity, immersion identity, marginal identity, and bicultural identity. Through this, it helps to understand how Deaf individuals identify with the Deaf community and Deaf culture. Hearing identity is characterized by viewing Deaf individuals as inferior to hearing people, whereas immersion identity focuses on viewing Deaf individuals as central and considers hearing people as incorrect. Marginal identity tends to involve a lack of clear belonging to either the Deaf or hearing communities and often results in maladjustment. Bicultural identity respects both the Deaf and hearing communities and strives to adopt a balanced perspective that embraces the cultures of both. It can be seen that perceptions of sign language and Deaf culture can vary depending on which identity a Deaf individual strongly possesses. According to Fischer (2000), marginal identity is perceived as a very negative identity, while bicultural identity is regarded as the most positive and ideal Deaf identity.
If a Deaf person learns sign language and has a positive attitude towards it, they will likely form good relationships with other people, which can be assumed to influence the formation of their Deaf identity. According to Nikolaraizi and Hadjikakou (2006), identity is a socially constructed process, which is being shaped by past and present experiences. Kwak et al. (2004) argued that the concept of ‘Deaf’ changes according to the social acceptance of sign language, and thus the rights to language and culture of Deaf people should be actively asserted. Lapinski et al. (2015) stated that Deaf identity is formed by satisfaction and pride in sign language and Deaf culture, and that Deaf students with a positive self-view (i.e., a strong Deaf identity) have better school adaptation and academic performance compared to those experiencing identity confusion. Additionally, Deaf individuals who act independently and pioneer their lives based on their Deaf identity tend to be employed in professional fields for extended periods.
Despite the importance, there is a significant lack of research on the relationsship between Deaf identity and the perception of sign language. According to Park and Nam (2022), a positive attitude towards sign language among Deaf individuals plays a significant role in establishing Deaf identity and recognizing Deaf culture as equal to hearing culture. However, because this study shows the overall trend among variables, there is a need to analyze in depth through qualitative research how attitudes towards sign language change during an individual’s growth process and how this affects identity formation and cultural awareness. One exception to this is Kim’s (2021) qualitative study on sign language and Deaf identity. Based on individual in-depth interviews, she showed that the self-awareness of ‘Deaf’ forms into an identity in the perception of Deaf individuals, the acceptance of language and community naturally follows as a result of this awareness. However, since Kim’s (2021) study did not address the educational experiences of Deaf women, this study aims to explore what transitions Deaf women experienced while learning sign language at Deaf schools and how these experiences influenced the formation of their Deaf identity.
2. Deaf Women, Deaf Identity and Sign Language
A Deaf woman has traditionally been treated as a subject of disability and viewed primarily from the perspective of a social minority. According to Najarian (2008), most Deaf women are raised with an emphasis on oral communication centered around hearing people, which not only delays their acceptance of themselves as Deaf but also causes them to grow up experiencing social exclusion. While both Deaf women and Deaf men navigate similar challenges in acquiring sign language and forming their identities within Deaf culture, research (Petersen, 2018) indicates that there are nuanced differences influenced by factors such as early linguistic exposure, socialization patterns, and access to role models. They found that girls often had earlier and more consistent exposure to language, leading to stronger linguistic skills and a deeper integration into cultural norms. Despite the importance of exploring the relationship between language acquisition and identity, there has been a lack of research on how Deaf women learn sign language through education and develop their Deaf identity. Unlike intellectual, psychiatric or physical disabilities, which are ‘visible’ from the outside, the difficulties of Deaf individuals are not recognized as disabilities because they are not visible. This makes it difficult for them to seek help from others. Therefore, for Deaf individuals to adapt to the external environment, they need to define themselves as a linguistic minority and recognize themselves as having a disability. Accordingly, this study aims to explore the process by which Deaf women actively establish their Deaf identity, moving away from seeing themselves as disabled individuals in social interactions. Through this, I aim to examine the process by which Deaf women negotiate their Deaf / Deaf identities and transform their identity from ‘Deaf’ to ‘Deaf’ within a social context.
3. Research questions
This study explores the process by which Deaf women establish their identity through the experience of sign language acquisition. The research questions are as follows:
First, what were the Deaf women’s educational experiences related to sign language acquisition?
Second, how did Deaf women’s educational experiences related to Deafness affect their social relationships and Deaf identity?
Ⅱ. Methods
1. Participants
The paritipants were five Deaf females who use Korean sign language as their native language. They were all women, who varied in age from 34 to 52. They all had congenital hearing impairments. Except for one person, they grew up in hearing families. All respondents had experienced a mix of oral and manual education. Four of them had gone to a college for the hearing for their entire university experiences. Only one attended a college, which had services for the Deaf students. All research participants had hearing impairments before acquiring language. They all have a college degree or higher and work as teachers at schools for the Deaf or as sign language interpreters. The general information of the participants is presented in Table 1.
