1 00:00:09,562 --> 00:00:10,162 Speaker 1: Originals. 2 00:00:10,322 --> 00:00:12,482 Speaker 2: This is an iHeart original. 3 00:00:15,482 --> 00:00:19,442 Speaker 3: It used to go to the store at noon time. 4 00:00:20,602 --> 00:00:27,242 Speaker 3: They'd be sitting there playing checkers. You wouldn't hear a 5 00:00:27,442 --> 00:00:31,402 Speaker 3: sound there. Everybody was talking with the hands. 6 00:00:32,042 --> 00:00:35,162 Speaker 2: It didn't stop at checkers. This was a place where 7 00:00:35,202 --> 00:00:38,882 Speaker 2: you could work, gossip with your neighbors, shop for supplies, 8 00:00:39,122 --> 00:00:42,682 Speaker 2: or play a cutthroat game of cards, all without saying 9 00:00:42,842 --> 00:00:43,322 Speaker 2: a word. 10 00:00:43,962 --> 00:00:46,802 Speaker 3: When a boat was coming in, it'd go out on 11 00:00:46,842 --> 00:00:51,482 Speaker 3: the dock and everybody knew just how much fish they'd caught, 12 00:00:51,722 --> 00:00:55,922 Speaker 3: what they caught, and everything. And you wonder why I 13 00:00:56,322 --> 00:00:59,002 Speaker 3: add all information before they get a show. 14 00:01:00,522 --> 00:01:03,922 Speaker 2: This place was called chill Mark. It's a village on 15 00:01:04,162 --> 00:01:08,402 Speaker 2: Martha's Vineyard, tucked away between Rolling Hills and the slate 16 00:01:08,602 --> 00:01:12,642 Speaker 2: Blue Atlantic Ocean. Chill Mark is still around today. It's 17 00:01:12,682 --> 00:01:16,362 Speaker 2: one of the island's six small towns. It's always been 18 00:01:16,402 --> 00:01:20,402 Speaker 2: a small town. The difference is years ago, many of 19 00:01:20,522 --> 00:01:26,042 Speaker 2: Chilmark's residents were deaf. These were farmers, fishermen, husbands, wives, 20 00:01:26,402 --> 00:01:27,602 Speaker 2: normal everyday folks. 21 00:01:28,002 --> 00:01:31,122 Speaker 4: They weren't your deaf neighbors or your deaf friends. They 22 00:01:31,122 --> 00:01:33,682 Speaker 4: were just your friends who happened to be deaf, like 23 00:01:34,282 --> 00:01:37,002 Speaker 4: your other friend crossed the way happened to be tall 24 00:01:37,202 --> 00:01:38,642 Speaker 4: or to be blue eyed. 25 00:01:39,282 --> 00:01:44,922 Speaker 2: So a sign language developed, Martha's Vineyard Sign Language. Everybody 26 00:01:45,002 --> 00:01:47,562 Speaker 2: used it, deaf people and hearing people. 27 00:01:48,402 --> 00:01:51,522 Speaker 5: We didn't think anything of it. We just all it 28 00:01:51,682 --> 00:01:52,682 Speaker 5: was just accepted. 29 00:01:53,802 --> 00:01:57,402 Speaker 2: But by the nineteen fifties this way of communicating in 30 00:01:57,522 --> 00:02:02,402 Speaker 2: chill Mark was gone. Few remembered sign language was once 31 00:02:02,482 --> 00:02:07,402 Speaker 2: the village lingua franca. It seemed to have disappeared without trace, 32 00:02:08,242 --> 00:02:11,642 Speaker 2: until one day, with the assist of a very helpful 33 00:02:11,722 --> 00:02:14,562 Speaker 2: great grandmother, it was rediscovered. 34 00:02:15,442 --> 00:02:21,762 Speaker 1: What size do I remember, remember small girl, Lie, Truth, 35 00:02:22,762 --> 00:02:25,442 Speaker 1: shoe Dog? I remember quite a lot. 36 00:02:27,562 --> 00:02:32,322 Speaker 2: Welcome to very special episodes and iHeart original podcast. I'm 37 00:02:32,362 --> 00:02:36,642 Speaker 2: your host, Danash Schwartz, and this is I remember all 38 00:02:36,682 --> 00:02:45,522 Speaker 2: the signs. The evolution of language is something that has 39 00:02:45,562 --> 00:02:48,682 Speaker 2: been fascinating to me for a long time, and so 40 00:02:48,882 --> 00:02:51,282 Speaker 2: this deep dive in this episode it just like it 41 00:02:51,362 --> 00:02:54,242 Speaker 2: hit all my buttons. I love this type of story 42 00:02:54,362 --> 00:02:54,842 Speaker 2: so much. 43 00:02:55,162 --> 00:02:59,082 Speaker 6: I love stories that involve people connecting with their grandparents 44 00:02:59,282 --> 00:03:03,002 Speaker 6: and then that somehow moves are understanding of the world around. 45 00:03:03,042 --> 00:03:05,322 Speaker 6: Go talk to your grandparents. You may end up in 46 00:03:05,322 --> 00:03:06,602 Speaker 6: a future episode. 47 00:03:07,042 --> 00:03:10,082 Speaker 7: Lately call them talk to them. Oh my god, yes. Also, 48 00:03:10,082 --> 00:03:13,122 Speaker 7: what about the secret language aspect, Oh, having a secret 49 00:03:13,202 --> 00:03:14,282 Speaker 7: language with a grandparent. 50 00:03:14,362 --> 00:03:18,282 Speaker 2: Come on, now, a secret language with your grandparents. It's giving, wholesome, 51 00:03:18,402 --> 00:03:22,402 Speaker 2: it's giving sweet, it's giving Grandparents' day. Yeah, it's perfect. 52 00:03:23,122 --> 00:03:26,042 Speaker 8: So when I was seven years old in second grade, 53 00:03:27,082 --> 00:03:29,482 Speaker 8: I was reading a book inside my desk. 54 00:03:30,002 --> 00:03:33,602 Speaker 2: This is Joan Pool Nash. She grew up around chill 55 00:03:33,682 --> 00:03:35,362 Speaker 2: Mark in the nineteen sixties. 56 00:03:35,842 --> 00:03:37,922 Speaker 8: It was about Helen Keller and when I got to 57 00:03:37,922 --> 00:03:40,842 Speaker 8: the end of the book, they gave the fingerspelling alphabet. 58 00:03:41,082 --> 00:03:44,962 Speaker 8: So I spent the afternoon teaching myself to fingerspell. God 59 00:03:45,002 --> 00:03:47,322 Speaker 8: knows what was going on in second grade, but nothing exciting. 60 00:03:47,762 --> 00:03:50,162 Speaker 2: Joan didn't know what she was doing was a form 61 00:03:50,202 --> 00:03:53,642 Speaker 2: of sign language. She was just passing the time, and 62 00:03:53,682 --> 00:03:56,242 Speaker 2: she was excited to show off her new scale. 63 00:03:56,322 --> 00:03:59,482 Speaker 8: After school, I walked by my great grandmother's house and 64 00:03:59,722 --> 00:04:02,082 Speaker 8: I showed her the alphabet that I taught myself. 65 00:04:02,442 --> 00:04:07,442 Speaker 2: To Joan's surprise, her great grandmother, Emily Pool, already seemed 66 00:04:07,522 --> 00:04:10,842 Speaker 2: to know fingerspelling, and she knew more than that too. 67 00:04:11,402 --> 00:04:15,962 Speaker 2: She knew signs signs that weren't in that Helen Keller book. 68 00:04:16,002 --> 00:04:19,722 Speaker 8: And she said, oh, I know that one handed alphabet, 69 00:04:19,842 --> 00:04:22,882 Speaker 8: and I know the two handed alphabet, and I know 70 00:04:23,002 --> 00:04:26,602 Speaker 8: all the signs. She immediately started teaching me signs and 71 00:04:26,882 --> 00:04:30,162 Speaker 8: they became a secret language between the two of us. 72 00:04:30,602 --> 00:04:33,602 Speaker 2: Joan was just a little girl, and she didn't realize 73 00:04:33,642 --> 00:04:37,002 Speaker 2: what her great grandmother was teaching her. She didn't think 74 00:04:37,082 --> 00:04:40,322 Speaker 2: it was a sign language for deaf people. After all, 75 00:04:40,442 --> 00:04:44,482 Speaker 2: she didn't see any deaf people using it. Joan figured 76 00:04:44,522 --> 00:04:47,282 Speaker 2: her great grandmother must have picked it up elsewhere. 