Deaf Folklore: What is Deaf Folklore? JUN 26 1981
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Jo Radner: Annual festival of American Folklife here in the area of the Deaf, the Deaf community's folklore.
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And at 11 o'clock we're planning to have a discussion here with some of our participants, about what the Deaf, Deaf folklore actually consists of.
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I'm going to begin by asking each of our participants in turn to tell you his or her name, where he or she lives and so on, and then we'll get to a start in the workshop.
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After a while I'll be asking for questions from the audience, please catch my eye, wave a flag, wave a handkerchief, wave a hand, if you have a question that you want to ask.
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And also please if you're not used to talking to people through interpreters let me suggest that you ask your question directly to the participant, don't ask toward the interpreter.
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The interpreter will just translate what you say, either from sign to voice or from voice to sign depending on how you say it. [[small chuckle]]
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So at question time please ask your questions directly to the participants. I'd like to ask first Libby to introduce herself.
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Would you tell your name and where you come from, what you do?
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Libby Hathaway/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): My name is Libby Hathaway and I'm from Baltimore Maryland. I work for Studio 101, before that I worked various odd jobs as an actress, a linguistics, a restaurant dishwasher.
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I was in Maryland School for the Deaf. I graduated in 1973, after that I went to Gallaudet College until '77. I left school and did some odd jobs.
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Jo Radner: Thank you
[SILENCE]
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Steve Jones/John Ennis (interpreter): My name is Steve Jones. I'm from Baltimore Maryland. I came here about 10 years ago.
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That's when I first started learning sign language. And I work for the Washington Post newspaper as a printer.
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Jan DeLap/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): Tell them that you're not Deaf.
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Steve Jones: Oh, I'm not Deaf, I'm hearing.
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Jo Radner: [[LAUGHTER]] Thank you. Jan.
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[SILENCE]
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Jan DeLap/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): My name is Jan DeLap. I was born and grew up in Wisconsin.
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I came here to this area a long time ago to go to Gallaudet College. I'm presently working at the Washington Post as a printer.
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Jo Radner: Thank you. Dick.
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Dick Moore/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): My name is Dick Moore. I live in Maryland but my old hometown is in Kentucky. I work for the Washington Post also.
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Jo Radner: Thank you very much.
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And I should mention that these people together constitute, uh, a troop of actors for us here at the festival.
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And that right after this at 12 o'clock and at 1 o'clock they're going to be doing different performances of their skills. You'll get a little sample of that right now.
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Well the topic of our workshop this morning is "What is Deaf Folklore?" I think to begin with it's important to, to say a little bit about folklore.
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Uh, because folklore doesn't just pop up suddenly, full grown. Folklore develops in a community, and maybe a lot of hearing people are not aware that there is a Deaf community.
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In fact there are several Deaf communities just as there are several black communities, several women's communities, several children's communities, several occupational communities, and so on.
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And each one develops its own stories, its own jokes, nicknames, games, traditions, out of the real needs to express itself. Folklore is the art of communities.
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So what I would like to do first is to ask these people to tell you a little bit about what strikes them as important about the Deaf community.
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To tell you just a little bit about what makes it special. The kinds of things that they perceive that are different or special for the Deaf themselves.
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I wonder if one of you would like to start out with something.
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Jo Radner: Go ahead, Jan.
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Jan DeLap/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): Always on the spot, hmmm. I think what strikes people especially is the method of communication between deaf and hearing people.
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You hear through your ears, Deaf see through their eyes and use their hands. Hearing use your mouths.
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If you know, well, as you know I was born Deaf and I was told about sound. I didn't know about it. I wonder if you are hearing something, or you're imagining things.
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Jo Radner: Thank you very much. Would you like to add something? Libby?
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Libby Hathaway/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): What strikes, struck me hard was when I was a little girl I used to use a hearing aid, and I enjoyed it because I could hear the different sounds.
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I could push it full blast and I would enjoy every moment of that. When I grew up, I couldn't stand it.