2. Procedure
This study was conducted based on life history interviews. They were recruited through personal contacts and snow ball sampling. I informed them via email about my research and mentioned that I am hearing and learning sign language. Additionally, a certified national sign language interpreter attended and provided sign language interpretation. Due to the close relationship between the research participants and the sign language interpreter, a comfortable atmosphere was created for the participants to speak freely. There were over 2~3 meetings per participant from April 2023 to May 2024 to listen to the overall life stories of Deaf women, their perceptions of sign language, Deaf identity, and Deaf culture, The interviews lasted 2 hours in average. Additionally, according to Coleman (2020), the place of an in-depth interview holds significant importance. Since the place creates an atmosphere where knowledge is shared, the interview was first conducted in a restaurant to create a comfortable environment and encourage participants to talk freely about their daily lives. Food has the effect of unconsciously triggering memories about one’s life and experiences, thereby facilitating diverse discussions about their lives. After the meal, three questions related to sign language acquisition and identity were presented and responded to in a café.
To explore the perspectives of Deaf individuals on the relationship between acquiring sign language and Deaf identity, semi-structured interviews were conducted. According to Bogdan and Biklen (1998), the in-depth semi-structured interview format provides an opportunity for participants to respond to the interview questions freely from their own point of view.
3. Development of in-depth semi-structured interview questions
The questions were developed based on previous studies (McIlroy & Storbeck, 2011; Najarian, 2008) to facilitate discussions about the participants’ experiences related to specific topics. Three questions were developed, as Table 2. The first question is about how “Deaf” made you feel as a child and when and how you learned sign language. The second question is about school experiences and educational impact after learning sign language. The third question focused on how learning sign language has changed for them and how it has transformed their Deaf identity. At the end of interviews, the author checked out if they were satisfied with their respenses or needed to add anything more to their narratives. The five participant have been assigned pseudonym to protect their identity. Before presenting these three questions, in the introduction of the study, participants were asked to freely talk about significant experiences that came to mind from their lives so far, and to talk about their current hobbies. These open-ended questions were presented to create a comfortable atmosphere and encourage natural interactions.
4. Analysis
The data of life histories were analyzed following two steps based on the previous research (McIlroy & Storbeck, 2011). First, the data were organized into categories based on “content-based themes” around Deaf identity narratives. The second step involved a critical discourse analysis (CDA) reading of the interview texts to further explore each participant’s narratives within the context of Deaf identity development. CDA has the advantage of integrating perspectives from linguistics, psychology, and sociology to examine how language reflects and perpetuates power relations in society. This study employed the method of CDA to analyze the process by which Deaf women, who are often treated as social minorities, acquire sign language, experience education, and grow with bicultural identity and self-esteem, rather than remaining minority language users. The interview content of this study was reviewed by two sign language education experts.
Ⅲ. Results
Four of the women (except Kim) experienced a cultural shift when they attended a school for the Deaf and learned sign language. These experiences led the women to develop identities as Deaf women (Because Kim’s parents were Deaf, Kim was able to learn sign language with them before entering a school for the Deaf. Since Kim could learn sign language at an early age and communicate with other Deaf individuals, it seems there wasn’t a significant shift in the formation of Kim’s Deaf identity.) Because they were educated in both hearing and Deaf schools, they had the opportunity to explore their diverse identities. If they had not learned sign language and lived only in hearing society, they might have had difficulty forming their Deaf identity.
1. Being Deaf and Acquiring Sign Language
The experiences of the Deaf women in this study were somewhat similar, Learning their native language and attending a Deaf school developed their pride and they consider themselves bicultural identity of being Deaf.
“A: I think sign language is a beautiful language. When people use spoken Korean, they often lack expression, which makes it seem very boring. Sign language uses facial expressions, so it can convey not only meaning but also emotions effectively. My husband and children are hearing, but they understand my identity. The children grew up watching my husband and me communicate in sign language from a young age, so they are good at it.”
“B: I have never thought much about being Deaf. However, there have been times when being Deaf was inconvenient.”
“C: It was strange because everyone else in my family could hear it, but I couldn’t. I even thought my ears were blocked, so I once painfully poked my ears with a cotton swab. Learning sign language felt like an animal that didn’t know how to communicate, being trapped alone in a cave, and then finally coming out into the world. When I was young, I often felt like an animal that couldn’t speak, but after learning sign language, I finally felt like I had become a human being.”
