Question: What are Deaf Clubs?

Answer: The local “Deaf Club” was the hub of American Deaf Communities all over the country. Most major cities had one, if not more, active and regular weekly or monthly Deaf Club meetings. Each Deaf person/family paid for a membership (annual or lifetime) which supported the rent for the location, utilities, and usually even a bar/alcohol license and "supplies"! It was also important that the Deaf Club have a stage or raised area for announcements and performances, ample lighting to see people across the room, sometimes a sound system, and additional meetings rooms/offices.

Families with Deaf parents and their kids (hearing and Deaf) would spend Friday or Saturday nights at the local Deaf Club. Silent Movies, Deaf-themed movies, or other presenters and entertainment would be provided, paid for with the Club's membership funds and/or donated from the local and extended community. (Sometimes visitors from out of town would get up on the stage and regale the audience with folklore, Deaf jokes/riddles, Deaf poetry, and even the current "gossip" and news from their neck of the woods.)

Card games and other activities would be held weekly or monthly, partially to raise funds, mostly to provide a consistent and regular social time for Deaf across the city/region to come together and catch up with each other. Considering that most had hearing parents and siblings (usually 90%* of Deaf people came from hearing families...the percentage is now closer to 93%-95%!), and hearing co-workers, they had very little outlet to use their native visual language ASL with others during the week/month.

(*National Institutes of Health, NIDCD, "90% statistic")

Question: Why was there a need for Deaf Clubs?

Answer: How would you like being surrounded by people who spoke a different language all the time, and you only got to speak English once a week for a few hours (or once a month!)? You'd be frustrated, pent-up, anxious, and in need of "comfortable" socialization, right? Deaf Club was where they went to get their hit, their warm fuzzies, their "belongingness" and emotional/linguistic anchor!

Question: Where are some Deaf Clubs?

Answer: Major cities like LA, Riverside, Seattle, Baton Rouge, Cincinnati, Chicago, NYC, Washington, D.C., and even Hartford, CT, had bustling, busy, and active Deaf Clubs for their local members to join. The Deaf Clubs might even create intramural softball teams or bowling leagues, even across the country.

Question: What else happened at Deaf Club?

Answer: Other activities/events at Deaf Club:

• Fundraising, fun, and socialization

• Baseball/sports teams or leagues

• Folklore, storytelling, jokes, passing on ASL and history

• Calling in presenters to discuss ADA Laws,

• Local Laws that might affect the Deaf Community,

• New trends in research and technology for Deaf people,

• And issues regarding interpreters, educational programs

• for the Deaf, etc.

Question: And are Deaf Clubs closing/dying out?

Answer: Yes. Now, with iPhones/smart phones and the internet, many Deaf can catch up with video calls to each other. There are also VPs, Video Phones, which allow hearing people to call them, through a provided interpreter who has a headset and a computer screen/webcam. The interpreter can see the Deaf person and hear you speaking, and then interpret via the internet—no cost to you (or them). Nowadays, most Deaf have VPs or apps that work like Skype/Zoom/etc.

The Video Relay Service [VRS] companies actually give VPs and equipment to verified Deaf people so that they can use the VRS companies' proprietary platform/hardware/software. The VRS companies keep track of how many billable minutes—when the interpreter is connected to a hearing person on a phone line and a Deaf person on an internet video line—and then submit those to the FCC monthly for reimbursement. The entire VRS system is mostly supported by Government funds, which everyone with a cell phone pays into: an FCC Fee "CA Teleconnect Fund Surcharge", $0.01 to $0.03 cents/month.

Question: What are some other Deaf Organizations we should know about?

Answer: National Association of the Deaf (NAD), was founded in 1880, Cincinnati, OH, but is currently headquartered in Silver Spring, MD. It’s a non-profit organization “of, by, and for the Deaf”. At the national level, they provide lobbying services to Legislators regarding up-coming laws and bills. They are also a clearinghouse/distribution service for Deaf and ASL-related news content and research.

They host a biennial conference (every 2 years). And their Affiliate/State Chapters can host annual or biennial conferences (opposite years from National conferences). It's during these conferences that Deaf professionals and community members from all walks of life meet, catch up with old friends, present about issues occurring in their areas/regions, attend educational/research-based workshops and presentations about technology, cultural/linguistic issues, and other pressing needs.

It's during these conferences where new signs are "coined"—introduced, discussed, compared, researched, and accepted! (International Deaf may also attend, bringing their local country interpreters with them, as will DeafBlind participants register and may request interpreters for access to the events and programming.)

Question: And what about locally, here in California?

Answer: California has CAD (website below), which was founded in 1906. CAD is also a non-profit subsidiary of NAD (though some states' affiliate chapters are separate entities. Their goal is to support state and local representation of Deaf needs and agendas, which then get passed up to the national level.

CAD was a major proponent of a recent bill to the California Legislature named "LEAD-K", Language Equality & Acquisition for Deaf Kids. Their goal is:

"The main objective of this project is to increase the number of families with deaf or hard of hearing babies to be identified and receive early intervention and support services that ensure age appropriate language development. A secondary objective is to increase the number of health professionals and service providers receiving training, focusing on understanding development and early language acquisition.

This annual award of $235, 000 beginning April 1, 2020, for 4 years will allocate funds for the statewide services related to ParentLinks support and the Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP), specifically Deaf Coach Deaf Instructor services for families. Under the new grant, the program will continue to collaborate with the California Department of Education (CDE), The State Schools for the Deaf; The Health Services Coordination Centers, The Hearing Coordination Centers; Social Services, The Deaf Access Program; Development Services, and Regional Programs. Other partners include the California Academy of Pediatrics, California Educators For The Deaf, the Center for Early Intervention on Deafness, and Children’s Choice for Hearing and Talking (CCHAT)."

LEAD-KFamilyServices.org

Question: Any other organizations we should know about?

Answer: National Fraternal Society of the Deaf (NFSD) - Founded in 1901 to help Deaf members acquire insurance policies (life insurance, driving insurance, burial benefits, accidental coverage, etc.). Sadly they shut down in 2010, since there wasn't a need for such specialized insurance policies.

American Association of the Deaf-Blind (AADB) - Founded in 1937 as The American League for the Deaf-blind, it's a non-profit consumer membership organization of, by and for people with combined vision and hearing loss. (The local chapter is SCADB - Southern California Association of the Deaf-Blind, which has been shuttered since COVID hit in March 2020. They have predominantly been a social and event-hosting group.)

Deaflympics - Founded in 1924 and known as the CISS (Comité International des Sports des Sourds), the ICSD is now approaching the century mark of being the organization behind the building, evolving and fortifying the tradition of inviting deaf/hard of hearing elite athletes from all of the world to come together not only to compete in their respective sports, but to also develop comradeships between their countries.

There are many local, state, regional, national, and international organizations that serve the American (and International!) Deaf Community. You think of it, there is most likely a chapter or group somewhere of like-minded Deaf/ASL-using individuals!

Decline of Deaf Clubs, Carol Padden (PDF)

"Why Deaf Clubs Are Important", DeafUnity.org

World Deaf Directory, Deaf Clubs - DeafConnect.com

NAD.org (National Association of the Deaf)

CAD1906.org (California Association of the Deaf)

LEAD-K Family Services

National Fraternal Society of the Deaf

American Association of the Deafblind

Deaflympics