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I can't hear anything. Like the water faucet turning on, or your brush, putting it on the dresser, it's a sound that it makes.
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Or a shopping bag crunching? I couldn't stand to use my hearing aid any more.
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Now I understand how hearing people hear every sound. Everywhere. Every minute. I couldn't stand it. [[laughter]]
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Too much for me.
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Jo Radner: Sometimes, let me tell you in the middle of the festival it's very hard to stand it.
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We have loudspeakers all around us. We have to concentrate our attention very hard.
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Libby Hathaway/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): But if only all the people knew sign language. You wouldn't have to use the mic, you wouldn't have to use interpreters. It would be wonderful.
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Jo Radner: Well, we're making a modest beginning on that by teaching sign language in this area, three times a day. If you'd like to come to an introductory sign language class, we have one at 12:45, 3, and 4:45.
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Libby Hathaway/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): The letters, the alphabet.
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Jo Radner: Oh, yes, of course. Would you like to explain about that? Dick? Or anything?
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Dick Moore/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): The ABCs you mean?
Jo Radner: Yeah.
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Dick Moore/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): Really things that excite me, I notice many high schools have sign language as a foreign language, as a course.
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It's excite--exciting to see many young people knowing how to fingerspell.
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In most communities they have TTY services. You know what a TTY is?
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We talk on the telephone through a machine, a typewriter.
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You put the telephone on this thing and you can type to another machine that has the same thing as mine does so we can communicate through the telephone.
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Jo Radner: It's a wonderful device and it's only about 17 years old I think.
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We have one in the other tent, and at 11:45, right after this panel, we'll be giving a demonstration of how it works. You can come and visit us.
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Dick Moore/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): I think maybe it'd be interesting to see or to hear about my first experience with a TTY machine.
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All my life the phone meant nothing to me. Except people would run and pick it up. That was it. It wasn't for me.
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But I came to D.C. in 1969, the year of '69, and a friend demonstrated her new, and at that time it was very new, her TTY.
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And I was just amazed! You could talk on the phone! And I was so excited, and I sat down and I started typing. And then as years went by I realized that it's, it's an interference. Like, I'll be in the middle of something or
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Dick Moore/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): I'll be worrying about being electrocuted if I'm getting up from the bathtub and put on the phone because I have to type through the electric machine!
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Jo Radner: Be careful. Steve, I wonder if you, as a fairly recent comer I guess near the Deaf community could say something about how you first noticed there was a Deaf community, and what it was like to get to know a number of Deaf friends and actually join them at work and so on.
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Steve Jones: I came to work at the Washington Post about 10 years ago. And, about one fifth of the printers at the Washington Post are Deaf.
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It's sort of been a traditional occupation for Deaf because it relies mostly on visuals, you don't have to need a lot of vocal instruction.
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And I came to work there, and I would have a Deaf person standing here and a Deaf person here, Deaf people in front of me, Deaf people behind me, and I'm the only hearing person in the shop.
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And they're just talking all this beautiful sign language around me. I have no idea what they're talking about.
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So it was a choice between my learning sign language or not communicating so I learned sign language.
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Somebody asked yesterday how long it takes to learn sign language, Jan said it takes a lifetime because it's a constantly changing language, like any working language is.
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But the alphabet is fairly simple. You can learn the alphabet in about a half an hour if you try.
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I started with my roommate, another hearing man, and we memorized the alphabet. And then we would practice by reading the newspaper to each other. Just in fingerspelling.
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But I'm fortunate in that I work with so many Deaf people and I can use it every day. Most people don't have that opportunity.
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But if you know any Deaf people at all, or any hearing-impaired people that speak sign language, if you try to learn a little bit of sign language you'll be surprised at how encouraging Deaf people are to help you improve.
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Jo Radner: It's perhaps, uh, perhaps useful to mention that fingerspelling isn't really all there is to sign language.
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In fact fingerspelling is a way of borrowing English words on occasion, just the way we borrow French words and German words when we're speaking English. Or English words when we're speaking German.
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Signs themselves are quite different. Sign language in America is not derived from the English language or based on its structure at all.