77 00:04:47,762 --> 00:04:50,442 Speaker 8: I thought, in the back of my brother's boy Scout book, 78 00:04:50,522 --> 00:04:53,402 Speaker 8: there's a book of Indian signs, so that must be it. 79 00:04:53,482 --> 00:04:56,522 Speaker 8: She knows this from when she ran the boy Scout troop. 80 00:04:57,162 --> 00:04:59,442 Speaker 2: But it didn't really matter that she didn't know what 81 00:04:59,482 --> 00:05:03,722 Speaker 2: it was called. Joan was hooked on sign and as 82 00:05:03,762 --> 00:05:07,762 Speaker 2: she grew older, she expanded her knowledge. She learned American 83 00:05:07,802 --> 00:05:12,202 Speaker 2: Sign Language or ASL, and even decided to study ASL 84 00:05:12,242 --> 00:05:12,842 Speaker 2: at school. 85 00:05:13,922 --> 00:05:17,962 Speaker 8: I went to Boston University and people were just then 86 00:05:18,122 --> 00:05:23,042 Speaker 8: starting to look at sign languages as real languages and 87 00:05:23,082 --> 00:05:24,522 Speaker 8: not just made up gestures. 88 00:05:25,562 --> 00:05:28,682 Speaker 2: This was a pretty new approach at this time. In 89 00:05:28,722 --> 00:05:33,762 Speaker 2: the nineteen seventies. Many people didn't take sign languages very seriously. 90 00:05:34,362 --> 00:05:37,562 Speaker 2: They didn't consider that they might have their own distinct 91 00:05:37,682 --> 00:05:43,922 Speaker 2: grammars or vocabularies, and that sign languages, like all living languages, 92 00:05:44,282 --> 00:05:48,362 Speaker 2: grow and evolve. It was this last point that the 93 00:05:48,442 --> 00:05:52,282 Speaker 2: academics around Joan were focused on, and early on in 94 00:05:52,322 --> 00:05:56,122 Speaker 2: her studies. While in discussion with some older students, she 95 00:05:56,242 --> 00:05:57,082 Speaker 2: had a revelation. 96 00:05:57,842 --> 00:06:00,122 Speaker 8: The thing that they were most interested in at that 97 00:06:00,202 --> 00:06:03,322 Speaker 8: point was how the sign language that people used now 98 00:06:03,802 --> 00:06:07,362 Speaker 8: clearly had been different at some time. And I was 99 00:06:07,402 --> 00:06:10,122 Speaker 8: listening to them, I realized the signs that they were 100 00:06:10,402 --> 00:06:13,042 Speaker 8: using as old signs were the signs that my great 101 00:06:13,042 --> 00:06:16,042 Speaker 8: grandmother used, and so I knew where the signs came from. 102 00:06:16,082 --> 00:06:17,642 Speaker 8: They came from Martha's vineyard. 103 00:06:18,722 --> 00:06:23,322 Speaker 2: So those weren't boy Scout signs after all. But why 104 00:06:23,362 --> 00:06:28,002 Speaker 2: would her great grandmother know those old signs? Joan called 105 00:06:28,082 --> 00:06:31,122 Speaker 2: up Emily, who was by then in her nineties, and 106 00:06:31,322 --> 00:06:35,522 Speaker 2: asked her reply. Because all these people were deaf. 107 00:06:36,002 --> 00:06:39,362 Speaker 8: It turned out that my great grandmother knew over three 108 00:06:39,442 --> 00:06:40,282 Speaker 8: hundred signs. 109 00:06:41,042 --> 00:06:44,322 Speaker 2: It wasn't an answer Joan was expecting to hear, but 110 00:06:44,442 --> 00:06:47,602 Speaker 2: she knew she needed to learn more. So Joan and 111 00:06:47,762 --> 00:06:51,602 Speaker 2: other linguists went to Martha's Vineyard. They brought along their 112 00:06:51,682 --> 00:06:55,522 Speaker 2: video recording equipment and spent hours and hours with the 113 00:06:55,602 --> 00:07:00,602 Speaker 2: older chill Mark residents asking questions, what did they remember 114 00:07:00,722 --> 00:07:03,442 Speaker 2: about the deaf people who had once lived there? And 115 00:07:03,482 --> 00:07:05,922 Speaker 2: what about this sign language they all seemed to know. 116 00:07:07,082 --> 00:07:10,202 Speaker 8: In my grandfather's generation learned to sign, and they learned 117 00:07:10,242 --> 00:07:12,162 Speaker 8: to sign well, even if they thought they didn't. They 118 00:07:12,362 --> 00:07:14,442 Speaker 8: would be interviewing them and they'd say, oh, yeah, I 119 00:07:14,482 --> 00:07:16,962 Speaker 8: don't remember the sign for horse, but and you'd look 120 00:07:17,002 --> 00:07:19,282 Speaker 8: at them like they horse who showed it to me. 121 00:07:20,162 --> 00:07:24,882 Speaker 2: To these older generations, sign language was second nature, part 122 00:07:24,922 --> 00:07:28,202 Speaker 2: of the experience of living in chill Mark, like fishing 123 00:07:28,242 --> 00:07:31,882 Speaker 2: for striped bass, or raking clams, or taking a dip 124 00:07:31,922 --> 00:07:32,922 Speaker 2: at Mosha Beach. 125 00:07:33,442 --> 00:07:36,802 Speaker 8: None of the people that I videotaped had thought that 126 00:07:36,922 --> 00:07:41,082 Speaker 8: anything was unique about hearing people using sign language. 127 00:07:41,482 --> 00:07:45,402 Speaker 2: Joan had stumbled upon something, a place where hearing people 128 00:07:45,482 --> 00:07:49,682 Speaker 2: and deaf people alike communicated with one another as neighbors, 129 00:07:49,962 --> 00:08:03,082 Speaker 2: as equals. But why chill Mark. If you've never been 130 00:08:03,122 --> 00:08:05,842 Speaker 2: to Martha's Vineyard, you may have heard about it as 131 00:08:05,882 --> 00:08:11,082 Speaker 2: a tourist spot secluded beaches quaint towns, sandy bike trails, 132 00:08:11,362 --> 00:08:16,602 Speaker 2: fresh seafood everywhere. Its year round population is around twenty 133 00:08:16,682 --> 00:08:21,042 Speaker 2: three thousand. In the summer it grows to two hundred thousand. 134 00:08:21,642 --> 00:08:26,282 Speaker 2: The Obamas, David Letterman, Spike Lee, they all vacation there. 135 00:08:26,922 --> 00:08:30,962 Speaker 2: But about two hundred years ago it was pretty quiet, 136 00:08:31,442 --> 00:08:37,202 Speaker 2: pretty rural, and very remote. There weren't many visitors at all, 137 00:08:37,282 --> 00:08:42,282 Speaker 2: let alone celebrity visitors. Chill Mark, located on the southwestern 138 00:08:42,362 --> 00:08:45,242 Speaker 2: part of the island, was especially secluded. 139 00:08:45,962 --> 00:08:50,042 Speaker 4: Chill Mark in the nineteenth century was a relatively tiny 140 00:08:50,162 --> 00:08:53,722 Speaker 4: cluster of buildings, a couple of churches, a town hall, 141 00:08:53,802 --> 00:08:57,322 Speaker 4: a general store or too over the span maybe a 142 00:08:57,402 --> 00:09:00,682 Speaker 4: quarter mile or a half a mile country road. It 143 00:09:00,922 --> 00:09:02,922 Speaker 4: wasn't the end of the world be you could see 144 00:09:02,922 --> 00:09:03,482 Speaker 4: it from there. 