Deaf Culture in Norway

Deaf Culture in Norway
Date Deaf Culture in Norway
Abstract
The chosen research topic research focuses on the Deaf culture in Norway. Cultural ties to Norway partly influenced the research. The deaf community mainly learns the Norwegian Sign Language (NSL) but use other sign languages to communicate. A look into deaf history provides insight into changes that led to the adoption of the NSL, the Deaf history and culture. Despite Norway being one of the strongest promoters of inclusive education, Deaf people lag behind their counterparts in accessing education and job opportunities. There are different sign languages, and there is a comparison -contrast analysis of the Norwegian Sign Language and the American Sign Language. To understand the deaf culture, there were personal interviews with two Deaf individuals and my observations as a traveler during data collection. There is a need for greater awareness on sign language and Deaf people being exposed to different sign languages besides the Norwegian Sign Language. The government also needs to be proactive to make it easier for Deaf community members to access education and transition to the workplace.
Introduction
In choosing the topic of Deaf culture in Norway, there will be a better understanding of the culture and history of the deaf culture. There is also motivation to learn more about the deaf culture because of family ties and connections to Idse, Strand, Roland, Norway. While I do not maintain strong cultural ties with Norway, there are opportunities to be knowledgeable on Norway, the deaf culture, and my family connections. There will be a better understanding of the historical connection with the Norwegian culture and help strengthen the cultural ties. In teaching and learning about the Norwegian Sign Language (NSL) and culture among the deaf population, there is an emphasis on learning about Norway’s culture and other cultures. The research will provide insights on Norway, the deaf culture, education, and sign language.
Literature Review
The research focuses on Norwegian Deaf people and approximately 5,000 living in Norway while also facing challenges to access job opportunities, education, and living with the disability label. The government officially recognized the Norwegian Sign Language in 2009, and deaf people were mainly oralist until then. Sign language competence requires knowledge of one or more sign language, but since there are different rules and symbols, this may limit communication. Furthermore, the Deaf community faces challenges accessing deaf resources and using the NSL more often to communicate and socialize. Deaf education in Norway is still inadequate to meet the needs of the deaf community, despite the benefits of improved and inclusive education.
Research highlights that sign languages are based on similar principles as oral languages, as there is a lexicon, grammar, conventional symbols, and a system regulating the use of symbols. Language acquisition supports language development. However, sign language has a complex organization of formal structures and properties separate from the oral language, where movements and gestures are unique to the language.
Understanding barriers to Deaf education is necessary to determine how to improve sign language competence. Comparing Deaf people’s experiences learning different sign languages is also helpful to determine how they use sign language in daily life. While education is a public responsibility in Norway, Deaf people still face barriers to accessing appropriate and inclusive education. There are insufficient recourses targeting NSL acquisition, learning and training, affecting the language’s vitality (Haualand & Holmström, 2019). According to Olsena & Kermit (2015), deaf people often encounter numerous language and communication problems when talking with law enforcement officers, which worsen discrimination against them.
Deaf History
There are three main sign languages in Norway: French Sign Language, Danish Sign Language, and Norwegian Sign Language. Teaching and learning the Norwegian sign language to deaf people and their families was partly influenced by the Danish Sign Language through Møller and Swedish Sign Language (Schro¨der, 1993). Sign language in the Nordic has inspired common elements in the region, but the Norwegian sign language also has unique elements and is commonly used in Norwegian deaf schools. The American Sign Language (ASL) also influenced the NSL and Norwegian deaf people to utilize a mixed sign language that integrates elements of NSL and ASL.
English is also a commonly used language in Norway and Norwegians have English proficiency in reading, writing, and speaking the language. I have encountered and learned other languages integrating some elements of the American Sign Language. The active deaf community in Norway is approximately four thousand, and NSL facilitates communication and interaction. However, members of the deaf community use the American, Danish, Finnish, Madagascar and Sweden, Sami Sign Language.
Norway has an active deaf community since about four thousand deaf people regularly interact with one another. People use different languages- Madagascar, Danish, Finnish, Sweden, Sami, and American Sign Language. The Norwegian education curriculum and framework emphasizes education for all, and there is a right to education based on the first language. There are indigenous communities: Norwegians (Kvens), Sami, Finnish and other non-Norwegian speaking minorities, special needs students, and those in regular education (Arnesen et al., 2008).
Andreas Christian Møller was a Norwegian deaf teacher who established the first school for the deaf in 1825. Roald (2002) pointed out that the Norwegian Deaf education was mainly oralist from the late 19th century to 1970, and signing was the prohibition of using signing among deaf students. Furthermore, the US also followed a similar position, and Norway’s official recognition of the NSL was in 2009 (Roald, 2002). Subsequently, from 1976, a standard curriculum for deaf children was adopted in Norway and the curriculum went through changes to 1991, and from then on, students can choose a deaf curriculum (Roald, 2002). Protecting minority languages and cultures change education policies in Norway and the neighboring Scandinavian countries (Dammeyer & Ohna, 2021). Besides promoting using Norwegian Sign language as the first language for deaf pupils in Norway, there is English for deaf pupils and Drama and Rhythmic for deaf pupils (Dammeyer & Ohna, 2021).