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However, one custom in Deaf folklore which we might ask Dick perhaps to demonstrate now, does rely on these letters of the alphabet and turn them into a story that's not in the English language that those letters represent.
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A story that is actually by a kind of sleight-of-hand, if I can say that, by a kind of sleight-of-hand translated into a real sign language story as a kind of a game.
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Dick, do you think you could explain something about what an alphabet fingerspelling story is? And show us?
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Dick Moore/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): You mean from full A to Z? Oof
Jo Radner: Well, well maybe a shorter one. How 'bout a word?
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Dick Moore/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): Okay.
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If someone who knows how to fingerspell it'll help you to understand what I'm trying to tell you right now.
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Tree. [[silence while story is signed]]
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Jo Radner: How many of you caught that? You see what he's doing?
Dick Moore/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): Can you guess what that was?
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A bird going up a tree and then flying away. Almost, almost. It was a butterfly.
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Jo Radner: Would you do it again?
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Jan DeLap/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): Explain that you did spell it.
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Dick Moore/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): Well, ok. Here's the tree. And this is a B, B - U - crawling up the tree is the U. T, crawling up again, T. E is eating away here. R is hanging. F is flying. L - Y - flying away.
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Jo Radner: See that.
Dick Moore/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): Did you get it? [[APPLAUSE]]
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Jo Radner: Thank you very much. That's a very good example.
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There are many other kinds of folklore and of course the whole span of folklore ranges from stories of personal experience that you like to tell over and over again until they get to be your own personal form of art.
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To things like this which are kind of formal performances and you sort of announce you're going to do it and you stand there and do it and people watch and admire it.
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I wonder if we could ask some of these people to tell some of their favorite stories that have some relation to the Deaf community. Or perhaps some of the favorite stories or jokes in the Deaf community.
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Dick Moore/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): There's so many I can't even think of one. You tell the one about the New York trip.
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Steve Jones: Oh. The first time I went to New York City, I grew up in Baltimore, as I said, I never had any desire to go to New York City but, a Deaf friend of mine named Bob asked me to drive up there with him one day to meet his parents at the airport.
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They were on their way to Europe and were stopping over. I said ok. And it was my first experience with New York traffic.
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And as we got into New York with whatever expressway we were entering or exiting on or freeways or streets, there were people constantly yelling, cussing, tires screeching, brakes slamming on, horns blowing.
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Just a general racket that hearing people are used to especially in heavy traffic. And it didn't bother Bob a bit. He was just laid back driving, just as cool as could be.
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Because he couldn't hear all of this. I'm expecting a collision any minute and nothing bothered him at all.
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Jo Radner: Sometimes people are surprised, I think it's a common misconception that Deaf people don't drive. Have you ever encountered that response?
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In fact I think that Deaf people have a far better record driving than hearing people do.
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Jan DeLap/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): That's right. My answer to that is. Do you need ears to drive?
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I have another story to share with you. People often ask me if I can lip-read. Very often they ask me that question.
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If you know that it's a fact that about 25 to 30 percent of the English language, spoken English, it's, well wait a minute, let me, let me start again.
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25 to 30 percent is easily understood on the lips, 75 percent you can't understand. So you have to do a lot of guess work.
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And I remember one experience that I really misunderstood lipreading someone. A friend of mine was working in the kitchen, and I think she was making some meatloaf or something.
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And there was this meat and she was working with it, and her hands were all full of this meat and she looked at me and she said
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Jan DeLap/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): and I looked at her and I, strange request. So, I went to the bathroom and I got toilet paper.
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I brought it back, and she looked at me and she said "What's that?" and I said "You asked for toilet paper!" and she said "No, I said 'salt and pepper'."
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But when I lip read her it was, it looked like that, s- think about it, say it to yourself. Salt and pepper, toilet paper. It's almost the same. [[laughter]]
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Jo Radner: There are very few Deaf cooking traditions and that's not one of them. [[laughter]] Thank you.
