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In Unlocking the Curriculum, Johnson, Lidell and Erting bring attention to the problems

with the current system in educating deaf students. One of the main failings of the education

system, according to them, is the linguistic access to curricular material (Johnson, Lidell and

Erting, 1989). They believe that unlike most hearing children, deaf children do not have access

to language acquisition until a much older age. Hearing children acquire language from infancy

on, through interaction with family and others. Many deaf children do not have that early access

to language acquisition, so they miss a very critical time to acquire a first language. Children

who are English as a second language learners have the advantaged of learning the structure of

their first language. Even though they may struggle with acquiring English in school, they still

have a foundation for language and how it works. They can talk to peers and family without

being socially isolated. For deaf children without an early support system, they may not be

acquiring any language until a much older age. They have to start from scratch adopting the

foundations of language without any auditory foundations. If they have not received any

language training, they will be learning a language and being taught their entire curriculum in a

language that they are just learning. This form of education is akin to a Spanish only speaker

being taught how to do math only in English. If a student cannot understand what is being said

to them, how are they expected to learn anything of the subject being taught. If a Spanish only

speaker was placed in a school without any support or peers and then taught fully in English,

they would not be expected to make any progress whatsoever. Luckily, most ESL students have

some sort of support structure, either through the school, peers or family and friends outside of

the school. Deaf students may have a harder time finding a good support system. Not only so

they start to acquire language at an older age but they also are often taught in schools using a

broken English/sign hybrid. This hybrid has been found to not be a true language and thus does
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not give the student access to a true language structure. Instead that child is supposed to learn

English through a mix of broken signs that try to translate English word for word to signs and

then use that broken English to learn other subjects. This form of teaching can leave a child

without a true way to communicate with others. This can cause isolation from peers and the

appearance of low intellect. They conclude that the only fair way to teach a deaf child is by

giving that child the knowledge of sign language and the peers and teachers to communicate

through sign language with. After the initial acquisition of sign language, the student then has

the foundation of language to learn a second language, be that English or whatever language is

dominant in their country.

One of the most important things for a deaf child to have is a support system of other deaf

people. Without the ability to communicate intelligently with others, a deaf child could feel very

isolated. With a strong support system of deaf people, a child can feel a part of the group. They

will not be isolated or feel like they do not belong because they will have peers like them who

understand what they are experiencing. Culturally, having regular group activities with a deaf

community is very important for all deaf people. Imagine if you were born to English speaking

parents but the only language you could understand was Spanish. If you were isolated from

other Spanish speakers, you might feel out of place. But if you had a strong Spanish speaking

community around you to help you and your family learn to communicate you would be much

better off. I think culturally any activity with other deaf people doing regular everyday activities

is the most important thing that you can do. It is important to see that you can have a normal life

just like everyone else and that you can have fun with friends who understand you just like

everyone else. It should not be a special activity out of the ordinary for you to have friendship or

the ability to communicate with others. It is important for friendships and communications to be
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a regular part of your life. In that regard, the activity is less important than being a part of the

community.