145 00:09:04,002 --> 00:09:08,002 Speaker 2: This is bo Van Riper. He's the research librarian at 146 00:09:08,002 --> 00:09:12,002 Speaker 2: the Martha's Vineyard Museum. He and other historians have been 147 00:09:12,042 --> 00:09:15,402 Speaker 2: working with Joan to learn more about the islands and 148 00:09:15,602 --> 00:09:21,242 Speaker 2: specifically chill Mark's history of sign language. 149 00:09:21,522 --> 00:09:24,482 Speaker 4: One of the great ironies of studying the chilmerk deaf 150 00:09:24,522 --> 00:09:28,402 Speaker 4: community is the thing that makes it remarkable that people 151 00:09:28,642 --> 00:09:34,162 Speaker 4: saw deafness just as another way of being human means 152 00:09:34,362 --> 00:09:41,522 Speaker 4: that the official records rarely consistently point out people's deafness 153 00:09:41,522 --> 00:09:44,122 Speaker 4: as a way of describing them. It might have been 154 00:09:44,162 --> 00:09:48,322 Speaker 4: that George or Bob was deaf, but that everybody was 155 00:09:48,402 --> 00:09:51,282 Speaker 4: so used to that that it wouldn't have occurred to them. 156 00:09:51,362 --> 00:09:56,282 Speaker 2: Dimension the fact, deafness can happen for a variety of reasons, 157 00:09:56,642 --> 00:10:01,642 Speaker 2: like from complications during pregnancy or a childhood infection, But 158 00:10:01,682 --> 00:10:05,642 Speaker 2: on Martha's Vineyard it was because of genetics. Some of 159 00:10:05,682 --> 00:10:08,682 Speaker 2: the early white settlers, especially the ones who ended up 160 00:10:08,762 --> 00:10:13,762 Speaker 2: near chill Mark, carried the gene for hereditary deafness. At first, 161 00:10:13,842 --> 00:10:15,362 Speaker 2: it was just a couple of people. 162 00:10:16,682 --> 00:10:20,842 Speaker 4: It's worse noting that for most of the eighteenth century 163 00:10:21,242 --> 00:10:25,122 Speaker 4: the number of deaf people on the vineyard was extremely 164 00:10:25,242 --> 00:10:28,602 Speaker 4: small that you could probably have counted them at any 165 00:10:28,682 --> 00:10:31,242 Speaker 4: point on the fingers of one hand with your thumb 166 00:10:31,322 --> 00:10:31,882 Speaker 4: left over. 167 00:10:33,242 --> 00:10:37,962 Speaker 2: But over time the deaf population grew. Bo estimate that 168 00:10:38,162 --> 00:10:41,762 Speaker 2: at its peak in the mid nineteenth century, the deaf 169 00:10:41,802 --> 00:10:45,122 Speaker 2: population on the island was no more than fifty people, 170 00:10:45,682 --> 00:10:49,882 Speaker 2: But when towns are so small, that's still a sizeable percentage. 171 00:10:50,522 --> 00:10:53,042 Speaker 4: The figure that you often see quoted is one in 172 00:10:53,082 --> 00:10:56,202 Speaker 4: every five chill Workers was deaf at a time when 173 00:10:57,082 --> 00:11:01,682 Speaker 4: the incidence on the mainland was something like one in 174 00:11:01,922 --> 00:11:04,642 Speaker 4: several thousands. 175 00:11:04,082 --> 00:11:07,802 Speaker 2: And on the mainland the deaf population was often treated 176 00:11:08,002 --> 00:11:12,642 Speaker 2: much much differently. During this time, deafness was commonly seen 177 00:11:12,762 --> 00:11:18,882 Speaker 2: as a quote defect and often linked with insanity. At best, 178 00:11:19,322 --> 00:11:24,562 Speaker 2: deaf people were viewed as other. At worst, they were ostracized, 179 00:11:25,402 --> 00:11:29,842 Speaker 2: even people who studied deafness and taught deaf students. People 180 00:11:30,002 --> 00:11:33,842 Speaker 2: like the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, thought 181 00:11:33,882 --> 00:11:37,442 Speaker 2: the ultimate goal for all deaf people should be complete 182 00:11:37,522 --> 00:11:42,602 Speaker 2: assimilation into hearing society. God forbid anyone know you're deaf. 183 00:11:43,522 --> 00:11:48,282 Speaker 2: Bell believed in a method called oralism, which values spoken 184 00:11:48,362 --> 00:11:52,402 Speaker 2: language over other forms, meaning the deaf should learn how 185 00:11:52,442 --> 00:11:57,002 Speaker 2: to read lips and speak aloud. Some even thought sign 186 00:11:57,082 --> 00:12:01,322 Speaker 2: language should be banned altogether. But in a way, Chill 187 00:12:01,402 --> 00:12:06,562 Speaker 2: Mark's isolation saved it from this narrow minded thinking. Oralism 188 00:12:06,642 --> 00:12:10,482 Speaker 2: didn't cross anyone's mind because it didn't make any sense. 189 00:12:11,242 --> 00:12:15,882 Speaker 2: So many community members were deaf brothers, husbands, daughters, neighbors 190 00:12:16,282 --> 00:12:19,242 Speaker 2: that using a sign language was the simplest way for 191 00:12:19,402 --> 00:12:21,802 Speaker 2: everyone to live and work together. 192 00:12:22,682 --> 00:12:25,322 Speaker 4: If you were on the porch of the Childmerth General 193 00:12:25,442 --> 00:12:29,402 Speaker 4: Store and say the middle of the nineteenth century, likely 194 00:12:29,522 --> 00:12:33,482 Speaker 4: what you'd see would be people if they were hearing, 195 00:12:34,122 --> 00:12:39,202 Speaker 4: engaged in conversation with their neighbors, and they'd be simultaneously 196 00:12:39,402 --> 00:12:43,522 Speaker 4: speaking aloud to their hearing neighbors and signing the conversation 197 00:12:44,322 --> 00:12:45,602 Speaker 4: for their deaf neighbors. 198 00:12:46,682 --> 00:12:50,362 Speaker 2: At church, a hearing person would automatically sign the sermon. 199 00:12:50,922 --> 00:12:54,042 Speaker 2: At a town meeting, someone would sign the agenda, so 200 00:12:54,162 --> 00:12:58,642 Speaker 2: both deaf and hearing residents knew when to signal their votes. 201 00:12:59,122 --> 00:13:02,122 Speaker 2: Neither hearing nor deaf people would be shut out of 202 00:13:02,162 --> 00:13:05,402 Speaker 2: any given conversation. All could participate. 203 00:13:06,522 --> 00:13:10,202 Speaker 4: A far as we know. In chill March in the 204 00:13:10,322 --> 00:13:15,362 Speaker 4: nineteenth century into the twentieth century, the death were from 205 00:13:15,402 --> 00:13:20,002 Speaker 4: an economic, political, social point of view, fully integrated members 206 00:13:20,002 --> 00:13:23,322 Speaker 4: of the community. They voted in town meetings, they held 207 00:13:23,522 --> 00:13:29,682 Speaker 4: positions of respect and authority. There was no social distinction 208 00:13:29,842 --> 00:13:33,402 Speaker 4: between deaf and hearing. Having a deaf person look after 209 00:13:33,522 --> 00:13:36,602 Speaker 4: your children, or marry your son or your daughter, or 210 00:13:36,762 --> 00:13:40,682 Speaker 4: be your business partner, your neighbor, your heughmate in church 211 00:13:41,882 --> 00:13:44,482 Speaker 4: was a completely unremarkable thing. 