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How about some of the jokes that are staples in clubs, and meetings. How about, for instance the story about the motel, or, the motel, the honeymooners.
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Or the story about the tree.
Steve Jones: The tree?
Jo Radner: The tree. Would one of you like to show that story? You know that one?
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Dick Moore/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): OK, I'll save parts of that for later. OK. Um, I'll give you one story though.
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Ten birds were on a telephone wire, and a man shot at them, and all of them flew away and there was one left sitting. Ah. It was a deaf bird. [[laughter]]
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Jo Radner: Is that, is that story sometimes used as a riddle? For kids?
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Dick Moore/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): Mmm-hmmm. Mmm-hmmm. [[affirmative]]
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Jo Radner: And another question that I had and then I'm going to ask if these people have questions. Another question I wanted to ask you is, with the fingerspelling games, where you're spelling a word? Or if you're doing the same kind of thing telling a story with numbers.
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Can you show a number story by the way, before I ask my question, could you show one?
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Libby Hathaway/Shelia Grinnell (interpreter): Ah, We'll save that for the 1 o'clock performance.
Jo Radner: It's okay we'll have a different audience. [[laughter]]
Libby Hathaway/Shelia Grinnell (interpreter): All right.
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[[laughter]]
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[[silence while story is signed]]
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[[inaudible]]
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[[silence while story is signed]]
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Jo Radner: Would you like to guess what that was?
Audience member: Um, she was thirsty--
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Shelia Grinnell: She was thirst-- Here, talk into this. [[SILENCE]]
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Audience member: She was thirsty and she went to the faucet and turned on the water and got a drink of water.
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Jo Radner: That's right. Now how many of you saw anything --
Libby Hathaway/Shelia Grinnell (interpreter): But did you see the numbers?
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Libby Hathaway/Shelia Grinnell (interpreter): But did you see the numbers?
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[[SILENCE]]
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Shelia Grinnell: Okay, do it again slowly with the numbers.
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One, thirsty. Two, she's looking around.
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Three, turns on the water. Four, the water comes down.
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Five, is the glass. Six, this is a sign for water.
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Jo Radner: How many of you know how to count to ten, on one hand? [[laughter]]
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Jo Radner: Let's show 'em.
Libby Hathaway/Shelia Grinnell (interpreter): You do.
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Jo Radner: Let's show 'em. Everybody put up your hand, let's show 'em.
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[[SILENCE]]
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Jo Radner: Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
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Now you can do it. [[laughter]]
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Jo Radner: Thank you very much, that's a pretty one.
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Now my question, that I interrupted myself in the middle of was - is that ever a kind of a riddle too?
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Do you use that one and ask people, children especially, if they see all the numbers?
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[[SILENCE]]
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Jo Radner: Do you ever ask people to guess?
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Libby Hathaway/Sheila Grinnell (interpreter): No, [overlap]
Jo Radner: No [overlap] too easy huh?
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Libby Hathaway/Sheila Grinnell (interpreter): No, I think, the trick is, well we all know the numbers, by heart but we're expected to go in sequence, you know it should be one, two, three, four, five, six, but it's how you sign it,
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if it makes sense at all and relates, and coordinates the movements making a story, that if you do it well, will be real surprised that it, you know it was a good story.
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Jo Radner: Thank you. Let me ask the audience, do you have questions? Yes.
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Audience Member: I'm interested in the mouth gestures, especially that Jan is making, what is she saying in her head as she's signing?
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[SILENCE]
Jan DeLap/Shelia Grinnell (interpreter): Um, that's a heavy one.
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I have to tell you a little thing. My father is hearing and my mother is deaf so I often switch between two modes of communication. Right now I'm using English word order,
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and it helps, for me to help, it helps me to mouth it in English but if I just go ahead like a de—deaf ASL person I won't use my mouth movement because it's more comfortable for me to gesture and talk and communicate that way. Can you can see the difference?
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Jo Radner: Could you explain a little bit perhaps, any of you about the difference that you just mentioned between ASL, American sign language and signed English? I'm not sure people are quite aware of the difference yet.
