CMD 175 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Hearing Loss, Edgartown, Massachusetts, Genealogy
17 Feb 2016
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Everyone here spoke sign language by nora groce. High incidence of deafness on martha"s vineyard before the 1950s. In the nineteenth century 1 in every 5,728 americans were born deaf. On martha"s vineyard, it was 1 in every 155. Most likely hereditary because it was such an isolated community. 72 deaf person"s born to island families in the last three centuries. At least a dozen more to descendants of islanders who moved off the island. Deafness is considered one of the most severe and widespread of the major disabilities. In the u. s. , 14. 2 million people have a severe hearing impairment. Of these, 2 million are considered deaf. Greatest problem not being able to hear can be socially isolating. On martha"s vineyard, most people were bilingual in both english and sign language. This brought down all the barriers separating the deaf from the hearing. Many older islanders could not even remember who was deaf and who wasn"t.
