Deaf Culture
Children born deaf may be raised to communicate in the language spoken by their parents or caretakers, but spreading over those nationalistic borders is a sub-culture which, pardon the pun, speaks to deaf people no matter what language they are taught from. One of the themes which the author aggressively ensures is understood by readers is those living broad spectrum of the hearing-impaired all form part of a deaf culture which has it own lexicon. The very title of the book is ASL jargon which roughly translates into something along the lines of “I’m being serious here.”
Learning is Cool
One of the coolest aspects of this book exists both outside and within the frame of the narrative trope or being a story about school. That story is often interrupted—sometimes for several pages—with a visual glossary of American Sign Language translation. In other words, simple line drawings illustrate how to duplicate a particular “sign” with a definition of the meaning of that sign accompanying it. So the act of reading about those whose lives take place within the deaf culture also becomes a very simple but useful class in how to sign. But that is not the only element of the book which makes learning fun. At various other points, one is introduced to background material on information important to the narrative. These range from tips on illustrating the vital significance of body language in communicating with sign language to the “mythology” associated with the history of deafness to the Wikipedia entries on the life or Robespierre and on the history of American anarchy. The collective effect of this approach are many as they instill in hearing readers the seemingly obvious reality that deafness has no connection to intellectual ability while also subtly coercing readers with no hearing difficulties to learn the rudimentary grammar of a brand new language.
Modern Prejudices
Perhaps no single non-hearing-impaired American is more closely associated with deaf communication than Alexander Graham Bell. And yet, even this remarkably inventive man viewed deaf people as being defective. While, mercifully, the world seems to have permanently moved forever away from the routine use of the phrase “deaf and dumb” it remains nevertheless true that likely a majority of the hearing world still holds onto at least some prejudicial view regarding the intellectual capacity of those inhabiting deaf culture. The book explores this theme within the spectrum of deaf communication, particularly through the focus on one character who received advanced technological implants at an early age and thus never learned how to sign. The idea that the ability to communicate is integrally related to the prejudicial views about the intellectual and social capacity of others becomes a particularly powerful theme of the story.
