2.3. Deaf culture
Deaf culture is a visual culture, which often transcends national boundaries. Deaf people all over the world share an identity, which is based on their experience in a world made by and for hearing people. Deaf communities have experienced along the history exclusion, discrimination, and stigmatization, to different extents. Therefore, they all share the same need: the removal of communication barriers, and also of every barrier or aspect of society that may block their development in the different areas of life. This identity, which they have acquired historically, highlights the aspects of their culture that represent their uniqueness in comparison to other communities. Thus, the main identity trait of Deaf communities is sign language. Sign language allows deaf people to overcome communication barriers in their daily lives and to grow and develop as any other individual. We need to bear in mind though that there is a part of the Catalan Deaf Community culture that is closely related to the Catalan territory and this may be reflected in the Deaf culture as well. For instance, in Catalonia it is very common to spread tomato pulp in the bread when preparing a sandwich or a toast. Related to this the sign for ‘tomato’ is iconically articulated doing the movement of spreading the pulp of a tomato in a slice of bread. This is just an example of many other Catalan culture representations that can be found in LSC, which differ from any other sign language of the world including the sign language used in the rest of Spain.
In Deaf communities there are some specific cultural values like the use of sign language, which, as this grammar shows, is shared by the Catalan Deaf Community. Moreover, the Deaf community in Catalonia, as well as other Deaf communities, has naming rituals. People belonging to the community have a name sign, which is usually related to some visual characteristic of the person, may it be a physical characteristic, a habit, or even a profession [see LEXICON 3.1 for more information on the creation of name signs].
Furthermore, there are cultural expressions related to the visual culture, like sign language poetry. In Catalonia, Frank Vidiella is an artist who has created visual poetry among other artistic expressions. Regarding painters, there are Deaf painters like Pedro Segimon, Josep Maria Segimon, Frank Vidiella, Edgar Murillo (Artedgar), Berta Frigola and Alícia Sort, among many others. Lastly, some Deaf writers outstand in the community writing about their experiences as Deaf persons, like Pepita Cedillo, who has written three books: Háblame a los ojos (2004), Mira lo que te digo (2010), Tu memoria en mis manos; and Imma Codorniu who has co-authored the book La nena que no deia hola (2014).
Among the most esteemed cultural events we can highlight the World Deaf Day, which is celebrated every year the last weekend of September in a different location in Catalonia depending on the Deaf association in charge that year. There are also some renowned theatre and cinema festivals like the Biennal internacional de cinema i teatre en llengua de signes, a festival that takes place every two years, organized by Centro Recreativo Cultural de Sordos (Cerecusor), one of the most important Deaf associations in Barcelona, which has a long tradition in organising theatre events since many years. Lately, the festival VicMovies, organised by the Agrupació de Sords de Vic i Comarca, has had a lot of impact. Some recent theatre plays are La Tríada and Diez negritos, both directed by Alícia Sort Leal. As for TV shows, Peixos is an internet show filmed entirely in LSC, in which both deaf and hearing actors and actresses participate.
Historically, Deaf associations have been the places where Deaf people gather and share activities. There is a main federation that comprises all associations in Catalonia (Federació de Persones Sordes de Catalunya). All associations in the Catalan territory may be found in this link. Moreover, some Deaf people associations are created with a more specific purpose, like ASU (Cercle d’Artistes Sords Units), which purpose is to gather Deaf artists, and VGB (Centre de difusió audiovisual). There are also associations for deaf-blind people in Catalonia, like APSOCECAT (Associació catalana pro persones amb sordceguesa) and ASOCIDE Catalunya (Associació de Sordcecs de Catalunya). It seems though that the habit of gathering in associations is decreasing among younger signers, since nowadays there are technological advances that allow them to communicate without the need of going to any association.
In relation to sign language courses, the first Catalan Sign Language course was organized in 1978, with Juan Frigola as the first deaf person teaching LSC. It was addressed to hearing people. In 1988, Deaf people realized that there was an evident need of training LSC teachers, so another course was created, this time with the purpose of training LSC teachers. Nowadays, there are fourteen Deaf Catalan associations that offer LSC courses mostly to hearing people, and it is estimated that approximately one thousand students are taking classes in different levels of proficiency.