(1825: First School for the deaf in Norway, Trondheim)(Norwegian sign language alphabet BW-WPCLIPART)
* In use since 1815, Norwegian Sign Language (NSL) was taught formally by the first deaf school in 1825. NSL is passed from generation to generation mainly through the schools.
* The school for the deaf in Trondheim was situated in this building 1855-1991. Right now,the site is the Norskdøvemuseum (Norwegian Museum of the Deaf).
The NorskDøvemuseum museum in Rødbygge, Norway, exhibits deaf culture, language, and history. The museum has various resources, information, and equipment for the deaf community to learn more about the history of the deaf culture in Norway. Some of the resources and programs include a deaf club, there are, concerts and events. There are also deaf interpretation services, which facilitate deaf communication.
To better understand the experiences of a deaf person, there was communication with Ragna Huse, who works at the theater and is deaf. Huse is also an actress with a vlog allowing her to reach a wider audience than many deaf people. To Huse, there is a need for deaf people to communicate and socialize with more people. Deaf people are limited when communicating with others who do not understand sign language, but increasing awareness will facilitate communication and interaction. There are almost 5,000 in Norway who lost their hearing ability later in life and now use sign language for communication. Still, there is a gap in public policy as there is a failure to recognize and address the issue of deafness as a disability, especially among those who were not born deaf. In the past, deafness was seen as a disability linked to pathology and deficit, seeking to normalize and compare deafness with the majority who have no hearing disabilities and can use oral communication.
Olsen and Kermit (2014) argued that deafness is not a disability, and there should be clear when viewing it as a disability. In Deaf studies, there is a distinction between the ‘deaf’ and ‘Deaf.’ “Many people customarily make a distinction between being ‘deaf’ and ‘Deaf,’ and this distinction does not correspond fully with, for example, the distinction often made between ‘medically’ and ‘socially’ constructed disabilities in disability studies” (Olsen and Kermit, 2014, p. 28). Generally, the lower case ‘deaf’ represents the audiological condition of inability to hear, while the uppercase ‘Deaf’ relates to a group of deaf people sharing deaf sign language and culture (Olsen and Kermit, 2014). Nonetheless, there is no consensus on using a firework that distinguishes between deafness and Deafness.
There is strong support for the deaf culture and sign language use in Norway, where there is acceptance and accommodation of the deaf community. Since deaf people are fully embraced, there are opportunities to chat and socialize, including attending events where they have fun. Furthermore, the deaf community has networking events that allow them to bond and strengthen ties with the local communities. In 1967, the Youth Committee in the Norwegian Deaf Federation organized the Culture Days was organized for the deaf community, and the nationwide culture even brought together Deaf people (Taylor, 2017). The Deaf individuals such as Rague Huse and Joel Barish, who I communicated with, were open to having more events for the Deaf community to bring people closer together and create awareness of the need to learn NSL.
Access
There is access to jobs, interpretation services, and video telephones for the deaf community. The people also access education, work, retirement, and rehabilitation targeted at the deaf and those with hearing difficulties. Ragna Huse works for Signo Company, and the foundation has 1,300 employees that provide services to the deaf and deafblind. The non-government and non-profit foundation is affiliated with the Church of Norway, and Signo runs different businesses that employ people with handicaps” (Stiftelsensigno). The Norwegian government offers support to the Deaf, but the people are not labeled as disabled, but rather deaf people. Government intervention has been crucial to accessing housing, education, work distance, sheltered work, leisure, and culture. The Deaf are provided access to everything like housing, culture, leisure, education, sheltered work, and work assistance. Increasing the number of qualified sign language interpreters would also facilitate the promotion of inclusive education. There have been Norwegian Sign language courses targeting parents since 1996 where they learn 40 weeks of sign language courses that are all expenses paid (Timmermans, 2005). The courses are offered when deafness is discovered until children are 16 years old (Timmermans, 2005). Besides the courses, the Norwegian Ministry of education started the sign Language Dictionary project in 1998.
The Norwegian government implicitly recognized the Norwegian sign language in 1985 and was explicitly recognized as a full language in 2009 (Haualand&Holmström, 2019). The NSL is the first language of the Deaf in Norway. There is official recognition of different linguistic minorities in Norway, and bilingualism is widely accepted, and there have been changes allowing deaf children to access bilingual education. Language legislation was crucial to the recognition of the Norwegian Sign Language as more efforts and resources were targeting the teaching and learning of NSL. There were schools such as the Al Fork High School, Course Centre for the Deaf and Throndhjem’s School for the Deaf and Dumb. However, earlier in 1825, Andreas Christian Moller had opened the first deaf school. There were numerous challenges before the official recognition and support of deaf schools. For instance, the Throndjemss School for the Deaf and Dumb was closed and became the Norwegian Museum of History and Culture.There are other schools, such as the Skaddalen School for Deaf Children, set up in 1975.There have been changes to improve access to information for the Deaf, but still, there is limited research and information. Inadequate training and knowledge of sign language and the lack of available materials hamper teaching Deaf students (Roald, 2002). Even the Norwegian Deaf Education was not enough information has not provided in-depth information and analysis on deaf education in Norway. Furthermore, there have been few changes in education and curricula for Deaf students and few government reports on improving access to education (Kermit 2018). Despite recognizing that there is a need for better guidelines to teach deaf children, there is a challenge to get highly qualified language teachers and interpreters. Some information in speech cannot be fully expressed in visual-gestural, communication such as i...