212 00:13:45,442 --> 00:13:50,842 Speaker 2: We don't know exactly when Martha's Vineyard sign language first started, 213 00:13:51,402 --> 00:13:55,002 Speaker 2: but we do know who started it, the deaf residents 214 00:13:55,162 --> 00:13:58,442 Speaker 2: in and near chill Mark, and because of that, it 215 00:13:58,602 --> 00:14:02,562 Speaker 2: was specific to life on a small island. For example, 216 00:14:02,642 --> 00:14:06,442 Speaker 2: its focus on fish. 217 00:14:05,042 --> 00:14:09,362 Speaker 4: Being able to distinguish between multiple species of fish and 218 00:14:09,562 --> 00:14:13,082 Speaker 4: being able to have different signs for the fish that's 219 00:14:13,082 --> 00:14:15,442 Speaker 4: sitting on your dinner plate as opposed to the fish 220 00:14:15,442 --> 00:14:18,882 Speaker 4: that you're trying to catch. Is only useful if you 221 00:14:19,002 --> 00:14:22,282 Speaker 4: make your living fishing, and if most of the people 222 00:14:22,442 --> 00:14:26,202 Speaker 4: you live and work with also make their living fishing. 223 00:14:27,282 --> 00:14:32,122 Speaker 2: Swordfish, cod, scallop. They all had their own signs, signs 224 00:14:32,162 --> 00:14:36,162 Speaker 2: that don't exist in modern day standard asl or at 225 00:14:36,242 --> 00:14:37,722 Speaker 2: least look very different. 226 00:14:38,682 --> 00:14:42,922 Speaker 4: Anybody who's ever seen a scallop swimming underwater will instantly 227 00:14:43,002 --> 00:14:46,042 Speaker 4: recognize why that's the sign for scallop, because that's what 228 00:14:46,082 --> 00:14:50,202 Speaker 4: a scalop looks like. Anybody you seed a swordfish swimming 229 00:14:50,242 --> 00:14:54,002 Speaker 4: with its sharp dorsal fin and sharp tailfin poking out 230 00:14:54,002 --> 00:14:56,802 Speaker 4: of the water, as most chill workers would have, would 231 00:14:56,922 --> 00:15:00,882 Speaker 4: instantly recognize, Oh, yes, of course that's swordfish. 232 00:15:00,922 --> 00:15:05,282 Speaker 2: There were other unique signs too. As Joan continued her research, 233 00:15:05,482 --> 00:15:08,642 Speaker 2: she was especially delighted to find one in particular. 234 00:15:09,682 --> 00:15:13,242 Speaker 8: So the sign for cranberry is just very important to 235 00:15:13,282 --> 00:15:16,282 Speaker 8: me because no one uses it anywhere else except here 236 00:15:16,802 --> 00:15:19,762 Speaker 8: on the mainland. There is no sign for cranberry, and 237 00:15:20,322 --> 00:15:23,122 Speaker 8: so I make it important. Everyone who I teach sign 238 00:15:23,162 --> 00:15:25,522 Speaker 8: language to I always show them the sign for cranberry. 239 00:15:26,122 --> 00:15:29,882 Speaker 2: Here Joan makes the sign, curling the fingers of her 240 00:15:29,962 --> 00:15:32,922 Speaker 2: left hand into a loose fist, her thumb on top. 241 00:15:33,522 --> 00:15:36,722 Speaker 2: With her other thumb and index finger. She flicks at 242 00:15:36,722 --> 00:15:38,482 Speaker 2: the left thumb like you might a marble. 243 00:15:39,402 --> 00:15:43,202 Speaker 8: It's just your thumb, flicking the cranberry off the little 244 00:15:43,322 --> 00:15:45,962 Speaker 8: bush in the water and gathering them up. 245 00:15:46,922 --> 00:15:50,362 Speaker 2: Tailoring the language to the community meant that the people 246 00:15:50,362 --> 00:15:53,162 Speaker 2: who use it, the people of chill Mark, had signs 247 00:15:53,202 --> 00:15:54,202 Speaker 2: for themselves too. 248 00:15:54,722 --> 00:15:56,522 Speaker 1: They had a sign for most everybody. 249 00:15:57,042 --> 00:16:01,362 Speaker 2: The person that's Eric Cottle. He grew up around chill 250 00:16:01,402 --> 00:16:04,682 Speaker 2: Mark when the deaf community was still a notable presence. 251 00:16:05,202 --> 00:16:08,122 Speaker 2: Before he passed away in twenty at the age of 252 00:16:08,202 --> 00:16:12,842 Speaker 2: ninety two. Eric was interviewed by the Martha's Vineyard Museum 253 00:16:13,002 --> 00:16:16,002 Speaker 2: as part of its Oral History project. 254 00:16:16,042 --> 00:16:19,082 Speaker 1: Now the Philip. He lost his hand in the threshing 255 00:16:19,082 --> 00:16:21,122 Speaker 1: machine when he was young, so that you know that 256 00:16:21,242 --> 00:16:21,882 Speaker 1: was Benny Mail. 257 00:16:22,562 --> 00:16:25,842 Speaker 2: As he talks, Eric makes a sign, chopping off his 258 00:16:25,962 --> 00:16:26,802 Speaker 2: right hand. 259 00:16:26,602 --> 00:16:30,162 Speaker 1: With his left and Ernest mayo his was here. 260 00:16:30,922 --> 00:16:34,922 Speaker 2: Now he's hitting his forehead with a flat hand, almost saluting. 261 00:16:35,602 --> 00:16:39,042 Speaker 1: They used to hang made baskets. Can he run into 262 00:16:39,042 --> 00:16:41,482 Speaker 1: somebody's clothes line, but it broke his neck and they 263 00:16:41,522 --> 00:16:43,362 Speaker 1: hit him right across there, So that was a sign 264 00:16:43,362 --> 00:16:44,242 Speaker 1: for Ernst's Male. 265 00:16:45,442 --> 00:16:48,842 Speaker 2: Sign language was so ingrained in life in chill Mark 266 00:16:49,242 --> 00:16:52,002 Speaker 2: that it wasn't limited to use only when a deaf 267 00:16:52,042 --> 00:16:56,002 Speaker 2: person was present. As Bow points out, hearing people in 268 00:16:56,122 --> 00:17:00,282 Speaker 2: chill Mark understood that in many circumstances, signing was the 269 00:17:00,442 --> 00:17:02,322 Speaker 2: preferred method of communication. 270 00:17:03,042 --> 00:17:06,482 Speaker 4: There are stories about farmers who when they were out 271 00:17:06,522 --> 00:17:10,362 Speaker 4: in the field and their wife say wanted to ask 272 00:17:10,362 --> 00:17:12,842 Speaker 4: them some message, bring us and such when you come 273 00:17:12,882 --> 00:17:15,442 Speaker 4: in for supper. They bang on a pod or a 274 00:17:15,442 --> 00:17:18,202 Speaker 4: bell to get the farmer's attention, and then rather than 275 00:17:18,282 --> 00:17:21,722 Speaker 4: hollering across the open field, they'd sign their request and 276 00:17:21,802 --> 00:17:22,842 Speaker 4: he'd sign back. 277 00:17:23,282 --> 00:17:25,802 Speaker 2: And this was even more effective for the towns of 278 00:17:25,842 --> 00:17:27,322 Speaker 2: fishermen out on the water. 279 00:17:28,082 --> 00:17:32,322 Speaker 4: Once people started using internal combustion and engines rather than sales. 