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CULTURAL LIFE SCRIPTS STRUCTURE AND LIFE STORIES OF SAUDI DEAF

INDIVIDUALS

A Proposal

Presented to

The Faculty of the College of Graduate Studies

Lamar University

In Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the Degree

Doctor of Deaf Education and Deaf Studies

by

Abdullah Alofi

Summer 2019
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Chapter I

Introduction to the Study

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has not had the advantage of an extensive

documented history of deaf education; this limitation has hindered Deaf culture within KSA. In

the western world, a capital D refers to culturally Deaf individuals who share Deaf culture, sign

language, and participate in the Deaf community, while the small d refers to the audiological

condition of being deaf with limited contact with other deaf individuals (Holcomb, 2013;

Moores, 2001). In this dissertation, the small d refers to deaf individuals in KSA because there

are no capital and small letters in the Arabic language that can differentiate between the two

terms. Also, the differences between these two terms have not been discussed in the Saudi deaf

community.

Another issue that has limited the spread of this culture is that there are few deaf families

with deaf children who grow up in KSA. The majority of deaf children are born to hearing

families who have no prior knowledge of deaf people, their language, and their culture.

Therefore, Saudi deaf children are more than likely to experience language delays and to have

limited exposure to the Saudi Arabian Sign Language (SASL) and Deaf culture until they are

school aged. As in other nations, Deaf culture tends to be learned in residential schools and Deaf

clubs (Holcomb, 2013) to which these deaf Saudi children are not exposed. For the most part,

these residential schools and deaf clubs play a significant role in promoting Deaf culture around

the world as they are where deaf adults gathering in one place to share their values, habits,

experiences, and identity. In KSA these cultural values and experiences are shared later with

Saudi deaf children when they arrive at a residential school for the deaf.
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Another issue in the Kingdom is that people tend to hold a medical perspective about

deaf individuals, believing them to be “broken” and needing to be fixed (Alqarni, 2017; G.

Alamri, 2017; Lane, Hoffmeister, & Bahan, 1996). This belief is supported because, as in most

countries (Mitchell & Karchmer, 2005) and as mentioned previously, the majority of deaf

children are born to hearing families. This issue is critical in KSA as Alqarni (2017) pointed out

that most families have never met a deaf person; this situation leads most families to choose to

educate their deaf children using spoken language. However, Alqarni (2017) found that if the

family knew a deaf person who signed, then they were likely to encourage their deaf child to sign

and attend a deaf school. This situation leaves most hearing parents with only information from

the medical view emphasizing spoken language rather than sign language and Deaf culture. This

perspective shows how deaf individuals and their families are impacted by the surrounding

thought of what is best for deaf children.

Another important factor in supporting these medical beliefs about deaf children is that

most of the research in KSA is conducted by Saudi hearing researchers. Moreover, these

researchers tend to get their degrees outside of KSA because most Saudi universities do not offer

higher degrees in deaf education. Currently, the only program offering a Ph.D. in deaf education

is at King Saud University (KSU); other Saudi universities only offer bachelor’s and master’s

degrees in special education with some courses related to deaf education. Like early research in

the United States (U.S.), most of the researchers in KSA are hearing and not fluent in sign

language (Benedict & Sass-Lehrer, 2007; Wolsey et al., 2017). Therefore, the Saudi deaf

community has been investigated through the lens of the dominant hearing community.

Despite suggestions by Wolsey et al. (2017), there are only a few deaf researchers in

Saudi Arabia that can conduct research from a Deaf-centric perspective. This Deaf-centric
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perspective reframes deaf individuals as members of a minority linguistic group with their own

culture. This reframes how deaf people are seen; it frames them as being different rather than as

having a deficit. This situation is slowly changing as Bader Alomary is a Gallaudet University

alumnus who became the first and only deaf person to hold a faculty position at KSU in Riyadh.

Mr. Alomary has a bachelor’s degree in Deaf education and a master’s degree in sign language

education (B. Alomary, personal communication, August 30, 2017). Unfortunately, many other

Saudi deaf individuals who graduated from universities in the U.S. have not been allowed to

work in residential deaf schools in KSA where they would serve as important role models. Just

like in other countries, deaf education has been dominated and controlled nationally and

internationally by hearing educators (Benedict & Sass-Lehrer, 2007; Lane, Hoffmeister, &

Bahan, 1996), who do not have knowledge about SASL or Deaf culture.

