Birkitts Books presents ... Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language: Hereditary Deafness on Martha?s Vineyard ISBN: 067427041X Author: Nora Ellen Groce Publisher: Harvard University Press Release Date: 1985 Seller Category: History Regional US Qty Available: 1 Condition: Used: Very Good Sku: 241006013 Notes: Minor shelf wear, binding tight, pages clean and unmarked. "When is deafness neither handicap nor stigma? When, as this remarkable book recounts, the entire hearing community learns from childhood to be bilingual in conventional speech and sign language, and when the deaf are wholly integrated into the com-munity's social, economic, religious, and recreational life . . . A vivid ethnography of a hearing community's full acceptance of, and adaptation to, deafness. Groce also constructs a fascinating ethnohistory of this genetic disorder." ? Choice "Beautiful and fascinating . . . I was so moved by Groce's book that the moment I finished it I jumped in the car, with only a toothbrush, a tape recorder, and a camera ? I had to see this enchanted island for myself." ? Oliver Sacks, New York Review of Books "Brilliantly argued and lively . . . [Groce's] information consists of the oral history she herself garnered from some 50 witnesses, al-most all more than 75 years old, and the documents in print and in manuscript that cross-check and extend their first-hand ac-counts. Human genetic theory, ethnographic counterparts and a clear-eyed account of social attitudes are the analytic tools that form her brief and telling work . . . [A] persuasive and compas-sionate investigation." ? Scientific American "Fascinating . . . Groce accomplishes much just by pointing out that 'handicaps' are something a culture creates, and thus the joint responsibility of us all. That's what places this book squarely within the best tradition of anthropological writing, and makes it both moving and encouraging." Harvard University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England Photograph courtesy of Dukes County Historical Society Don't forget to check out other great deals in our Store!!