Cover next page > title: Seeing Language in Sign : The Work of William C. Stokoe author

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Page and friendly man he had scores of deaf friends and had observed them in many and various situations. Furthermore, the fact that the National Association of the Deaf had chosen to honor him is testimony to the respect and gratitude deaf people felt for him.
However, as a hearing man he had never actually gotten inside deaf culture. An explanation for this can be found in an essay by
Barbara Kannapell entitled "Inside the Deaf Community" Kannapell explains the relationships that form among deaf peoplerelationships that almost inevitably exclude hearing peopleas follows:
Deaf people experience a strong bond of communication because they have common topics to share which are based on common experiences, such as the history of deaf people, school experiences, family experiences, sports, movies, stories,
and jokes. They develop strong relationships based on these common experiences with other deaf people. Many deaf people develop strong relationships during school years and maintain these relationships throughout their lives. This feeling maybe carried over from residential schools, where they developed a strong bond of communication for the purpose of survival.
If a deaf person behaves like a hearing person, other deaf people will sign "hearing" on the forehead to show that "he thinks like a hearing person" Thus, he is on the fringe of the Deaf community, depending on his attitudes. Conversely, if a hearing person behaves like a deaf person, other deaf people may sign "strong deaf" or 'fluent ASL" which means that the person is culturally deaf. Thus, he or she is admitted to the core of the Deaf community. In 1990 Stokoe said he still felt there was a language barrier between him and deaf people. "I don't really have the kind of proficiency in American Sign Language that would make me feel comfortable as part of a group" he explained. "On rare occasions when I'm with a group of deaf people I know, I can enter into it and shed some of my English-speaking traits and sign a little bit more ASL-like, but I'll never penetrate to the real center."33
The fact that Bill Stokoethe man who proved deaf people

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