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Steve Jones: I just er, I went to Gallaudet for two semesters last year and for years, my friends had been telling me that there was a difference between English and sign language, maybe I'm a little dense but I couldn't quite get the idea
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Steve Jones: and find out what the difference was. It's, it's not a matter of shortcuts that, that most hearing people seem to think that sign language consists of, it is a different language and you use it
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in different ways. If uh, if I wanted to say in English "I am going to the store," you can make it easier just saying "I'm going to the store." That's not clear, no, no a little more explanation um.
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Sheila Grinnell: It's clear to me, it's beautiful
Steve Jones: Oh okay, okay, okay, another one, the first one I learned.
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In English, in English order you'd say 'take down the drapes' in sign language you have to say, 'drapes take them down' because you can't take down something until you have something.
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So first, first you need a concept of the drapes and then you take them down. When you translate that into English order it sounds horrible because it's not English language.
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It's like, old world languages and changed into American English. A perfect, a perfect example is 'throw mamma from the train a kiss.' It, it sounds terrible until you get to the, the part about the kiss.
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Jo Radner: Thank you very much yes, that's, that's, that's an important explanation. ASL is an entirely different language from English, it works on very different principles that linguists are just beginning to understand in a fairly complete way.
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It has its own word order um, and well you'll learn a little more in our sign language class. Let me ask if there are more questions out there?
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Audience Member: Hearing people who are learning sign sometimes use English words, signing them in order to make their own kind of jokes and I wonder if deaf people ever do any of that, one that I can think about is 'cop out'-
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Audience Member: would that be understood by very many deaf people?
00:24:42.000 --> 00:25:45.000
Sheila Grinnell: He has one, Steve has one.
00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:57.000
Steve Jones: We use this one, this is sign language well for milk, with one hand. Your milking a cow, I'm milking a cow and this is pasteurised milk [[Laughter]]
00:25:57.000 --> 00:26:08.000
Jo Radner: Jan.
Jan DeLap/Sheila Grinnell (interpreter): I think I'd like to point out that you asked 'cop out', would be understood by the deaf people.
00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:15.000
Um deaf people do need a lot of reading, their time is limited.
00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:26.000
There's always new slangs appearing, people talking and your hearing it and you understand the meanings, deaf people don't have that opportunity unless more and more TV programs are captioned,
00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:42.000
more films are captioned, then we will know what you hearing people are talking about. So probably you might say things that a deaf person may look at you and not really catch it. Not really understand it so.
00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:59.000
Jo Radner: It is true though isn't it because there is so much interaction between English and ASL speakers and signers, there are some puns between English and sign language that are fairly widely used in the deaf community aren't there?
00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:07.000
Could you show us some of those? Libby would you like to show us one?
00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:17.000
Libby Hathaway/Sheila Grinnell (interpreter): Like for example 'I understand you', and then I, you see.
00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:32.000
Things are under here, on the bottom, under, you stand like this, I understand, that's under, understand. We make fun of that like.
00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:42.000
Jo Radner: Thank you
Libby Hathaway/Sheila Grinnell (interpreter): Do you understand that one? [laughs] Do you understand, do you? Or do you understand a little bit? Like this under stand.
00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:47.860
Jo Radner: Notice what she's doing? You understand, this, the sign for understand, the normal sign like a light bulb going off
00:27:52.000 --> 00:28:00.000
Libby Hathaway/Sheila Grinnell (interpreter): and the other way is just with the pinky. You just understand a little bit? Or you understand or, er a little bit?
00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:07.000
Jo Radner: Lots of kinds of play, are there others that you'd, that you'd like to show, other puns?
00:28:07.000 --> 00:28:13.000
Okay, would you like to show this one? This is a game.
00:28:13.000 --> 00:28:23.000
Jan DeLap/Sheila Grinnell (interpreter): I have to tell you something about your hands, maybe you're not aware that your hands, you don't know your hands very well. We're gonna play a little game with you people, would you like that?
