University Advancement

Public Relations and Strategic Communications

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Author to Explore What it Means to Be Human and Without a Language

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Sept. 27, 2007) — Author and human rights activist Susan Schaller recounted the story of Ling Tang, a Chinese deaf woman who was not exposed to language until she was in her 30s.

"She was treated like a doll, an imbecile, by her family. I believe if her family had a dog, they would have taken it out for a walk. But she was never taken out for a walk, just put on a couch and left there. She wasn’t raised in a closet but her life was just a step above," Schaller said, her voice shaking with anger.

"When the young woman, Ling Tang, was finally exposed to language in her 30s, it took her years to learn what was going on. When she met other deaf people and learned American Sign Language, she gradually realized what her parents had done. She was furious and refused to see her parents," Schaller said.

Tang had not only learned a language, but learned that deafness was something to be proud of, not ashamed of as her parents had been, Schaller said.

Schaller, author of "A Man Without Words" and the soon-to-be-published "Lives Without Words, People Without Language," which includes Tang’s story, will talk about learning what it means to be human from languageless people during a special presentation at Cal State Northridge on Tuesday, Oct. 23, from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Presentation Room of the Oviatt Library, located in the center of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.

Schaller is a national speaker and advocate of equal access to language for deaf people, and has worked hard to help hearing people understand and explore a rich culture based on vision.

"Schaller’s observations of people living outside of a shared language have inspired her and help answer ‘what does it mean to be human?’ " said CSUN Provost Harry Hellenbrand, whose office is sponsoring Schaller’s appearance. "Her work is relevant to many disciplines—from education, psychology and anthropology to medicine, policy and minority language rights."

Schaller said her goal is to raise awareness of human rights violations committed every time a deaf child is not exposed to language by hearing parents advised by doctors, therapists and educators to not sign or use any visual language.

"It is ludicrous now that hearing babies sign because their parents know that signing stimulates the brain and teaches the children to express themselves before they can speak, but deaf babies are kept from signing," Schaller said. "You can teach sign language to a hearing child, and not to a deaf one? It’s just ridiculous."

Schaller pointed out that even if a deaf child eventually gains some understanding from sound via a cochlear implant when he or she gets older, he or she will still need language before and during the medical and training process.

"Every baby needs exposure to language when he or she is young. What is wrong with raising a bilingual child?" she asked. "Elsewhere in the world, people learn two, three, four languages."

Schaller said Scandinavian countries have a different approach toward children. "When a baby is born, they ask what does the baby need? And they have a list that includes food, warmth, hugs, and language," she said.

"If the baby is born deaf, they still ask what does a baby need?" she said. "They don’t react and say <Oh, my God! It’s deaf, we need to fix this.’ They still say that the child should be treasured and exposed to language. They require that the parents learn sign language so that the child can continue to develop normally and learn language acquisition at the appropriate stages of its development."

Schaller said one national association for the deaf and hard of hearing advises hearing parents and doctors and teachers to cover their mouths when they talk to their deaf child so that the child won’t learn to read lips in hopes that the child will learn to "hear." "We’re excommunicating these children from the entire human community," she said.

The seed for Schaller’s activism on behalf of deaf people was planted decades ago, when at 17 she stumbled upon a Cal State Northridge drama class, Visual Poetry, taught by actor Louie Fant, who could hear but was raised by deaf parents.

"CSUN had opened its doors to deaf people and deaf people had started flocking to the campus," she said. "Lou Fant would sign his lectures and the interpreter voiced for the hearing students. About 50 percent of his class was deaf and 50 percent was hearing. These were the very first deaf people I had ever seen and I fell in love with the language."

Schaller said she had been a shy child, but her entrée into the deaf world taught her how to communicate confidently with everyone.

As she started to hear stories from deaf people about how they were raised—excluded from language until they were in high school or college or even as mature adults by their families, doctors and teachers on the slim chance they may "learn to hear"—Schaller became outraged. She said she saw that she could be a bridge between the deaf and hearing communities and had a job to educate hearing people.

Schaller recalled a conversation she had with the hearing brother of a deaf man who had not acquired a language until he was an adult, despite having gone to school.

"I asked this man, who was a professor at an Illinois university, why his brother had grown up languageless. His answer said everything. He said his brother had been misdiagnosed as ‘potentially hearing,’ " she said.