Page 129 - Reading Between the Sign Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters

114 Reading Between the Signs

deaf and one was hearing, whom would you choose? The easy
answer, obviously, is the deaf candidate, but that is just the setup.
Suppose this time there were two candidates, one deaf and one
hearing, except that the hearing candidate had more skills and
more experience. Now, which would you choose? The correct an-
swer, from many of those with a strong Deaf cultural perspective,
is still the Deaf one.
Loyalty can be a feeling of unity, as evidenced in the mass
outpouring of support for the students and faculty at Gallaudet
University during the “Deaf President Now” revolt in 1988. It can
lead Deaf people to defend the actions of a Deaf coworker to their
hearing boss, while later, in private, scolding that person for care-
less actions which might evoke negative judgments about the Deaf
as a group. Loyalty is one reason why Deaf people will frequent a
Deaf-owned dry-cleaning business even if there were hearing-
owned dry cleaners closer to home. It predisposes them to first
look for a Deaf worker to paint their house or mow their lawn,
whom they might also assume will give them a better price. It
also explains the feeling of outrage expressed by the Deaf club
members in the play Tales from a Clubroom, when one character
is found not just to have stolen money, but to have stolen it from
fellow Deaf!

Reciprocity
One of the strongest collectivist features of Deaf culture is seen in
the way members of the community share their time and skills.
In mainstream American culture, we practice a balanced type of
reciprocity. If Susan gives Rachel a birthday present, Rachel will
probably give Susan a present on her birthday. Members of the
Deaf community also practice this type of back-and-forth giving
between one person and another; however, they follow a system
of group reciprocity as well. In this system, one donates “favors,
energy, information, and work for the community” into the pool,
and one knows that in time of need he or she can draw from the
common pool of resources as well. Some skills that are commonly
shared include fixing a car, giving someone a ride, helping some-
one write a letter, sewing, woodworking, going to the market for
someone who must stay at home, and helping someone move.
There is no specific tallying of hours of work donated. As Marie
Philip, a noted Deaf educator, put it, “You can’t find a specific
glass of water in a pool.” But somehow there is a collective aware-

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