Читать книгу The Castberggaard Syndrome - Tomas Kold Erlandsen - Страница 5

AUDISM

Audism means discrimination of deaf people because of lack of hearing. The deaf American scholar Tom Humphries created the word in the year of 1975. He wrote an article with a new word, audism, and he established the definition of the word audism that derives from the Latin word ”audire”, which has the meaning of ”to hear”. It can be compared with racism, which is to treat humans differently based on their race (skin color), when white people oppress/overlook black people for the reason that they do not share the same skin color. Audism refers to the discrimination and disrespect of people who does not have a hearing person’s hearing. In Sweden in the end of the 70s and the beginning of the 80s, the word was established very quickly in connection to the deaf awareness movement (with the leadership of the deaf-movement activist Lars-Åke Wikström). Audism as a concept is very important to the deaf community, just as racism is to the black community.

According to Dirksen Baumann from Gallaudet University, there are three levels of audism:

1. Individual level

When discrimination occurs among ordinary people.

It could be when a person is preventing a deaf person’s right to take part of a conversation. To not let deaf people take part of signed language through an interpreter. There can also be situations where people do things that lead deaf people to be marginalized and made into ”the weak”. It also refers to the harassment of deaf people and to bully people for not being able to hear. It also includes slandering persons for their deafness.

2. Institutional level

This is when the system oppresses deaf people. It can be by preventing deaf people to get equal access to information in public spaces like buses, trains, stations, media and public assemblies. It can also be when society choose to deteriorate deaf people’s needs of equality (social economy), for example by forcing deaf children to leave deaf schools and integrate them in public schools for the hearing.

3. Ideological/metaphysical level

For many years, people has been taught that hearing ability is a powerful factor. ”The better you hear, the better you are”. This means that from birth, people are influenced to get the apprehension that deaf people are weak people, since deaf people do not hear. And that deafness should be cured.

The concept of Audism should be a sort of bucket and body of knowledge, which gather experiences from oppressed deaf people the same way as for example racism and sexism. When we for example mention ”racism”, it starts many thoughts we recognize from the history books; the slave trade, Ku Klux Klan and ethnic cleansing etc. Also when we mention the word ”sexism”, it makes us think of the oppression of women throughout the history, especially the pay differential between women and men, the perceptions of women and the illegal trafficking of women. We know that racism and sexism are seen as something awful. In the same way, you have to understand that when you encounter the word audism, it is about the oppression of deaf people – oppression because of one’s deafness and not as humans.

A person who commits audism is called an audist. The word ”audist” is a noun that describes the person.

This was a brief summary of what audism is. To understand it completely, I recommend you to read Deafhood/Audism (2011) by Patrick Nordell and Tomas Kold Erlandsen and The Mask of Benevolence: Disabling the Deaf Community (1992) by Harlan Lane.

When it comes to the concept of Castberggaard syndrome, it is important to keep in mind what committing audism means. Audism would be irrelevant if there were no consequences to it. But we all know there is, since we understand that all forms of oppression have unpleasant effects. And that leads us into my concept; the Castberggaard syndrome.

I will show you an extract of an article from the Danish edition of the deaf magazine Døvebladet written by the psychologist Palle Vestberg who has worked with the deaf for many years. I consider this article audistic.

Translation:During the last decades, new technology has been developed which can give deaf people apprehensions of sound. Some deaf children are now learning Danish with an accent from the area of Jylland! Some deaf children can not only send text messages but also speak with their families and friends- not only face to face but also on the mobile phone. It is amazing! Written Danish is difficult for...

If I rephrase the article so it will be about black people instead of deaf people, it would be like this; ”During the last decades, a new hair dye has been developed which can make black people ’whiter’. Some black children are now learning how to behave as typical white people! Some black people can not only do the samba but also dance folk dance together with their white friends. It is amazing!”

How would people react if a racist article were published in a Jewish magazine? Racist statements, many people would declare. But it probably never would be published in the magazine, since it would not benefit the Jewish community. It would rather affect their Jewish self-esteem if this at all had been published.

Back to the article in the deaf magazine, which was published without any big reaction on audism. This could be a sign of how it is acceptable to speak down to deaf people. This is an example of how deaf people are forced to accept that people speak of deaf people with no respect. The Døvebladet has not the intention of discriminate, but wants to be open for all views. But the question is if there should be limits of what to publish before it gets harmful when it is allowed to oppress deaf people. When there are no limits for audism, the Castberggaard syndrome is created. The Castberggaard syndrome means that deaf people have been brainwashed into believing that they are of less worth than hearing people.

That is the Castberggaard syndrome!