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Example research essay topic: Deaf Culture And Part 1 - 1,756 words

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Deaf Culture and Sports Deaf culture has made difference and a great contributions to the world of sports, having made it the way we see today. But there are very few people who realizes it. The real start up of deaf culture in Sports began with the appearance of Deaf World Games. Deaf World Games (DWG) or Deaflympics, the way it is called at the present time, have a long history, beginning with the first games in France in 1924.

At that time, international sports were not given much significance by young deaf people. There were very few national federations to provide sporting competitions for the deaf. Rubens-Always, a deaf Frenchman, managed to encourage six official national federations, which existed at that time, to support the idea and to take part in the International Silent Games, whish is a deaf version of the Olympic Games. There were participants from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Great Britain, Holland and Poland at the first games held in Paris between the 10 th and the 17 th of August 1924.

There were no official national federations in Hungary, Italy and Romania, but they also took part in competition. The first Games were held in the disciplines of Athletics, Cycling, Football, Shooting, and Swimming. The Games were so success that it was planned to organize this event every four years. 1 In 1926, the International Deaf Sports Organisation (CISS) was established and the next DWG was held in Amsterdam. Four years later, in 1931 in Nuremberg, competitors from fourteen countries were represented. The major international competitions for athletes who are deaf are the quadrennial summer and winter Deaflympics. The Deaflympics are governed by the Comity Internationale des Sports des Source (CISS).

CISS also sanctions world championships and other international competitions in selected sports. The last DWG was held in Rome, 2001. Eighty nations and about 4000 athletes participated. At this time, there were more representatives from south and east than ever before. But both the games and CISS are still quite Euro-American.

It is reasonable to believe that the numbers of supporters and tourists visiting DWG largely increased, though there is no precise data about the number of visitors. 2 The USA Deaf Sports Federation (USADSF) is a CISS member. USADSF has input to governance decisions through its representatives to the CISS congresses. USADSF holds membership in the USOC as a community-based multisport organization. Donalda Ammons, the present Secretary General of CISS, said: "We, the deaf, maintain our right to self-actualization and the full control of our sport organizations.

As a group, Deaf people do not fit into either the able-bodied or disabled categories. It has been the repeated experience of the Deaf community that our unique needs are lost when we are lumped into either category. Our limits are not physical; rather, they are outside of us, in the social realm of communication. Among hearing people, whether able-bodied or disabled, we are almost always excluded, invisible and unnerved. Among ourselves, however, we have no limits. " (2).

The early start of the game arrangement, comparing to other organizations for deaf people, shows the strong presence of mobilization characteristic. They have been particularly early on this arena for both national settings as well as on the international or transnational scene. The fact that such games are organized by the deaf themselves is also indicating the peculiar deaf position outside regular hearing society, in terms of culture, sport and language. There are deaf superstars in sports. For instance, the swimmer Terence Parkin. Not a single competitor could catch up with him in Rome.

But it is also known that he could also display his advantage of strength and devotion in competitions with hearing swimmers. It was demonstrated by the achievement in 200 m breaststroke and winning the silver medal in ordinary Olympics from Sydney 2000. Terence's image as a Deaf Hero has a significant importance for his fans and for deaf people in general, giving them hope for the self-sufficient and encouraging life. In the context of acquiring a self-sufficient and encouraging life, it is appropriate to emphasize the importance of his own words to the deaf supporters and to the deaf media present in Rome. He said that for him it was OK to compete against hearings, but here, during Deaflympics, he felt himself at home. It underlines the importance of the deaf community, which lies as the basis for the deaf culture in sports. 3 The former CISS president Jerald Jordan describes the uniqueness of deaf sports in this way: Deaf athletes are neither fish nor fowl.

On the one hand, they are medically disabled, which leads to the tendency of the hearing population to classify them with other disabled athletes. On the other hand, as far as sports are concerned, they are able-bodied. No adaptations to the rules of sports need be made. No new sport needs to be conceived to make participation of deaf persons possible. Where competition with able-bodied, hearing athletes provide ample opportunities to hone athletic skills, it often fails to satisfy basic social needs, like communication and getting to know fellow players on intimate terms. 4 Why is Deaf sport needed?