00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:39.000
Okay I want you to try this, put your knuckles together, your middle knuckles together. Okay everyone do that and then your fingers, got that? Put 'em together, everyone, come on.
00:28:39.000 --> 00:29:05.000
Okay, okay now I want you to move this, open and close, very good, good, okay now move your pinkes. Good okay. Now your index fingers. Okay good, now move your ring finger.
00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:13.000
Come one, come on. I don't see anyone doing it. No you have to keep your knuckles together.
Jo Radner: Keep them real together.
00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:29.000
Jan DeLap/Sheila Grinnell (interpreter): and move your, your, they have to stay together. N-n-n-no no, wait a minute you have to keep your knuckles there together come on. See you can't do it, it's impossible.
00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:39.000
No, it's not possible, I'm telling ya, it's not possible. You have to have everything together.
Jo Radner: Did anybody succeed in that?
00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:46.000
Jan DeLap/Sheila Grinnell (interpreter): I'll check with you later. [Laughs]
Jo Radner: Any other questions y'all would like to ask? Yes.
00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:53.410
Audience Member: When um, when you watch TV programs, um, you know how do you, how do you um-
00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:05.000
Audience Member: How do ya understand it?
[SILENCE]
00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:08.000
Jan DeLap/Sheila Grinell (interpreter): Who are you asking? Any, us, just us? Oh, okay.
00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:21.000
Deaf people have, are very good in creativity. Wait a minute, let me back up. You're talking about television without captioning?
00:30:21.000 --> 00:30:40.000
Often the deaf people will watch and they'll know what's going on, ahead of time before they say anything. Um sometimes we don't understand and we'll wait and then later we'll catch what was going on. It's-
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:55.000
Jo Radner: How many of you people know about closed captioning in televisions these days? Maybe you'd better explain that.
[SILENCE]
00:30:55.000 --> 00:31:18.000
Jan DeLap/Sheila Grinnell (interpreter): Okay, we have a new special device it's a box like this and we can turn it on and we'll receive captioning on the television, on certain programs. By N-NB-N, ABC, NBC. NBC doesn't have it. No, no, no, wait a minute.
00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:33.000
CBS is the only station, that doesn't have captioning, and we're trying to encourage them to set up and make captioning for us but they say wait until ten years.
00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:46.000
But anyway for ABC we have captioning for us, it's really very useful. I really enjoy more TV programs because I can understand it-
00:31:46.000 --> 00:32:01.000
Jo Radner: This is--
Jan DeLap/Sheila Grinnell (interpreter): For example, before captioning itself was set up many people would love to watch Barney Miller, on television. Hearing people loved watching it because it was a lot of jokes, and deaf people it was nothing.
00:32:01.000 --> 00:32:10.280
We didn't understand what was going on but now we have captioning and more deaf people are watching and laughing because we understand it with the captioning and it helps a lot-
00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:19.000
Audience Member: How does the captioning work?
[SILENCE]
00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:27.000
Jo Radner: Libby.
Libby Hathaway/Sheila Grinnell (interpreter): It takes a lot and hours and hours of work before they send it to the television stations.
00:32:27.000 --> 00:32:47.000
The people working in the National Captioning Institute, would get twenty-four hours, would listen to it, and type, through a tape or something and they'll put it on the television, and then they'll mail it to the TV programming studio.
00:32:47.000 --> 00:33:07.000
So but you have to type the words first, but on your television if you don't have this device, you won't see anything but we buy this device through Sears, you know ears, Sears, SS Sears. [LAUGHTER]
00:33:07.000 --> 00:33:19.000
We buy it, a lot of you are laughing. We buy it through Sears and it costs a pretty penny, how much it cost? Two hundred and fifty now? Two hundred and fifty dollars now,
00:33:19.000 --> 00:33:34.000
and we connect it to our television sets turn it on and we've got the captioning. A few programs I think about sixty hours during the week, a week. Yes, Sixty hours a week are captioned for us.
