Mask of Benevolence: Disabling the Deaf Community by Lane, Harlan L. Lane, Harlan L.

From the Publisher

The author of the pioneering history of the deaf When the Mind Hears now continues his advocacy for the deaf community with a hard-hitting, provocative new book. The Mask of Benevolence is at once a deeply moving celebration of the unique manual language and culture of the modern deaf community, a scathing indictment of the heedlessness and hypocrisies of many of its hearing "benefactors," and an expose of the ways in which the "experts" in the scientific, medical, and educational establishments who purport to serve the deaf actually do them grievous harm. With great eloquence Lane argues that the relationship between the deaf community and those who claim to help them resembles that between colonized and colonizer, resulting in the suppression of the oppressed group's language and culture--in the dehumanization of the oppressed to the profit of the oppressor. He shows, for example, how the "medicalization" of cultural deafness does more for medical professionals and the manufacturers of prosthetic devices (hearing aids, "bionic ears," etc.) than for deaf children; how the "mainstreaming" of deaf children in hearing schools actually obstructs their education--aiding not the students but the interests of various medical and rehabilitation specialists by putting a premium on their services. Impeccably documented, The Mask of Benevolence offers an impassioned and highly compelling case in support of embracing deaf language and culture, bilingual education, and the blessings of cultural diversity.

Publishers Weekly

``Audism'' is the term that Northeastern University psychology professor Lane, who is not deaf, uses in this forceful indictment of what he calls ``the hearing establishment,'' which he portrays as a colonial power overseeing the needs of deaf subjects. Hearing ``experts'' (at least the ones who can hear) demean deaf people, who, he writes, view themselves as an ethnic group, and who tend to marry among themselves. A deaf mother recalls her response upon learning that her newborn was deaf: ``I wasn't disappointed. I thought, it will be all right. We are both deaf so we will know what to do.'' Lane derides the financial motivation of those who urge upon deaf patients cochlear implants, a procedure with mixed results based on a painful, complicated bone-drilling process. Those who are deaf, he observes, are not handicapped; they have heightened visual powers. His book is an eye-opener. (May)

Library Journal

Written to stir both action and feeling, The Mask of Benevolence is thought-provoking in all areas of deaf studies. In particular, Lane focuses on the differences between the deaf as disabled and the deaf as a linguistic minority. He argues for a more coherent and compassionate society, one in which the deaf choose what is best for them--in areas such as education, politics, philosophy, and language. Specifically, Lane's research is about people who grow up deaf, acculturated to the manual language and the society of the deaf community. He writes again, as he did in his When the Mind Hears ( LJ 10/15/84), of the historical perspective and positive conceptualization of deaf individuals. Lane is thorough, detailed, and intensive in relating the deaf world to the hearing, and he backs up his opinions with facts, research, and vivid detail. As there are no other current titles that so eloquently clarify the differences between the deaf and hearing worlds, Lane's book is highly recommended for all collections.-- Emily Ferren, Carroll Cty. P.L., Westminster, Md.

Kirkus Reviews

Lane (Psychology/Northeastern) follows up When the Mind Hears—his 1984 history of the deaf—with an excoriating analysis of the oppression of the deaf in contemporary society. Hearing people, Lane says, view deafness as a disability—but the deaf see themselves as a linguistic minority, feel that they have a richer social life than hearing people, marry each other, and celebrate the birth of a deaf child as a precious gift. After developing these preconception-shattering revelations, Lane reveals the meshes of paternalistic control exercised by "audism"—that institution of school administrators, speech therapists, psychologists, and social workers that authorizes views of the deaf, governs where they go to school, and exercises authority over their community. Despite research showing that American Sign Language is a natural language with its own vocabulary, grammar, and art forms, professionals persist in viewing it as disabled English and refuse to learn it. The consequences for the deaf are dire: IQ scores can be lowered 30 points by examiners resorting to ad hoc pantomime for test instruction; psychologists administer tests designed for the hearing and misdiagnose deaf children as learning-disabled; deaf youth are "mainstreamed" out of special schools to languish in a hearing, English-speaking environment. The audist establishment, Lane says, has promulgated calling deaf children "hearing-impaired"—the equivalent, he adds, of calling women "non-men" or gays "sexually impaired." And economic self- interest motivates the audist establishment, Lane argues. The hearing-aid industry, for example, annually sells $250 million dollars' worth of hearing aids to deafchildren, whose teachers require them. Yet virtually all of these children went deaf before learning English, making the hearing aids useless. What is to be done to empower the deaf? Allow them their language, Lane says, and their history and their dignity. Essential for anyone with a deaf person in his or her life, or for anyone who wishes truly to understand two million deaf fellow Americans.

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