WITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29e 1989, PAGE 15 Deaf earshear tond -message By Trudy Zavadovie Last Wednesday Gary Mal- kowski spoke to a captivated audience for two hours without uttering one word. His message fell on deaf, ears. He and the mnajority 'of the auâience that packed the room on King St. E., are deaf. Malkiowski spoke in ASL (Arnerican sign languagean ancient language traced back to j Spain in the 16th century.- Malkowski, a graduate of Gaulledette University with r 7' masters in social psychology. if committed to gettinq ASL impie. mented as an offliciai language for the deaf and using it to cominunicate with the deaf in both non-hearing and hearing sEchos are focused on teaching the child to- speak. What about cognitive skilis? «They flx learning gadgetry, not knowing what t he child is actualiy hearing",he said. According to Statistics Canada, there are 250,000 deaf people in Canada. Malkowski «ý says 35,000 use sign language and 70 per cent can't use a phone. In defining deafness, Mal- kowski explains that two factors are considered. Degree of h8aring loss and age of onset. There are several degrees of hearing loss. The three most common are normal, a 10- to 25-decibel loss; severe, a'70-to 90-decibel loss; and profound, over 90. Age of onset also has several categories. Three of the major categories are congenital deaf,j or born deaf; culturally deaf iden- tify themnselves as deaf and sign on a daily basis; and deaf people are those who cannot hear and understand speech through the ear alone. Malkowski points out the niany differences between the deaf and the hearing com- munities. First, hie defines cultures as rules, values, traditions and ways of identifyingmembers. Hie defines communities as groups0 ol sharing common 1 ci goals an fworking together te achieve them. «You can have culture in a community but not community inside a culture, be said. Malkowski used himself as an example to identifS' differences. «Wýhere a hearing person cspeaking te you is concerned with technical things such as a rmicrophone, I amn concerned with , r lighting. Values are different. ai Priorities are different." Malkowski explains that normis are very diffrent, too. 4 r"A deaf person os unaffected bynails running down a chalk- h board. Slurping on a straw is > perfectly natural and bodily noises are not offensive. Not so in the, bearing community. Social behaviors are different. lE «Eye contact is important in the hearing community for r romantic interaction. To the deaf, it is always importanLt te e maintain eyecontact. Disjointed eye contact is the first rule most ,ý À broken between deaf and hearing and frùstrated. He knows that at this 'point bis hearing can only remain the same at best,, or deteriorate. Bob Morgan of Oshawa dove in a pool two years ago andl came out with a severe bearing defect. But no doctor bas been able to diagnose it. 9I' been very exasperating since rve had this problem ,» he said. "Very little is known about the ear te corect it.» Jill Johnson is xnarried and lives in Ajax with ber busband and two chiidren. She was born deat. She is one of a minor¶ty of people who are born deaf and can speak. She made it tbrough tbe EngI- ish school.system as far as ber first year in university by read- ing lips. Althe students had te stanid up and face me te talk. The teachers had te face the- class and talk before they wrote things chars heOntario Assciaionof Deaf Task Force, was ý7est seakeratnast weeW's ]Meetinlg of the OhW Dpeafke t 1e. .dy ZavadOi Free Pre phot" H.H. GOODE & SON (1987) LTD. FARM SUPPLIES We carry a wîde varnet y of farm products for your needs * Dai ry Feed,,* Horse Feed S w' nM Feed Sheep & Coat Feed 1, Pet Feed Vitamin & Minerai Suppléments & Fertillzer Brand Name Products.from: - Shur Gain. - *Master Feeds - Puriîa- (3alagher Eletric Fence.- DE~Ii'.fE~ry A~iI~bE GIVE US A ýCALL OR DROP IN Brock Street, Uxbridgel 852-3355' mon. - Fri. 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Sat. 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. on the blackboard. "Because rny father was in the ary, I went to s even schools. I ha opass entry exarns in ail of them to prove I, could do the work. I wouldn'tdo that again. I would go to a sehool. for the deaf" she said. Lhnson functions beautifully with ber hearing ear dog, a German shepherd named Toby. Although learning sign language has not 'been her own personal choice, she is very sup-' portive of the work Malkowski is M1alkowski is organizing a hug rally* at Queens Park on May 12, froi l a.m. to 3p lm. His palis that alideafple be heard..And that the govern- ment recognizes -and legisiates "PA .Te rTT --No TO iv- -OUR ýN :LA DAY err