Yet another factor leading to families selecting spoken language is that there is limited

knowledge about SASL or SASL linguistics among researchers and educators (Almotiri, 2017;

G. Alamri, 2017). Those factors create a shortage of studies in KSA that discuss Deaf identity,

culture, and literature. This gap leaves the Saudi community lacking the knowledge and

empirical study of SASL and Deaf culture (Alzahrani, 2017; Alqarni, 2017). The common belief

is that SASL is not a true language and that Deaf culture does not exist. These attitudes are not

unlike those found earlier in other countries prior to the groundbreaking research of Stokoe

(1980), who first identified the linguistics of American Sign Language (ASL) in the 1960s. This

negative belief towards SASL and Saudi Deaf culture leaves Saudi deaf people looking for a

place to practice their language and culture, such as at Deaf clubs. Next, a discussion of Deaf

culture is important to add regarding this gap in knowledge.

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In the past, Deaf clubs in the U.S. transmitted Deaf culture (Holcomb, 2013), and this

situation is the same in KSA. The Deaf Club of Riyadh was the first deaf club in the country and

was established in 1980 (Alamri, 2017). Within Saudi, the Deaf club is the only place that Saudi

deaf people can call their own. They gather every night to practice and organize a variety of

activities, including sport competitions, religious lectures, and social meetings (Saudi Deaf

Sports Federation, 2017). It is here that Saudi deaf adults participate in cultural events which

helps to enhance their self-esteem and confidence (Alofi, Clark, & Marchut, 2019) as these deaf

clubs support SASL and Deaf culture. Unfortunately, young Saudi deaf individuals are not

allowed to participate in the deaf club events due to the age restriction, as they must be at least

18 to join. Also, young deaf individuals face more challenges due to the absence of

transportation services (Alyami, 2015).

SASL and Saudi Deaf culture are not recognized officially outside the deaf community.

Deaf culture is submerged into hearing culture in families and the general community. This

denial or devaluing of Deaf culture tends to impact Saudi deaf individuals. Therefore, the goal of

this project is to explore how deaf Saudis see themselves in relation to the typical life script

found within the Saudi culture. Therefore, the theoretical framework is that used in other cultures

to understand how generalized cultural scripts impact the lives of community members.

Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework here is that of cultural life scripts. A life script framework is

based on a shared cultural understanding of the timing and ordering of major life events

(Berntsen & Rubin, 2004). This cultural life script is a schema of these normative life events. For

example, after giving birth to a baby girl, her mother often starts planning her daughter’s

wedding. These life scripts are semantic knowledge in that they are acquired from one’s culture,
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and they are in contrast to one personal life story which is one’s autobiographical or episodic

memory. These life scripts are then compared to episodic memories in the form of an

individual’s life story about their own personal memories. Life stories are personal life

experiences while life scripts are the expected cultural life events in the entire community.

In recent research, Clark and Daggett (2015), explored the life script of American Deaf

native signers who grew up in a generationally Deaf family, i.e., their parents had also grown up

in signing Deaf families. Their life script had high overlap with the typical American hearing life

script, but they added a deaf tag that emphasized Deaf culture and values, such as the desire to

have Deaf children. In another study that investigated the life script of American deaf individuals

who grew up using spoken language, differences were found in their life scripts when compared

to Deaf native signers; here there were reports of bullying, and not being good enough.

Interestingly, both groups of Deaf participants included discrimination as part of their script;

however, the native signers felt that it was a problem for hearing people while the group who

grew up using spoken language felt that it was their fault that they experienced discrimination.

The only study of deaf Saudis that used a similar methodology was a recent study that

asked deaf Saudis about their own life stories (Alofi, Clark, & Marschut, in press). The research

pictured the life of deaf individuals, age 18 to 40, growing up in hearing non-signing families in

KSA. Results of the study found that deaf Saudis experiences language deprivation at an early

age and faced communication difficulties in their life. Deaf participants reported communication

barriers at home, school, college, and the workplace. The issue of miscommunication was

considered an obstacle in Saudi deaf people’s everyday life. In contrast, communication in the

deaf community showed a positive outcome, such as having a strong deaf identity and

confidence. Alofi et al.,’s (in press) study found that SASL was a milestone in the life story of
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Saudi deaf people, but it was neglected in their hearing families and schools. The Saudi

community values spoken language, and the common belief was that deaf individuals in the

community need to learn spoken language in contrast to an assessible visual language like

SASL. However, no research has investigated deaf individuals’ life scripts in conjunction with

their own life stories.