“D: When I was young, the emphasis on oral education under the ideology of auditory-oralism was very strong. I first learned sign language when I entered elementary school. I could learn sign language more quickly and enjoyably than oral communication. In the school for the Deaf, there were many senior students, so I could quickly learn sign language. Sign language is the center of my life. Except for me, my entire family is hearing, but by learning sign language, I was able to express what I wanted more precisely and in detail. When I was young and didn’t know sign language, I would just point and say to my mom, ‘Give me this, give me that.’ But after learning sign language, I became better at understanding Korean spoken language words and was able to accurately specify what I wanted.”
2. School experience
The second question focuses on the impact of school on Deaf identity development.
“D: My 6th grade teacher at the school for the Deaf was very good at sign language, and he was strict with us in sign language education and curriculum. He would give us corporal punishment by slapping our calves if we didn’t understand sign language. I was afraid of corporal punishment, so I worked hard to learn sign language and studied hard. It was the first time I understood math/science since grade 6, and it made me think about my identity. However, even though I understood math, when I studied at a regular university, it was difficult for me to ask for help because of my introverted personality, so I struggled a lot while studying alone. It was difficult to ask for help from the young people around me. I was very frustrated, and I cried a lot. However, I always tried again and never gave up. ”
“E: When I entered elementary school, I was able to learn sign language. My family members, except for me, are all hearing and did not know sign language. When I entered the school for the Deaf, I was very happy to learn sign language, express myself, and make friends. When I was with my family, I was introverted and always felt stifled. However, when I went to the school for the Deaf, I had a lot of fun spending time with my friends. At the school for the Deaf, I became an extroverted and proactive child, and I also started studying hard.”
3. Deaf identity
The Deaf identity development focues on how the partipants perceive and understand themselves and how they went through a transition of identity. Based on pervious research (McIlroy & Storbeck, 2011), I let them describe themselves as having identity that was either 1) culturally hearing, 2) culturally Deaf, 3) an ambivalent identity, and 4) a bicultural Deaf.
“B: I hadn’t really thought about sign language in relation to my identity until now. I was taught sign language by my parents from a young age, so it came naturally to me, and I saw it as a tool to communicate with others. However, as a Deaf person, I have sometimes felt that it was difficult to communicate with others. I’ve had some trauma, and I’ve experienced depression. I think it would be difficult for a Deaf person to understand my life story. I think a lot of effort should be made by the hearing person to communicate with the Deaf person.” [a culturally Deaf]
“D: My family, except for me, was all hearing. My parents and siblings did not know sign language. Growing up, I often felt alone at home. My siblings did not wear hearing aids, but I had to wear one and go to speech therapy. My way of studying was different from my siblings, and they always came home late from school. I gradually became a quieter child. As I went to college and grew older, my introverted nature became more pronounced. However, after getting married, having children, and raising them, I realized I needed to embrace my identity as a Deaf person. Teaching my children sign language and going through many trials and errors in the process of raising them made me more proactive as a Deaf woman. I am very pleased that my current family understands each other’s identities.” [a bicultural Deaf]
“E: While attending a university for hearing people and working, I experienced depression. It was hard to keep up with my college classes. After marrying my Deaf husband, we had hearing children, and it was challenging to communicate with them during their teenage years. My eldest daughter, perhaps remembering my struggle with depression, makes me happy by studying very hard and planning to major in psychological therapy in college. When my son went through adolescence, he fought a lot with my husband, and I, as a mother, often supported him. Communicating with my children in sign language makes me realize that I am Deaf.” [a bicultural Deaf]
Ⅳ. Discussion
This study examined the process by which Deaf women transform their identity from a hearing-centered perspective to a Deaf-centered or bicultural identity after learning sign language. A common theme mentioned by participants was that before learning sign language, they lived frustratingly isolated lives. However, after learning sign language, they were able to benefit from education, meet people, and precisely express themselves, All of the women identified themselves as “Deaf” rather than “Deaf” in the study, emphasizing their cultural and linguistic identity. Furthermore, this study shows that Deaf identity is not fixed but rather fluid, like a liquid. It illustrates the shift from a hearing-centric perspective of Deaf identity, understood from the viewpoint of disability, to a bicultural perspective where Deaf individuals actively shape their own identity.
