Page 89 - Reading Between the Sign Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters

74 Reading Between the Signs

Because success in American life is measured by external ac-
complishments, we feel compelled to keep accomplishing more
and more. While we may complain to those closest to us that we
are always too busy, who among us would care to be the oppo-
site—as defined in Webster’s—“idle, lazy, indolent”? Activities
valued in other cultures but assessed by many of us as unproduc-
tive—meditating, standing around chatting, or sitting and relax-
ing and doing nothing—tend to make us nervous, as if they repre-
sent lost moments in which we could have been doing something
useful. We even have a hard time “letting go” on vacations, which
some of us only regard as another opportunity for performing
(doing) different activities such as skiing, sightseeing, antique col-
lecting, or even making house repairs. People from other coun-
tries often comment on the frenzied pace of Americans who are
obsessively “on the go.”
In our mainstream culture, we feel pressured to prove our self-
worth through new accomplishments (and more material goods).
Haven’t you found yourself thinking, “If only I could achieve that—
academic degree, interpreting certificate, athletic feat, salary in-
crease—then I would feel like a success”? And most of us notice
that having accomplished our goal, we feel we must set our sights
on another milestone. In many non-Western cultures, by com-
parison, it is peoples’ traditional roles in their family or commu-
nity that define their identities, and their personal relationships
are more important than their measurable achievements.
In Deaf culture, a person’s achievements are more likely to be
viewed as the group’s accomplishment than as the individual’s. A
toast at a party for a Deaf woman who had recently passed the
State Bar was “Hurray! One of us became a lawyer,” and a com-
ment from a prominent Deaf leader to a Deaf social worker who
achieved his license was “I’m happy for us.” However, if a Deaf
person fails to share his or her accomplishments with the com-
munity (by giving credit to those who made it possible and by
donating time, energy, and skills to help others), then the “crab
theory” operates, whereby the group pulls down those who try to
get ahead.

Work and Compartmentalization
Why are we not surprised to hear that a man who recently won
many millions of dollars in his state lottery continues to work at

04 MINDESS PMKR 74 10/18/04, 11:25 AM