00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:45.000
Jo Radner: You know in the old days before folklorists realized or were willing to realize that folklore is always changing and developing as different groups and communities change their lifestyles,
00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:58.000
they used to go out in the field to, to villages here and there and say 'oh dear folklore is disappearing because television has arrived or the radio has arrived and people don't have to entertain each other any more'.
00:33:58.000 --> 00:34:03.000
Well of course that's not true we all still tell jokes, we all still tell stories.
00:34:03.000 --> 00:34:23.000
The kinds of, of traditional folk entertainment in the deaf community, some of which you'll be seeing here at 12 o'clock, in our deaf theater performance with this group, uh, still go on in the deaf community. They don't spend all their time sitting in front of closed captions and watching Barney Miller.
00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:39.360
And I wonder if you all would like to say a little something about the places where traditional stories and skits and so on are shown, in the deaf community. How deaf people enjoy social life and so on. Jan could you explain something
00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:53.000
Jan DeLap/Sheila Grinnell (interpreter): We have our quote "social clubs." Every big city in America has their own deaf clubs.
00:34:53.000 --> 00:35:14.000
I think there's about 200 in America and deaf people do congregate there, get together there on weekends; play cards, talk, drink, eat, share information, exchange information, learn, tell jokes and perform exciting events.
00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:23.000
They have sports. We have baseball tournaments, football, many things. We meet many needs of ours.
00:35:23.000 --> 00:35:39.000
Jo Radner: Thank you very much. You'll be able to see, as I said, at 12 o'clock a performance of these people have been titled Deaf Kaleidoscope, some traditional folk theater from the deaf clubs, from the deaf community and I invite you to come back at that time.
00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:47.000
Right now I'd like to thank our participants. Will you help me thank them? [[applause]]
00:35:47.000 --> 00:36:02.000
Jan DeLap/Sheila Grinnell (interpreter): Thank you.
Jo Radner: And I'd like to thank you, I'd like to thank our interpreters. [[applause]] And if you have questions you'd like to ask later the interpreters will be here the help you if you need to, have some one sign for you.
00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:20.000
Right now over in our other tent, we'll be having a demonstration of the TTY the Tele Typewriter that Dick was describing earlier, at 12 o'clock, we'll begin Deaf Kaleidoscope. Thank you very much. [[LAUGHTER]]
00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:35.000
Jo Radner: Hello folks I would like to welcome you to the 15th Annual festival of American Folk life. Here in the deaf folklore area now and you're about to have a very special program here.
00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:48.000
A company called Studio 101 of local deaf actors is going to present a series of traditional skits, called Deaf Kaleidoscope.
00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:59.810
and I'd like to begin by introducing their leader who will tell you a little bit about the program and present the actors herself. I'd like to introduce you to Jan DeLap, will you please welcome her? [[applause]]
00:37:07.000 --> 00:37:35.000
Jan DeLap/Shirley Schultz (interpreter): Hello, testing, testing, 1, 2, 3. Yeah is it alright? Also, I want to introduce our interpreter Shirley, yeah. Schultz. If a man comes on and you hear a lady's voice ignore that. Listen to what we have to say.
00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:54.000
Can you hear alright? How many of you are deaf?
[SILENCE] Here, one deaf. Welcome, welcome, how many of you are hearing then?
00:37:54.000 --> 00:38:03.000
Oh a big group. Do any of you know finger spelling or signs?
00:38:03.000 --> 00:38:20.000
Finger spelling, what's that? See those letters along the side of the tent? Those are, those hands, maybe you can spell, you may try to spell your own name a little later with your hand.
00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:37.000
We have finger spelling and we have sign language. Our show will be presented in sign language mostly, and we'll have some finger spelling jokes.
00:38:37.000 --> 00:38:48.000
A lot of this is humor, maybe you may not understand but I'll be happy to explain if possible.
00:38:48.000 --> 00:39:14.880
I have two people with me who are deaf, from deaf homes. Their parents are deaf, their grandparents are deaf, and I have one hearing man in our group. No deafness in his family but he works with a lot of deaf people, and I myself come from a home whose father is hearing, whose mother
00:39:17.000 --> 00:39:42.000
Jan DeLap/Shirley Schultz (interpreter): Let me introduce Dick Moore.
