Irene Taylor Brodsky kicked off this year’s Deaf Awareness Week on Monday night by discussing the differences between deaf culture in the Himalayas and the United States. Brodsky, a noted author and film producer in the field of hearing loss, has studied deaf culture in Nepal for many years.
“I have a sort of esoteric knowledge about this one little thing in one part of the world,” she said.
Nepal is a small but extremely diverse country, with 36 distinct spoken languages and three practiced religions: Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam.
“Religious culture is a very dominant aspect to understanding how deaf people function in Nepalese culture,” Brodsky said. “Religiously speaking, deaf ears need to be fixed, but culturally, deafness is the foundation of American Sign Language and the entire deaf movement.”
According to Hindu and Buddhist beliefs, deafness is the result of a person’s karma. A person leads many lives, due to reincarnation, and karma is the manifestation of where an individual is in this cycle. Some Hindus think that deafness stems from a past life as a gossiper or liar. Buddhists believe that deaf people cannot communicate, and therefore fall somewhere in between animal and human species.
In the Himalayas, religious cultural understanding triumphs over rational thought, according to Brodsky. Many families travel to witch doctors and far away temples to have relatives cured of their afflictions.
Deafness is most often a consequence of a small gene pool, impoverished living conditions, or bad health care. Untreated middle ear infections or upper respiratory infections can also cause deafness.
“The children who are deaf look especially unkempt,” Brodsky said. “They are not clothed enough, and not fed enough. In their economy, it is hard to feed able sons and daughters […] it also seems deaf children work a lot harder and act as, sort of, beasts of burden.”
While some deaf children experience hardship, other families treat deaf children better than the average child. Some parents think that those born without hearing have been put on earth to test compassion and patience.
Brodsky shared a video she made for UNICEF about deafness in Nepal. She also presented one part of her series on the deaf community in Rochester, NY that was shown on CBS “Sunday Morning.”
Rochester has the largest per capita deaf community in the United States. It is home to several deaf schools including the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. In comparison, there are only four deaf schools in the entire country of Nepal.
“Understanding what deafness is and bringing deaf people together is the foundation of deaf culture,” Brodsky said.
She said she feels that uniting deaf students in the Himalayas is a big step forward.
Brodsky was raised by two deaf parents and traveled to Katmandu after graduating from college. She lived with a Nepalese family and learned Nepali right away. She picked up sign language while working with the people there.
Part of her travels was spent accompanying doctors. As a result, she now sees medicine as becoming the new religion.
“It’s becoming the new explanation for why and how the world turns the way it does,” Brodsky said. “Deafness is not something to be singled out…it must be explained within the context of all medical issues.”
Since returning to the United States, she has written “Buddhas in Disguise,” a book about her adventures, and produced Emmy award winning documentaries that aired on HBO, CBS and Fox.
“The lecture exposed me to something I knew nothing about,” said Celia Reddick ’06. “It was eye opening.”
“It was absolutely fascinating because it’s very rare that a speaker can share such specific and fascinating knowledge with a group,” said Hayley Stokar ’06. “She synthesized religious, educational and cultural issues. Her speech ran the whole gamut encompassing both Nepalese and deaf cultures.”
“This is the first time in recent history that Sign House brought in this type of speaker,” said Amelia Geggel ’06, the organizer of the lecture. “I read her book and tracked her down. I hope people realize that deaf people have a distinct language and culture, not a disability. It’s something to be celebrated.”
Deaf Awareness Week runs through Friday, Nov. 12 and is sponsored by Sign House. This program occurs during the fall of each year to introduce students to an important subculture of the United States. Featured programs include Tuesday’s screening of “Children of a Lesser God,” a finger food dinner, a Sex Signs Workshop and community service at a local preschool.