For Participant A, the experience of learning sign language allowed her to break away from the negative perspective of being seen as someone who cannot hear and makes strange sounds. She described sign language as ‘beautiful.’ Many people use their language unconsciously in everyday life rather than thinking of it as beautiful. However, Participant A’s positive attitude towards sign language likely influenced their self-esteem as a Deaf person and contributed to establishing a bicultural identity. In the case of Participant D, before learning sign language, she was a passive individual waiting for opportunities to communicate with hearing people. After learning sign language, she felt the joy of learning at school and worked hard with the thought that they could also achieve professional success. Participant D also mentioned that the sign language is the center of the life. For her, learning sign language seemed to have been a significant turning point that allowed her to understand the meanings of many words that had previously appeared abstract and to comprehend classes that had seemed difficult. For Participant E, due to the trauma experienced from interactions with hearing individuals during childhood, she recognized herself only as a depressed and lethargic person. However, after learning sign language and interacting with many Deaf individuals, she started to express her likes and dislikes and became an active individual who chooses and follows what she likes. These cases suggest that the positive changes brought by acquiring sign language helped establish a bicultural Deaf identity. It led them to think about developing their talents beyond just being connected to the Deaf community, resulting in a decision to study hard and to live a self-directed life. Additionally, Participant C mentioned that acquiring sign language was a shift that allowed them to see themselves as a human rather than an animal, suggesting that sign language may have played an important role in establishing a bicultural identity. In contrast, Participant B responded that they had not yet given much thought to the relationship between sign language and identity, indicating that they might be in the process of establishing a bicultural identity by viewing Deafness from a Deaf-centered perspective and in relation to hearing people.
This study presents three implications as follows. Firstly, for Deaf women, learning sign language appears to be an important experience in transitioning from a hearing-centered environment to the Deaf world. In this study, all participants positively evaluated the fact that through sign language, they were able to have educational experiences and meet various people. Before learning sign language, Deaf women often felt isolated or lonely and frequently experienced communication breakdowns. Secondly, the positive attitude of Deaf women toward sign language seems to significantly impact the formation of their Deaf identity. The positive perception of sign language by Deaf women appears to play a decisive role in their social interactions, learning, and adaptation within the context of the Deaf community. Thirdly, in forming their Deaf identity, teaching their children sign language to facilitate deep communication as their children grow up as CODAs (Children of Deaf Adults) seems to have an important impact. Deaf women, by communicating with their families through sign language and seeing their children understand their identity and grow up with confidence, appear to perceive themselves not as ‘Deaf’ individuals with disabilities but as “Deaf” individuals with a bilingual and bicultural identity. This study provides significant implications because it highlights the active development of identity in Deaf women, contrasting with previous research that viewed them primarily from the perspective of social disadvantage or disability. Moving away from the viewpoint of disability regarding Deaf people, there is a need for various follow-up studies and the development of educational programs on Deaf identity. This study demonstrates the necessity for teachers at schools for the Deaf to move away from the perspective of disability and meet and understand Deaf students in a different way than they have until now.
The limitations of this research are as follows. Firstly, since this study concerns the acquisition of bilingualism and identity, there is a possibility that the translator’s interpretation of the participants’ responses influenced the interview data. Reducing translator effect in a qualitative study, particularly when involving multiple languages or participants who are non-native speakers, is crucial to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the data (Temple & Young, 2004). Several strategies to minimize this effect are to use bilingual researchers, collaborate translation and detailed documenting with reflexivity. In this study, it is important for the researcher to know sign language to reduce interpreter errors. Additionally, to ensure objective and reliable interpretation, it is necessary for more than two interpreters to work together. The researcher who conducted this study learned sign language three years ago and is just at an intermediate level of proficiency. More than two interpreters only partially participated during the interviews. In follow-up research, it will be necessary to have more than two interpreters participate and to secure objectivity through detailed documentations and critical review of the interview content.
Secondly, In this study, only participants who use sign language as their first language and have a high level of education were selected. Najarian’s (2008) research showed that the educational experiences of Deaf women have a significant impact on the establishment of their identity. Therefore, this study aimed to illustrate the identity formation process of Deaf women through various stages of identity development, which is why the participants were limited to highly educated Deaf women. However, in reality, there are many Deaf individuals who have not acquired sign language and live within a hearing-centric society, which imposes limitations on the interpretation of the study results. Follow-up research should include participants with diverse educational backgrounds to enhance the generalizability of the results.
One of the other limitations of this study is the possibility of subjective interpretation due to the involvement of the researcher’s inference in the participants’ responses. Additionally, in the case of in-depth interviews, even when using partially semi-structured questions, participants often freely discuss topics beyond the questions asked in the interview, resulting in a lack of content related to the research topic compared to the actual interview time. In this study, the topics were not strictly limited to ensure the inclusion of the participants’ responses. For future research, it is suggested that more time be invested in conducting in-depth interviews and that more objective interpretations of participants’ responses be ensured by involving interpretations from more than two researchers and providing detailed descriptions of participants’ responses.
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