Hereditary Deafness and Society: The Quest for Ethical Awareness

An excellent study of genetics and deafness is Martha’s Vineyard, a small island off the Massachusetts coast that was once known to have a sizable deaf population. This community that prevailed during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries relates many genetic concepts, giving insight as to why the deaf population was larger in proportion than that on the mainland. The paper will cover hereditary deafness in more depth than what has been discussed in the American Sign Language/Deaf Studies literature. This includes understanding the significance of population genetics. The paper also takes into consideration that many hearing residents of Martha’s Vineyard knew how to sign and where deaf and hearing individuals could communicate with each other effectively (e.g., Groce, 1985). Recently, this sociolinguistic phenomenon has been connected to shared signing communities that prevail in various places around the world (see Kisch, 2008, 2012). Martha’s Vineyard, as a shared signing community, inspires many as humans transition into the 21st century with emerging genetic tools, prompting scholars to better understand what it means to be an inclusive society for deaf people. Requiring attention is how deafness has been viewed by many in modern American society as something to eradicate, especially considering the capabilities of genetic engineering. Ethical conversations are thus essential for the field of genetics. Some considerations for social change are made to help facilitate acceptance of the genetic diversity in humanity that encompass a strong sense of ethical awareness.