[Apologies for the graininess of the scans. My scanner is currently coughing up blood.]
Puzzler opened this thread with the words: Touchy subject perhaps?
Strangely, it is Nethryk's contribution of a Danish sign language stamp which might be the first to open up the touchiness. Why? Because including the Deaf under the heading of Disabled is anathema to a substantial body of the Deaf, who refuse to accept a disablity label, preferring to classify themselves as a language minority group, making the point that their problems are consequent not upon their physical inability to fully sense sound, but upon the failure of the rest of society to commit itself to solving a communication problem by offering a full range of information in Sign Language, and committing sufficient resources and finance to support those who require it.
So use of a Deaf symbol on a generic Disabled stamp may not always go down well:
Nor a Deaf stamp in a Disabled series:
[In the case of the British stamp the fingerspelling of DEAF may look artistic, but it is a word which is almost invariably signed (first two fingers over ear) rather than fingerspelt. And on the cover the comunity of Deaf seem to have been relegated to a lowercase deaf.]
Excessive emphasis on the Ear Problem is also unlikely to go down well.
Likewise the representation of Deaf education in wholly audiological terms:
And adulation of those who historically forced signing out of Deaf education in favour of Oralism:
(Heinicke, Bell)
Representation of 'Deaf' people on stamps, with the exception of Helen Keller, is usually of the 'deafened' i.e. those brought up as hearing but whose hearing deteriorated later in life (Ronsard, Beethoven, Low, Goya) rather than the 'born-Deaf'.
I don't have enough historical evidence to know whether Hadrian's deafness was also a late onset, but I suspect so.
These cancelations might seem harmless enough; but as late as the 1970s both the BDA and the RNID were seen by many as patronising organisations almost wholly controlled by the hearing. The latter was known in Deaf circles as the Really Not Interested in Deaf!
So let's go for some less controversial material.
Stamps featuring signing:
Stamps on Deaf education which show elements of sign in tandem with oralism:
Educators of the Deaf who used signing (L'Epee, Gallaudet)
A selection of stamps, covers and cancellations commemorating national and international meetings of Deaf - political, social and sporting:
Leading up to, of course, the Polish Deaf Stamp Collectors' Exhibitions:
And to finish on a conciliatory note - a message from the National Deaf Children's Society:
Make Friends with a Deaf Child
Posted 10/02/2012 07:20 am
