Comments on: Deaf

By: Gou TAkasa

Gou TAkasa — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 09:41:52 +0000

Nice to meet you, love middle-aged Japanese font designer.
Thank you very much and I always see the very nice blog.
Because the trembling in Internet Explorer to read and write, so don't understand English.
It happily and the studying and 100 percent.
Yet little-known (Stardust.design character) in your blog.

Your own design character put diamond (attach a picture to see)
Read letter design related, is getting the best search Yahoo and move Gooｇｌｅ commercial non-in Japan.
See will blog in Japanese very difficult to read the
Thanks

By: Gou TAkasa

Gou TAkasa — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 08:41:52 +0000

By: Gou TAkasa

Gou TAkasa — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 02:41:52 +0000

By: caughtredhanded

caughtredhanded — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:49:47 +0000

Reesan,

Yo, cheers for your response. I'm loving how everybody seems to have so much to say about this post, it's wicked!

Anywho, I liked your story about the Japanese woman going to Oz to get a cochlea implant for her daughter, and I know what you say about the Japanese government letting her down, however it's not as cut and dry as that, unfortunately.

Cochlea implants have caused a mass of controversy in 'Deafworld' over the decades, and continue to do so. I refer you back to my statement about the difference between deaf people and 'Deaf' people; those that are classified as being deaf welcome them, however those that are classified as being 'Deaf' do not.

The reason for this is that those that struggle with deafness and feel that it is a disabling part of their lives welcome the idea of a cochlea implant, as it has the potential to give back their hearing, perhaps not fully, but at least to a level which would allow them to hear things at short distances. Great.

Thos that are 'Deaf' however, on the whole do not welcome them as they see them as a plague on their community, that they will eradicate deafness, which will in turn wipe out a culture, a society and a language in one foul swoop. You see, not everybody minds being deaf, and some even welcome it, asking doctors prior to their children being born whether their child will be born deaf or not. To them, cochlea implants are the equivalent to Japan opening its doors to the world immigrants: what they have is not something that they are willing to dilute, or give away.

In this instance though, the parents are hearing, therefore it makes sense that the mother would want to replace her daughter's hearing as best as she can, however in cases where the family has been deaf for generations and they have a hearing child, the parents sometimes wish that they could replace their child's deafness.

In terms of technology, yes, you would have thought that Japan would have got its act together, though there doesn't seem to be anything forthcoming at the moment. I will watch with trepidation...

By: reesan

reesan — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:57:45 +0000

g'day ryan. great read.my paternal grandparents were born deaf so i found this post particularly interesting.

on a side note, a few weeks ago i was at a barbie (as you do in australia - and not the doll from mattel) and happened across this lovely japanese lady. she was married with three kids, but only her and her two year old daughter were in australia, and had been for the previous 3 months.

upon further enquiry it turns out that her young daughter was born deaf (or maybe with a chronic impairment, i'm not too sure). after going through the japanese medical system the mother (and her husband) were told that the daughter had no chance of a 'fruitful' life (term used loosely) and to forget any chance of her daughter ever being able to hear.

anyways, i ramble, the short of the story is that this lady left her family in japan and relocated to australia for an extended term on hearing (no pun intended) of australia's advancements in cochlear. and i am happy to report that the first attempt on one ear was a success and, at this particular barbecue, i was able to (verbally) communicate with this toddler who, weeks before, had never heard a word.

the big question that was raised in my mind was, if japan is such a perceived technological leader, why did such a lovely lady have to leave her family (two other sons and a husband) and friends and temporarily establish herself for an extended period in a strange land in order to get the necessary treatment for her daughter?

i mean, making sony tv's, playstations and really comfortable toilet seats is nice (and profitable) and all... but what about trading off some of that profitability for a bit of humanity?

By: caughtredhanded

caughtredhanded — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:15:03 +0000

Salut! Thanks for your comments, and I'm glad you found it interesting - something a bit different, I thought, so glad it went down well. My studies at university were linked to deafness, and yes, its place in popular culture does interest me very much. 愛していると要ってくれ was a brilliant work, and one that I have watched a number of times, and enjoyed immensely. I think Tokiwa Takako as Hiroko does a fantastic job, if I'm honest. The other one, Orange Days, is not something that I have seen, or heard of either, so I will most definitely see if I can't get a copy of that and have a really good watch of it. As such, I can't comment as to wether the signs being used were correct or not, though I guess they probably were.

Though you've picked up most of your knowledge re sign languages from the TV, it seems like you've managed to ascertain a great deal about them, and it looks like you've been suitably interested in them also, which is great! I know after 愛していると要ってくれ went out there was quite a surge in people learning JSL, but it seems like that phase has warn off and people are less interested than they used to be.

And no problem with your English at all, though I realise now that I should probably have written this response in French. Pardon!

By: caughtredhanded

caughtredhanded — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:14:40 +0000

Thanks for your kind comments, very much appreciated. Next post due out this weekend (14th/15th) so watch this space. Glad you're enjoying RedBox too. I might have guessed re F1 cars; you see, sign language has so many positive uses!

By: caughtredhanded

caughtredhanded — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:14:14 +0000

You'd definitely not have a prayer, I fear!

By: Bérangère

Bérangère — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:34:44 +0000

That was a really interesting article, thanks for sharing such detailed informations with us.
Since your studies are related to deafness, are you interested in its representation in popular culture ?
I'm thinking about two dramas about deaf people.
The first one is Aishiteru to itte kure ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aishiteiru_to_itte... ). It's quite old, since produced in the ninety's, but it was still in the “top ten of the best dramas” that I saw on TV last week.　The average viewership rating was above 21% (if you're not familiar with “dramas world”, this is really good. There are few dramas a year that manage to reach that peak) and the theme song is still in the “top ten of best songs of all the time”, if not in the top 3.
The second one is Orange Days ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Days ). This one I saw and I can tell you more about, if you're interested. It received almost all the television academy awards of that year. It made me interested in Japanese Sign Language, because I had never thought, before, that there may be a sign language per country. It seemed easier than the French one, more like signed language (reading your article it seems it is the same in England : there is the “official” Sign Language, and something more easy to learn, with nothing that can be considered as a grammar, and that is called signed language) (I don't know much about those things, I just watch a TV programme on French TV once a week, and of course I see the woman that translates the news or the debates at the parliament on the screen when I watch those programmes). Well, at that time, there were small filmed lessons of Sign Language on the channel website and it kept me interested quite a time, before I got submerged again by my own researches.
The actress who played the role of Sae is not deaf at all, so I wondered if her signs were really accurate, but it sort of… made sense. Even if I do not *speak* sign language.
Well, if you have the occasion, it may interest you to rent the DVDs.

Please, forgive my hesitant English, it's been a while I haven't used this language, and communicating with Japanese people sort of… worsen your English. At an alarming rate.

By: Kaname

Kaname — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:53:35 +0000

Thanks for the great post. I have a similar experience to the Scuba story above. As you guess, my situation was not under the sea, but in front of F1 cars!
I also downloaded your podcast #2. I'm looking forward to your next post!