I see

When a person looses one of his 5 senses, i.e. hearing, smell, touch, sight, or taste, it is said that the remaining four senses take up the flack, if you will, for the sense that is lost.  For example, if one were to  experience 100% loss of visual acuity, and he is standing in a room full of boots, he may not see the boots, but he will know he is standing in a room full of leather.  He would be able to smell the leather.  Same principle for Deaf people.  Obviously, they are missing one of the senses, hearing.  The rest of their senses are heightened.  They can feel someone walking down the hall, before you see them enter the room. They can feel the a song playing in the background as it dances and vibrates through their body. Their vision is heightened as well.  American Sign Language is a visual and gesteral language.  It is the language that feels natural  to the Deaf. "Deaf people interpreted normality in a different way.  They argued for the Deaf community as a legitimate cultural group, distinguished by deafness in reasonable and not abnormal ways. Most Deat people both actively and passively resisted the attempts to deny them this cultural identity, preferring to attend residential deaf schools, join Deaf clubs and churches or synagogues, marry other Deaf people, and communicate primarily in sign language." (Burch, 4)  The Oralist movement took that away from them for many, many years.

     "Oralist, as they came to be called at the time, had a strong weapon in their arsenal: the highly visible and vocal advocate Alexander Graham Bell, who took on deaf education as a personal cause, in part because he had a deaf mother and a deaf wife." (Padden, 48).  But anyone who encounters a person that has been reared in an oral  environment could maybe understand where Bell was coming from.  Considering the fact that Deaf people were considered dumb, or were thought of as bruts, and Bell's mother was Deaf, one would have to think that Bell only wanted the best for her.  The best for his wife as well. I know several people who grew up in main-stream and/or oral environments.  If I didn't know they were deaf, I would never guess.  One of my assignments in “Deaf Culture” class, was to interview a "deaf" person.  We met at a local McDonalds, so that she could take her two young daughters along. I watched her interact with the girls, who did not appear to know sign language.  I saw her place her order with the attendant, who did not have a clue the lady he was waiting on was deaf.   During the interview, I watched in awe as she carried on... not hearing a sound...yet NO ONE knew that but she and I. She is a master at reading lips, and her own voice is beautiful.  No one could ever think she is dumb, a brute, broken or special.  She is just a beautiful woman. A productive member of society.  I believe this is what he wanted for his mother, his wife, and the whole Deaf world.  But why should he have that choice.  He himself was not Deaf, therefore, how could he truly know what is best for the Deaf.

Sources:
Burch, S. (2002). Sign of Resistance. New York: New York
     University Press.

Padden, C. a. (2005). Inside Deaf Culture. Cambridge: Harvard
     University Press.