Why can't athletes who are deaf participate in "regular" sports programs with hearing athletes? Why aren't Deaf athletes included in the Paralympic Games? Why do the organizers of Deaf sport insist upon deaf-specific organizations and competitions? The importance of Deaf sport to Deaf culture helps to answer these questions. Deaf sports must first of all be understood as a social practice - as one of many arenas where signed communication is carried on. Deaf culture refers to a common means of communication (sign language) that provides the basis for group unity and identity, as well as shared experiences as minority members of a hearing society.

In Deaf culture, hearing loss is viewed as a cultural identity rather than as a physical disability in need of a cure. Deaf sport plays an essential role in developing Deaf culture. People who are deaf have opportunities to communicate freely using sign language at Deaf sports events. Participation in Deaf sports allows them to be accepted as valuable members of the Deaf community, and to see other Deaf people as athletes, coaches, officials, and volunteers. Maintaining separate Deaf sports events such as the Deaflympics have also practical reasons. Communication is motivated and encouraged partially because of the shared language, sign language, and in partially because accommodations such as interpreters or visual cues are provided at Deaf sports events unlike at any other events for hearing athletes.

Deaf people really feel themselves at home in such places. Deaf athletes prefer Deaf sports events to disability sports events because deafness is a communication difference, not a physical disability. Also, a greater number of Deaf athletes can be accommodated at a Deaf sports event than at a multi-disability event. 5 The present Secretary General of CISS, Donalda Ammons, describes the social aspect in almost the same way: An important part of all international competition is the opportunity to meet and develop friendships with people from all over the world. Deaf athletes are not so much rivals fiercely competing for a prize, as they are friends competing alongside and against one another.

There are few words that can describe the sensations that arise from being at a table with twenty athletes and sport directors from many different countries. Our national sign languages are all different, and yet by using an international sign language, we communicate without assistance from translators. We do not avoid one another simply because we may be playing against each other the next day. No matter what sign language we use or what country we are from, the urge to socialize with one another will always be there because we are Deaf first and athletes second. (3).

After describing the importance of community and culture and their facilitation at Deaf Sports, it is time to come to more specific examples of how deaf culture plays sports and how sports are adapted to them. For instance in baseball, the umpire's hand signals are the invention of William Hoy, a deaf outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Senators. Because he could not hear the umpire calls, Hoy told them to raise their arm up to call a strike. He also taught the umpires to use hand signals for safe and out.

The hand calls caught on with the crowds at games and soon became a part of the game. In football, the huddle was invented by a deaf quarterback named Paul Hubbard, who played in a deaf league against deaf competitors. His team used sign language to call its plays, but the players on the other teams could understand the plays. To prevent this, Hubbard called his team into a huddle, and the rest is history. 6 The last fifty years have been witness to a variety of opportunities and modes for creative expression by and for the Deaf community. Plays written by and for Deaf personalities about their experiences continue to obtain acceptance by mainstream audiences.

The play and subsequent movie based on Mark Me doff's Children of a Lesser God is one example. It is known that Market Main is found to be the first deaf actress to win an Oscar Award for her performance in this movie in 1987 following in the footsteps of Phyllis French's Tony Award-winning performance of 1980. (5). Since the beginning of deaf sports, team sports have especially been central. Football represents one of the few branches that has been represented in the whole Deaflympics history, and in many countries the football has had a special position. This is primarily the case in countries where the football has a strong position generally, and where the deaf schools as examples of recruitment also have a strong position.

Additionally, team sports, such as football, has a strong social aspect connected with co-operative playing, and provides a format of organization that make the games interesting to watch for spectators. 7 The contributions of deaf individuals in the field of sports is not especially well-documented online at this time. With the exception of a site devoted to baseball player, there is little historical information about deaf athletes available. Hopefully this will change soon. By using a visual dictionary to see the playing field and equipment used in a given sport, as well as reading the rules of the game, visualize what situations, spatial relations, and vocabulary might come up, involving both specialized and non-specialized vocabulary. All the signs...


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