280 00:17:32,362 --> 00:17:34,922 Speaker 4: One of the problems they ran up against was that 281 00:17:35,002 --> 00:17:40,802 Speaker 4: the engines were incredibly deafeningly loud, and so if your 282 00:17:40,802 --> 00:17:44,282 Speaker 4: engine was running, it was far easier to just sign, hey, 283 00:17:44,322 --> 00:17:47,322 Speaker 4: how's the fishing today, or are there any cod over 284 00:17:47,362 --> 00:17:50,322 Speaker 4: there by the buoy or whatever, then to try and 285 00:17:50,362 --> 00:17:53,722 Speaker 4: get close enough to holler over the sound of the 286 00:17:53,762 --> 00:17:57,042 Speaker 4: engine or turn off the engine and then have to 287 00:17:57,042 --> 00:17:58,122 Speaker 4: get it started again. 288 00:17:59,482 --> 00:18:03,362 Speaker 2: Jones's father, Everett Pool, was also interviewed by the Martha's 289 00:18:03,402 --> 00:18:07,762 Speaker 2: Vineyard Museum before he passed away, and he too remembered 290 00:18:07,882 --> 00:18:12,002 Speaker 2: his own father, a hearing man, signing with other men 291 00:18:12,162 --> 00:18:13,122 Speaker 2: out on the boats. 292 00:18:13,922 --> 00:18:16,322 Speaker 1: I'd be fishing with my father. We'd pull up alongside 293 00:18:16,322 --> 00:18:18,642 Speaker 1: of another boat, and in those days we had these 294 00:18:18,962 --> 00:18:22,242 Speaker 1: damned old noisy lath benjaance you couldn't hear yourself think, 295 00:18:22,402 --> 00:18:24,882 Speaker 1: you know, and they pull up alongside it. My father 296 00:18:25,082 --> 00:18:27,162 Speaker 1: just talked to the guy with his singers, you know. 297 00:18:27,722 --> 00:18:30,322 Speaker 1: He didn't didn't bother to shout at all. 298 00:18:31,642 --> 00:18:35,202 Speaker 2: There were other unexpected benefits to knowing how to sign, 299 00:18:35,882 --> 00:18:40,802 Speaker 2: like during cutthroat card games with neighboring towns, towns that 300 00:18:41,202 --> 00:18:43,402 Speaker 2: didn't know sign language. 301 00:18:43,402 --> 00:18:47,642 Speaker 1: I remember all the signs. That was nyemonths, I was clubs, 302 00:18:48,242 --> 00:18:50,042 Speaker 1: that was hers, that was spades. 303 00:18:50,562 --> 00:18:51,842 Speaker 2: That's Eric caddle again. 304 00:18:52,442 --> 00:18:55,762 Speaker 1: So we cheat, we'd give each other signs. 305 00:18:56,362 --> 00:18:58,762 Speaker 2: Here, Eric taps his chest. 306 00:18:58,962 --> 00:19:01,722 Speaker 1: You no, I had heart. We were bad. 307 00:19:07,642 --> 00:19:12,362 Speaker 2: Martha's Vineyard sign language was a robust and complex language. 308 00:19:12,762 --> 00:19:17,082 Speaker 2: For years. It was a specific and completely normal part 309 00:19:17,122 --> 00:19:20,402 Speaker 2: of life for its users. But the idea of a 310 00:19:20,482 --> 00:19:23,442 Speaker 2: special sign language that arises to fit the needs of 311 00:19:23,482 --> 00:19:27,162 Speaker 2: a community is not in fact unique to chill Mark. 312 00:19:28,402 --> 00:19:33,722 Speaker 2: Villages in Ghana, Mexico, India, Turkey, Japan, and Indonesia also 313 00:19:33,802 --> 00:19:38,122 Speaker 2: have their own sign languages used by deaf and hearing residents. 314 00:19:38,122 --> 00:19:43,002 Speaker 2: Alike like chill Mark, these communities are often quite small, 315 00:19:43,282 --> 00:19:47,482 Speaker 2: and like chill Mark was once, they are often quite isolated. 316 00:19:47,922 --> 00:19:52,082 Speaker 2: In fact, it was that change becoming less isolated that 317 00:19:52,282 --> 00:19:57,442 Speaker 2: ushered in the demise of Martha's Vineyard Sign language. 318 00:19:58,122 --> 00:20:02,842 Speaker 4: By say eighteen fifty. Several things are coming together that 319 00:20:03,082 --> 00:20:06,682 Speaker 4: change the way deafness happened on the island and the 320 00:20:07,042 --> 00:20:09,762 Speaker 4: change the experience of the chill Mark death. 321 00:20:10,602 --> 00:20:12,322 Speaker 2: That's bo Van Riper again. 322 00:20:13,482 --> 00:20:20,282 Speaker 4: One was that as transportation technology improved, as steamboats replaced 323 00:20:20,362 --> 00:20:25,202 Speaker 4: saale ferries and steamboats became themselves more reliable. It became 324 00:20:25,322 --> 00:20:28,322 Speaker 4: easier for people to go back and forth to the mainland, 325 00:20:28,642 --> 00:20:32,962 Speaker 4: which made it more likely that chill workers would meet 326 00:20:33,002 --> 00:20:36,562 Speaker 4: and become friendly with, and potentially marry and have children 327 00:20:36,602 --> 00:20:38,802 Speaker 4: with people from off the island. 328 00:20:39,322 --> 00:20:42,762 Speaker 2: And these non island people had a different gene pool, 329 00:20:43,282 --> 00:20:46,002 Speaker 2: meaning the chances that your children would be born deaf 330 00:20:46,322 --> 00:20:50,482 Speaker 2: got more and more rare. The other major factor was 331 00:20:50,562 --> 00:20:55,082 Speaker 2: a big change in access to deaf education. In eighteen seventeen, 332 00:20:55,242 --> 00:20:59,602 Speaker 2: Thomas Galladet and Lauren Clerk started what's now known as 333 00:20:59,682 --> 00:21:03,322 Speaker 2: the American School for the Deaf. The school, which is 334 00:21:03,402 --> 00:21:07,402 Speaker 2: located in Hartford, Connecticut, was the first of its kind 335 00:21:07,522 --> 00:21:11,002 Speaker 2: in the US. It offered deaf children around the country 336 00:21:11,042 --> 00:21:14,322 Speaker 2: a chance to live and study together. Most of the 337 00:21:14,362 --> 00:21:18,322 Speaker 2: deaf children on Martha's Vineyard ended up attending there. They 338 00:21:18,402 --> 00:21:22,082 Speaker 2: learned what would become the standard sign language in the US. 339 00:21:22,522 --> 00:21:26,762 Speaker 4: It introduced them to American Sign language, which was being 340 00:21:26,842 --> 00:21:30,282 Speaker 4: developed in those years. It also meant that they came 341 00:21:30,442 --> 00:21:34,282 Speaker 4: home speaking not only the sign language that they were 342 00:21:34,362 --> 00:21:36,962 Speaker 4: used to in chown work, but also this new sign 343 00:21:37,082 --> 00:21:42,722 Speaker 4: language that linked them to a larger, regionwide, eventually nationwide 344 00:21:42,842 --> 00:21:44,042 Speaker 4: community of the death. 345 00:21:44,722 --> 00:21:49,962 Speaker 2: So the incidence of hereditary deafness was lessening ASL was 346 00:21:50,002 --> 00:21:53,682 Speaker 2: coming into its own And let's not forget that oralism, 347 00:21:53,922 --> 00:21:58,842 Speaker 2: where the objective was assimilation into hearing society, was still 348 00:21:58,882 --> 00:22:03,282 Speaker 2: around two all of which sadly meant the eventual downfall 349 00:22:03,642 --> 00:22:06,722 Speaker 2: of Martha's Vineyard Sign language. 350 00:22:06,962 --> 00:22:10,802 Speaker 4: By the middle of the twentieth century, it was effectively 351 00:22:10,922 --> 00:22:14,402 Speaker 4: extinct as an active language, even though it was still 352 00:22:14,442 --> 00:22:17,242 Speaker 4: being used as late as the nineteen thirties. 