[SILENCE] And Libby Hathaway. This is Steve Jones. Okay, it's important. Which one is the hearing one, and which ones are deaf? What do you think?
00:39:42.000 --> 00:39:54.000
Is he hearing or deaf? Hearing, hearing or deaf?
00:39:54.000 --> 00:40:17.000
I don't know, how do you know if they're hearing or deaf I mean how? It's truly an invisible handicap. And shall we confess? Who is hearing? Da-dah.
00:40:17.000 --> 00:40:40.000
Okay, we're really, a silent minority. We'll start our presentation with, well he's carrying my idiot cards. Oh okay interesting.
00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:52.000
I'd like to show you a little bit of how deaf people interact and talking with hearing people, or hearing people interacting with deaf people.
00:40:52.000 --> 00:41:07.000
Well often it depends upon body language. You can look and understand what's going on. For example I'll show you a brief encounter at a bus stop.
00:41:07.000 --> 00:41:23.280
Imagine that this is a bus stop, here's the bus coming this way. Okay, so we're watching for the bus. A deaf man is standing here waiting for the bus to come. See what happens. Watch.
00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:52.000
{CLAPPING}
00:42:52.000 --> 00:43:14.000
Jan DeLap/Shirley Schultz (interpreter): I think I heard applause, but I didn't hear it. Maybe it would help if you clapped in the air so we could see it. {CLAPPING} Ahh, you see that? Also it helps to circulate the air in the tent.
00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:34.000
Okay, along with body language you really, well I, you, really there's a mixture of people here I suppose. Some deaf, some hearing, some in between. You know what I mean by in between?
00:43:34.000 --> 00:43:47.000
Uh, you know hearing people who can sign. [LAUGHS] When I say you, I mean hearing people who don't know sign. I'm speaking to you.
00:43:47.000 --> 00:44:08.000
Maybe you'd say to yourselves, I don't know sign. It's not true, you could. Well you can communicate in what we call gestures at least. All you need is common sense. If you meet a deaf person, it's hot right?
00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:22.000
That's obvious. Hungry right? Thirsty, want a drink, baby, that a baby. Those are obvious.
00:44:22.000 --> 00:44:42.000
I will give you one, the next one, um. The next skit will be a story that you have to watch the body language and I expect you to tell me what happened after the story is finished okay? You have to use your eyes and watch.
00:44:42.000 --> 00:45:00.000
[SILENCE] {BACKGROUND NOISE}
00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:01.330
Steve Jones: It's the bank over there.
00:45:26.000 --> 00:45:34.000
Steve Jones: What was that?
[SILENCE]
00:45:34.000 --> 00:45:54.000
It's that landlord
[SILENCE]
00:45:54.000 --> 00:46:46.000
A lot of traffic today. What's that? A kid selling newspapers.
[SILENCE]
00:46:46.000 --> 00:46:54.000
Woah, don't shoot don't shoot, don't shoot, I'm deaf, what's going on?
00:46:54.000 --> 00:47:11.000
Okay, you understand the story? Did you get it? What happened? Stand up and tell me. What happened? Anybody?
00:47:11.000 --> 00:47:29.370
What do you think happened? Somebody robbing a bank. Do you believe that man was robbing the bank? What did he have in his pocket? What'd he have in his pocket? A gun? No.
00:47:32.000 --> 00:47:42.000
Steve Jones: I think you better go back, explain it again, what you were doing.
[SILENCE]
00:47:42.000 --> 00:47:49.000
Sitting on the bed watching the time, minutes clicking by. Looked out the window, the bank across the street.
00:47:49.000 --> 00:47:57.000
Came back washed my face, combed my hair, picked up my hearing aid. Put in my batteries. [LAUGHTER]
00:47:57.000 --> 00:48:15.528
Put it in my pocket, adjusted my hair so the wire wouldn't show. Looked out the window again, and the landlord was at the door. I heard him beating on the door so I had to turn the volume down.
