Teaching The Deaf
knowing them. Since each of us is deaf or blind to large components of reality and does not feel a sense of loss — for example not perceiving the microscopic or the speed of computers — we can easily conceive that what is accessible to the deaf can fill life in the manner ours can be filled by all we can grasp. We may even consider that we cannot really reach silence in ourselves except through very demanding disciplines that most of us avoid. Yet it is basic for the deaf. When we seek it and achieve it we grant ourselves great merit! Could we imagine what it would be like if we were endowed with it from the start of life — like the deaf! If a deaf person really needs the benefits of speech he is then surely handicapped. But does he, on his own, want to have what he cannot conceive? It seems unlikely. He may need to relate to others. But would he choose to do it through an inaccessible medium? Would he not invent means that make relating possible for him? Means of expression that are at first, made consistent with what he feels and thinks and only then tried out to see if they trigger in others similar understanding of the world around? If some do, they will be retained and from being means of expression then become means of communication. Touch surely can serve such purposes sometimes; also and, more swiftly, eye contact and eye expression. No one person has all the means of expressing the needs of the whole of mankind. We are all expert at expressing some aspects of our inner and outer life, but in many cases we are either very clumsy or totally inadequate, often not even suspecting that we could try. We normally only use proven means for proven occurrences neglecting the rest. This is what the deaf do too. They use facial expressions, gestures so long as these convey what they experience within and find them adequate to lead others to where they wish them to be. This may be improved to generate the best manual movement equivalent to a trigger of meaning, such as, “come here,” “go away,” “be closer,” etc. Not the words but the meaning. And this is intuitively grasped for example when offering an embrace or a kiss. The deaf have no need of words, but they have need of others. Thus they are ready to give themselves to either inventing, or sharing those gestures which go beyond the expression of emotions, which attempt to
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