353 00:22:18,962 --> 00:22:23,282 Speaker 2: Its last native user, a deaf woman named Katie, died 354 00:22:23,322 --> 00:22:27,482 Speaker 2: in the nineteen fifties, and so knowing sign language, something 355 00:22:27,522 --> 00:22:30,402 Speaker 2: that used to be so commonplace in chill Mark, no 356 00:22:30,442 --> 00:22:35,842 Speaker 2: longer seemed as necessary. Growing up in the nineteen thirties, Jones' 357 00:22:35,922 --> 00:22:40,522 Speaker 2: father Everett remembered thinking exactly that I had. 358 00:22:40,362 --> 00:22:43,602 Speaker 1: No patience with it, you know, another generation. It didn't 359 00:22:43,642 --> 00:22:45,402 Speaker 1: make sense to me why I do that. 360 00:22:45,442 --> 00:22:45,722 Speaker 6: You know. 361 00:22:46,242 --> 00:22:49,442 Speaker 2: But as a historian, Bo takes a different view. 362 00:22:50,162 --> 00:22:53,842 Speaker 4: Chiel Mark and the Vineyard's reputation as a deaf utopia 363 00:22:54,242 --> 00:22:59,242 Speaker 4: remains a powerful idea because it holds out a lease, 364 00:22:59,482 --> 00:23:03,602 Speaker 4: the potential promise that things as they are are not 365 00:23:03,882 --> 00:23:07,202 Speaker 4: things as they have to be. I can't speak to 366 00:23:07,282 --> 00:23:09,602 Speaker 4: what it would feel like to be a deaf person 367 00:23:09,722 --> 00:23:13,482 Speaker 4: learning about this, but from the outside looking in, I 368 00:23:13,522 --> 00:23:17,402 Speaker 4: can imagine if you'd spent your whole life feeling as 369 00:23:17,482 --> 00:23:20,762 Speaker 4: if hearing society wanted to hold you at arm's length 370 00:23:20,802 --> 00:23:23,362 Speaker 4: and didn't know what to do with you. The idea 371 00:23:24,042 --> 00:23:28,242 Speaker 4: of a place where the deaf were embraced and welcomed 372 00:23:28,482 --> 00:23:34,082 Speaker 4: as humans, as individuals must be an extraordinarily powerful story. 373 00:23:36,362 --> 00:23:40,082 Speaker 2: Today, it's estimated there are around one million deaf people 374 00:23:40,122 --> 00:23:43,402 Speaker 2: in the United States and that almost four percent of 375 00:23:43,442 --> 00:23:48,402 Speaker 2: Americans have difficulty hearing. More than five hundred thousand people 376 00:23:48,602 --> 00:23:52,882 Speaker 2: use ASL to communicate as their native language, and almost 377 00:23:52,922 --> 00:23:57,442 Speaker 2: three quarters of parents with deaf children don't know sign language. 378 00:23:57,842 --> 00:24:01,362 Speaker 2: That's much much different than what deaf kids in chill 379 00:24:01,402 --> 00:24:02,442 Speaker 2: Mark experienced. 380 00:24:03,042 --> 00:24:06,762 Speaker 9: They grow up in homes where there's a lack of 381 00:24:07,442 --> 00:24:10,082 Speaker 9: sign meaning that you know, there's a barrier on their 382 00:24:10,122 --> 00:24:11,882 Speaker 9: ability to connect with their parents. 383 00:24:12,562 --> 00:24:17,162 Speaker 2: Nile DeMarco is a model, actor, producer, and deaf activist. 384 00:24:17,642 --> 00:24:20,962 Speaker 2: We're talking with him through his ASL translator, so that's 385 00:24:21,042 --> 00:24:22,762 Speaker 2: the translator's voice you're. 386 00:24:22,562 --> 00:24:27,082 Speaker 9: Hearing Oftentimes, hearing parents want their babies to be like them, 387 00:24:27,122 --> 00:24:31,402 Speaker 9: which is so natural, but oftentimes that leads to, you know, 388 00:24:31,442 --> 00:24:34,882 Speaker 9: the mistake of say, teaching oral of them and wanting 389 00:24:34,922 --> 00:24:37,082 Speaker 9: them to speak the same way when there might be 390 00:24:37,122 --> 00:24:38,482 Speaker 9: another option available. 391 00:24:39,282 --> 00:24:42,722 Speaker 2: The other option, of course, is sign language, which was 392 00:24:42,762 --> 00:24:44,042 Speaker 2: how Nile grew up. 393 00:24:44,682 --> 00:24:47,682 Speaker 9: Really long before my very first memories, I was learning 394 00:24:47,722 --> 00:24:50,362 Speaker 9: sign language. I had exposure to the language from the 395 00:24:50,362 --> 00:24:52,522 Speaker 9: first day that I opened my eyes, and at home 396 00:24:52,522 --> 00:24:55,842 Speaker 9: I had constant exposure to ASL. Truly, you know, sign 397 00:24:55,922 --> 00:24:59,362 Speaker 9: language is my first language, even though also English. 398 00:24:59,002 --> 00:25:00,722 Speaker 7: Very much feels like my first language in a lot 399 00:25:00,722 --> 00:25:01,082 Speaker 7: of ways. 400 00:25:01,202 --> 00:25:02,522 Speaker 9: They sort of run in parallel. 401 00:25:03,122 --> 00:25:07,242 Speaker 2: Nil is in fact, fourth generation death, and so he 402 00:25:07,362 --> 00:25:10,322 Speaker 2: was raised in a world where deafness is celebrated, not 403 00:25:10,562 --> 00:25:15,042 Speaker 2: misunderstood or feared. In twenty twenty two, he wrote a 404 00:25:15,082 --> 00:25:19,842 Speaker 2: memoir called deaf Utopia. He meant the title to be provocative. 405 00:25:20,282 --> 00:25:22,762 Speaker 9: I knew that somebody hearing people would see that and say, 406 00:25:22,802 --> 00:25:25,202 Speaker 9: that can't be a perfect world, but what if it is? 407 00:25:25,322 --> 00:25:27,122 Speaker 9: It was something that I wanted to achieve with my book. 408 00:25:27,162 --> 00:25:29,322 Speaker 9: I wanted people to really read through it and understand 409 00:25:29,362 --> 00:25:31,842 Speaker 9: the perspective that a deaf person has when we don't 410 00:25:31,842 --> 00:25:34,282 Speaker 9: have the communication barriers. You know, Now I'm able to 411 00:25:34,802 --> 00:25:37,962 Speaker 9: function as a bilingual adult between two languages quite easily, 412 00:25:38,002 --> 00:25:39,402 Speaker 9: and I think people should know that. 413 00:25:40,162 --> 00:25:43,642 Speaker 2: In Deaf Utopia, he tells the story about the moment 414 00:25:43,762 --> 00:25:47,522 Speaker 2: his dad found out one day old Nile and his 415 00:25:47,602 --> 00:25:52,362 Speaker 2: twin brother were both deaf. He raised his fist in excitement, 416 00:25:52,762 --> 00:25:57,002 Speaker 2: he kissed his wife. He was proud. So although Nile 417 00:25:57,282 --> 00:26:00,402 Speaker 2: was born in nineteen eighty nine, in some ways his 418 00:26:00,642 --> 00:26:03,522 Speaker 2: life was similar to deaf kids growing up in chill 419 00:26:03,562 --> 00:26:06,322 Speaker 2: Mark in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. 