Chapters 3, 4, and 5: Curing Ignorance, Good Intentions, and Great Britain

I can't help but wonder at times if the authors are exaggerating some things.  Apparently it is a common misconception to think that Braille and ASL are one in the same.  I don't understand how enough people would be ridiculous enough to lob together two such vastly different sensory disabilities into one category and believe that a system that is completely visual doubles as a reading tool for those with no visual capabilities.  The authors also say that the blind community has our attention more than the deaf community as the blind are more noticeable than the deaf in the opinion of the authors.  Perhaps this is true for the majority, I do not know, but for me this is not true.  Blind people speak the same language as the run-of-the-mill community and not all service dogs are for blind people.  I am much more likely to notice deaf people using sign language than a blind person being led through a crowd by a friend.  I did find it interesting that blind and deaf people can communicate with each other through Morse Code, though.  

The authors seem rather touchy on the misconception of the origin of FSL.  They seem to regard the Abbe de l'Epee as a well-meaning little man who completely missed the point of the French deaf community's language.  They are thankful that he recognized that signing was the best way for the deaf to communicate, but seem rather irked by his meddlesome grammar additions.  

I find it interesting that New Zealand and Australia use BSL when  they are quite some distance away from the British Isles and, based on its description, BSL seems cumbersome when compared to ASL, FSL, and Spanish finger spelling.  I wonder why BSL had such opposition in the 1900s.  They mention repeatedly the evils of the Oralism method and how physical punishments were often used with such methods.  I have mixed feelings about Oralism.  I understand their opposition to a method that represses a preferred method, as Oralism repressed signing, but what if signing was never repressed and the two systems were simply two peacefully co-existing options?  I have met three deaf individuals who read lips and speak English when with people who cannot communicate with ASL and who use ASL when with people who understand it, and they seem to be relatively happy with their lot in life.  If deaf individuals are already bilingual in that they sign with ASL and read and write with English, it seems like knowing both ASL and Oralism would be quite useful and practical in life, just as my class learning ASL will be useful and practical in life.  Everyone likes to be reached out to, especially when it is apparent that the reaching out took effort.  When I have come across deaf individuals who could speak English, I was impressed and thought things along the lines of "wow, that's dedication" just as the deaf communities of both the U.S. and England cherished Princess Diana for going out of her way to learn to communicate in BSL.