420 00:26:07,722 --> 00:26:11,282 Speaker 9: You know, my entire households, everyone was accessible to me. 421 00:26:11,642 --> 00:26:14,482 Speaker 9: We could share ideas, and we talk about not only 422 00:26:14,522 --> 00:26:18,642 Speaker 9: current events but on topics. And that's a very different 423 00:26:18,682 --> 00:26:20,922 Speaker 9: story than many other deaf kids out there who are 424 00:26:20,922 --> 00:26:23,482 Speaker 9: born to hearing families. I'm a part of a ten 425 00:26:23,562 --> 00:26:27,082 Speaker 9: percent quite rare subset where my parents are deaf and 426 00:26:27,122 --> 00:26:28,562 Speaker 9: also they you sign language. 427 00:26:29,042 --> 00:26:31,362 Speaker 2: Now. I all used ASL at home, and he went 428 00:26:31,402 --> 00:26:35,202 Speaker 2: to a deaf school and a deaf university where ASL 429 00:26:35,442 --> 00:26:39,122 Speaker 2: was also predominant. So it pretty much wasn't until he 430 00:26:39,202 --> 00:26:42,762 Speaker 2: began his professional life that he was faced with a 431 00:26:42,842 --> 00:26:46,722 Speaker 2: world that didn't know how to sign, and that didn't 432 00:26:46,762 --> 00:26:49,962 Speaker 2: know much about deaf people or deaf culture either. 433 00:26:50,882 --> 00:26:54,482 Speaker 9: It wasn't really until I got into the entertainment industry 434 00:26:54,802 --> 00:26:59,042 Speaker 9: when I started to realize, oh, okay, I'm being reminded 435 00:26:59,042 --> 00:27:01,282 Speaker 9: that I'm deaf. Every day I have to explain that 436 00:27:01,322 --> 00:27:05,082 Speaker 9: I'm daf, whether that was hearing writers, directors, or producers. 437 00:27:05,202 --> 00:27:07,842 Speaker 9: I'm in a smaller minority than is expected to very 438 00:27:07,922 --> 00:27:12,042 Speaker 9: much assimilate with society's design that was really built for 439 00:27:12,162 --> 00:27:12,762 Speaker 9: hearing people. 440 00:27:13,282 --> 00:27:16,282 Speaker 2: It makes him wonder what if some of that chill 441 00:27:16,362 --> 00:27:19,762 Speaker 2: mark culture had seeped into the rest of the country. 442 00:27:20,202 --> 00:27:23,522 Speaker 9: I wish that everyone knew some basic sign language. Oftentimes 443 00:27:23,562 --> 00:27:27,362 Speaker 9: I wonder what if every hearing school out there required 444 00:27:27,482 --> 00:27:30,882 Speaker 9: some basic asl in elementary school. I think it would 445 00:27:30,922 --> 00:27:34,802 Speaker 9: make such a massive difference in the lives of deaf people, 446 00:27:34,842 --> 00:27:38,242 Speaker 9: but more so in how hearing people perceive us and 447 00:27:38,242 --> 00:27:40,362 Speaker 9: our community and how they interact with us every day. 448 00:27:40,682 --> 00:27:43,202 Speaker 9: And that's huge. I mean, it really just it helps 449 00:27:43,282 --> 00:27:45,402 Speaker 9: humanize us in many ways. 450 00:27:46,122 --> 00:27:50,082 Speaker 2: That's why the story of Martha's Vineyard sign language resonates 451 00:27:50,242 --> 00:27:51,162 Speaker 2: so much with him. 452 00:27:51,602 --> 00:27:54,242 Speaker 9: I remember when I learned about it. I really had 453 00:27:54,282 --> 00:27:57,722 Speaker 9: wished that that tiny island was sort of like the 454 00:27:57,762 --> 00:28:00,762 Speaker 9: whole United States, because I thought it must have been 455 00:28:00,842 --> 00:28:04,442 Speaker 9: amazing to have hearing people choose to learn sign language 456 00:28:04,482 --> 00:28:07,362 Speaker 9: instead of speaking with other hearing people. That's a great 457 00:28:07,362 --> 00:28:10,082 Speaker 9: example of how you can build a culture within a 458 00:28:10,082 --> 00:28:11,962 Speaker 9: community that's really for everybody. 459 00:28:13,722 --> 00:28:17,202 Speaker 2: It's a sentiment people on Martha's Vineyard share as well, 460 00:28:17,682 --> 00:28:22,282 Speaker 2: people like Bo and Joan and Jane Slater. Jane is 461 00:28:22,402 --> 00:28:25,282 Speaker 2: ninety two years old now, but as a child in 462 00:28:25,362 --> 00:28:29,242 Speaker 2: chill Mark, she regularly interacted with some of the last 463 00:28:29,442 --> 00:28:33,322 Speaker 2: members of the town's deaf community, like the ladies who 464 00:28:33,322 --> 00:28:35,922 Speaker 2: would stop by her grandmother's house to chat. 465 00:28:36,642 --> 00:28:40,962 Speaker 5: I just remember the women sitting around talking and being 466 00:28:41,002 --> 00:28:44,082 Speaker 5: able to understand a little of it. You rama taught 467 00:28:44,082 --> 00:28:48,442 Speaker 5: me how to say hello, come in, sit down, She'll be. 468 00:28:48,442 --> 00:28:50,362 Speaker 2: Right with you with that kind of stuff. 469 00:28:50,682 --> 00:28:54,242 Speaker 5: And then they would always try to get me to 470 00:28:54,282 --> 00:28:56,682 Speaker 5: talk to them, so that was fun. They'd get you 471 00:28:56,762 --> 00:28:57,802 Speaker 5: into the conversation. 472 00:28:58,482 --> 00:28:59,882 Speaker 2: I did not know that. 473 00:28:59,642 --> 00:29:02,042 Speaker 10: That was unusual. I mean, I don't know when I 474 00:29:02,162 --> 00:29:06,162 Speaker 10: became aware that people were interested in that, but I 475 00:29:06,242 --> 00:29:09,042 Speaker 10: do feel like I keep that I was born early 476 00:29:09,202 --> 00:29:13,282 Speaker 10: enough to still be part of the chill Mark that 477 00:29:13,642 --> 00:29:18,362 Speaker 10: included some of the chill Mark death They really were 478 00:29:18,442 --> 00:29:22,042 Speaker 10: a part of the community and there was no awareness 479 00:29:22,082 --> 00:29:25,202 Speaker 10: of them being different, and I think that really made 480 00:29:25,242 --> 00:29:26,602 Speaker 10: chill Mark a special place. 481 00:29:32,602 --> 00:29:34,802 Speaker 2: I have to confess as a child, I was one 482 00:29:34,842 --> 00:29:38,162 Speaker 2: of those Midwestern child who just thought that Martha's vineyard 483 00:29:38,362 --> 00:29:41,242 Speaker 2: was an actual vineyard and I think in my mind 484 00:29:41,402 --> 00:29:42,962 Speaker 2: owned by Martha Stewart. 485 00:29:43,402 --> 00:29:43,682 Speaker 8: Same. 486 00:29:44,722 --> 00:29:48,122 Speaker 2: So this has been illuminating for me in many many 487 00:29:48,162 --> 00:29:53,202 Speaker 2: ways learned episode. I just learned so much this episode specifically. 488 00:29:53,762 --> 00:29:56,642 Speaker 7: I also loved how a person's worst accident becomes their 489 00:29:56,682 --> 00:29:58,842 Speaker 7: sign language name like that to me was wild, Like 490 00:29:58,922 --> 00:30:00,842 Speaker 7: dude gets his hand lopped off by a threshold a 491 00:30:00,882 --> 00:30:04,002 Speaker 7: sudden everyone minds losing a hand, like yeah, that's Benny Mayhew. 492 00:30:04,202 --> 00:30:06,402 Speaker 7: But can you imagine that we will remember you by 493 00:30:06,442 --> 00:30:06,922 Speaker 7: your trauma. 494 00:30:07,242 --> 00:30:09,882 Speaker 6: I like the mention of Galadet's School for the Deaf. 495 00:30:09,962 --> 00:30:12,722 Speaker 6: I have a quick Galadet School for the Deaf story. 496 00:30:12,762 --> 00:30:14,562 Speaker 6: I almost told this when we were at the Super 497 00:30:14,602 --> 00:30:16,802 Speaker 6: Bowl because it's a football story. 498 00:30:17,922 --> 00:30:18,042 Speaker 5: Us. 499 00:30:18,402 --> 00:30:21,762 Speaker 6: So I played on the club football team in college 500 00:30:21,762 --> 00:30:29,202 Speaker 6: at Duke, and that don't picture college football picture like idiots. 501 00:30:29,522 --> 00:30:32,162 Speaker 6: There were only like three other teams in the region 502 00:30:32,242 --> 00:30:34,442 Speaker 6: that we would play, and every year we would go 503 00:30:34,522 --> 00:30:38,362 Speaker 6: up to Washington, d C. Where Galadet had a team, 504 00:30:38,802 --> 00:30:41,202 Speaker 6: and they were like a legit football team, and again 505 00:30:41,322 --> 00:30:45,282 Speaker 6: we were not, and so we got crushed. I think 506 00:30:45,322 --> 00:30:48,482 Speaker 6: it was forty four to twelve and forty six to fourteen. 507 00:30:49,002 --> 00:30:52,202 Speaker 6: But the thing that happened both years which amazes me. 508 00:30:52,922 --> 00:30:55,402 Speaker 6: Every time when they wanted to hike the ball, they 509 00:30:55,402 --> 00:30:58,042 Speaker 6: would beat a big drum and they would feel the 510 00:30:58,122 --> 00:31:01,682 Speaker 6: vibrations and they would know that's how to go. And 511 00:31:01,762 --> 00:31:04,002 Speaker 6: by the end of the game we had all become 512 00:31:04,002 --> 00:31:06,682 Speaker 6: accustomed to this. And one time they went on the 513 00:31:06,722 --> 00:31:10,642 Speaker 6: set drum beat both years and we all dove off 514 00:31:10,682 --> 00:31:12,122 Speaker 6: sides on the first one. 515 00:31:13,162 --> 00:31:13,962 Speaker 4: That's amazing. 516 00:31:14,562 --> 00:31:19,442 Speaker 7: I absolutely love that story. Guys' ass is handed to 517 00:31:19,482 --> 00:31:23,442 Speaker 7: you by a drum beat. Also, I was thinking about 518 00:31:23,482 --> 00:31:25,282 Speaker 7: when I was in high school, one of my best friends, 519 00:31:25,282 --> 00:31:27,642 Speaker 7: he taught me sign language, but just the alphabet right, 520 00:31:28,042 --> 00:31:29,722 Speaker 7: And then there was a bunch of cute girls in 521 00:31:29,762 --> 00:31:32,402 Speaker 7: his history class and they also spoke sign language, so 522 00:31:32,442 --> 00:31:35,002 Speaker 7: he was able to like win over all this favor 523 00:31:35,042 --> 00:31:37,562 Speaker 7: with them by helping them. He was really smart. So 524 00:31:37,562 --> 00:31:39,562 Speaker 7: he would cheat in history class and they would be 525 00:31:39,562 --> 00:31:42,042 Speaker 7: sitting there doing sign luggage and the teacher had no idea. 526 00:31:42,122 --> 00:31:44,402 Speaker 7: So when I saw them doing the secret languages, I 527 00:31:44,442 --> 00:31:47,762 Speaker 7: was like, oh, I've seen that. That totally works. So yeah, 528 00:31:47,762 --> 00:31:49,482 Speaker 7: by the way, if you'd like I cast this one as. 529 00:31:49,402 --> 00:31:50,522 Speaker 1: Well, Oh yeah, yeah, that's right. 530 00:31:50,562 --> 00:31:53,082 Speaker 7: Oh yeah please, So if you if you guys were curious, 531 00:31:53,162 --> 00:31:55,042 Speaker 7: I did. It took me a second because I was like, 532 00:31:55,242 --> 00:31:57,362 Speaker 7: how would I cast this? Who feels right for Martha's 533 00:31:57,402 --> 00:32:00,922 Speaker 7: Vineyard other than Martha Stewart. So I went with For 534 00:32:01,082 --> 00:32:04,762 Speaker 7: Joan pool Nash, I thought Mary Steinburgeon just seemed right right. 535 00:32:04,802 --> 00:32:06,682 Speaker 7: I don't know why, it just seemed right. And then 536 00:32:06,722 --> 00:32:10,562 Speaker 7: for Bowen the historian, I thought Michael Sheen right. I 537 00:32:10,562 --> 00:32:13,242 Speaker 7: don't know why, but Michael Sheen just felt right for him, right. 538 00:32:13,282 --> 00:32:16,162 Speaker 7: And then for Nile DeMarco, keeping that vibe, I thought, 539 00:32:16,202 --> 00:32:19,282 Speaker 7: Barry Keegan, right, you get this cool deaf activist. He 540 00:32:19,282 --> 00:32:21,602 Speaker 7: seems like I had done integrity. And then finally for 541 00:32:21,642 --> 00:32:24,642 Speaker 7: the ninety two year old local Jane Slater, I thought, 542 00:32:24,842 --> 00:32:26,962 Speaker 7: let's give it up to a legend Carol Burnett. 543 00:32:27,082 --> 00:32:28,922 Speaker 2: Anytime Carol Burnett's coming on screen. 544 00:32:28,922 --> 00:32:30,402 Speaker 7: I'm happy right, and you know she used to do 545 00:32:30,482 --> 00:32:33,002 Speaker 7: sign language every episode of her show, but it was 546 00:32:33,042 --> 00:32:35,202 Speaker 7: a specific little sign she gave to her. I think 547 00:32:35,202 --> 00:32:37,482 Speaker 7: I was her mother, and she would always signal with 548 00:32:37,522 --> 00:32:39,442 Speaker 7: her hand to her mother at the end of every episode. 549 00:32:39,482 --> 00:32:41,882 Speaker 7: It was like their own little sign language. So I thought, boom, 550 00:32:41,882 --> 00:32:42,682 Speaker 7: we got to honor that. 551 00:32:43,042 --> 00:32:44,922 Speaker 2: This is perfect. Zaren, you did it again. 552 00:32:45,242 --> 00:32:46,122 Speaker 7: Oh thank you, David. 553 00:32:48,922 --> 00:32:52,002 Speaker 6: Very Special Episodes is made by some very special people. 554 00:32:52,722 --> 00:32:55,842 Speaker 6: This show is hosted by Danish Wartz, Saren Burnette, and 555 00:32:55,962 --> 00:33:00,682 Speaker 6: me Jason English. Our producer is Josh Fisher. Day's episode 556 00:33:00,722 --> 00:33:05,802 Speaker 6: was written by Joanna Sokolowski and Julia Smith, Additional writing 557 00:33:05,842 --> 00:33:09,642 Speaker 6: by Marisa Brown, editing and sound design by Josh Thame, 558 00:33:10,522 --> 00:33:14,602 Speaker 6: mixing and mastering by Beheed Fraser. Our story editors are 559 00:33:14,642 --> 00:33:20,002 Speaker 6: Abby Stone and Marisa Brown. Oral history clips with Eric Coddle, 560 00:33:20,682 --> 00:33:26,082 Speaker 6: Everett Poole, Sidney Harris, and Jane Slater are excerpted from 561 00:33:26,122 --> 00:33:32,482 Speaker 6: interviews conducted with Lindsey Lee, Martha's Vineyard Museum oral history curator, 562 00:33:32,922 --> 00:33:36,042 Speaker 6: courtesy of the Martha's Vineyard Museum. Couldn't have done it 563 00:33:36,082 --> 00:33:40,442 Speaker 6: with value. Original music by Elise McCoy. Research and fact 564 00:33:40,522 --> 00:33:46,602 Speaker 6: checking by Meredith Danko, Austin Thompson, Joanna Solkeolowski, and Julius Smith. 565 00:33:47,562 --> 00:33:52,522 Speaker 6: Joe logo by Lucy Quintinia. I'm your Executive producer Very 566 00:33:52,562 --> 00:33:55,482 Speaker 6: Special Episodes is the production of iHeart Podcasts.