Cultural life scripts and life stories interact in a culture where the person lives; therefore,

this study seeks to explore what the life stories and life scripts of Saudi deaf individuals look like

as they live in two cultures, Deaf and hearing. This theoretical framework will be further

expanded in Chapter II.

Background of the Problem

As noted above, there are two intersecting issues that interact to impact the life scripts of

deaf Saudis. Initially, it is important to note that most deaf Saudis are born to hearing families,

just like in the U.S., where more than 95% of deaf children are born to hearing families with no

prior experiences with deaf individuals (Mitchell & Karchmer, 2004). Therefore, their families

most likely have never met a deaf person (Benedict, 2011), and they will accept the medical

professionals’ advice that their child needs to be “fixed”. Additionally, Alquraini (2010) points

out that many Saudis view people with disabilities as being punished for past bad deeds;

therefore, some Saudis treat those with disabilities negatively even though the law gives them

equal rights. These negative attitudes frequently carry over into the schools; therefore, the

cultural life scripts of deaf Saudis may vary from those found for American deaf individuals as

well as the more western perceptions of hearing individuals.

The second intersecting issue is how deaf Saudis view their own life trajectory. Do they

accept the idea that they are “broken” and that they cannot go to school and work? In contrast,
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have they found other cultural support systems that provide them with a more positive perception

about being deaf in KSA? Given limited research from a Deaf-centric perspective, it is important

to investigate how deaf Saudis view their own life scripts as well as their own personal life

stories. The influence of these cultural values may lead to negative life scripts which are not

found for other groups. Then, these cultural life scripts can be contrasted with their own life

stories to determine how they themselves navigate life in KSA.

Significance of the Problem

Life scripts establish cultural expectations for a “typical” life. Given the complete lack of

knowledge about how deaf Saudis view themselves within their context, it is important to

understand what the cultural perspectives are within this context as well as to understand the

impact of these attitudes and beliefs on how deaf Saudis view their own lives. Negative cultural

perceptions limit opportunities for deaf individuals. These limitations seem to be expressed

through the limited number of deaf individuals with high paying and high-status jobs within

KSA. Understanding the impact of these cultural views can alter the lives of deaf people in two

ways; first, they may be able to re-evaluate their own sense of self. Secondly, it may be possible

to change the cultural perceptions of hearing society in KSA regarding deaf individuals. For

example, in a meeting with education officials from KSA in the U.S., Bader Alamary was asked

what he did; he replied that he was a faculty member at KSU. He was asked to repeat this

statement three times, as the officials had a difficult time believing that a deaf person could hold

a faculty position. Next, he was asked what he was doing here in the U.S., and he replied that he

was getting his doctoral degree. Again, it required several iterations until the officials finally

came to understand what Bader said (B. Alomary, personal communication, August 30, 2017).

This naive statement of disbelief shows the need to highlight deaf life scripts and to begin to
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reframe attitudes and beliefs, showing that deaf people in Saudi Arabia are capable of holding a

high position job.

Purpose of the Study and Research Questions

Hypothesis: Deaf Saudis will have similar life scripts and life stories to those found for deaf

Americans raised orally.

H1a: Do the life scripts of Saudi deaf individuals map to the life scripts found for

American deaf individuals raised in homes using spoken language with hearing

non-signing parents?

H1b: What are the reported prevalence, importance, age of occurrence for the event, and

the emotional valence for both the life scripts and the life stories of these deaf Saudis

adults?

Research Design

This study will follow the Rubin, Berntsen and Hutson’s methodology (2009) and begin

to investigate both the life scripts and life stories of Deaf Saudis. The sample size focuses on

asking 20 Deaf Saudis to provide their seven most common expectations that they expect to take

place in the typical life course of a Deaf Saudi as the first part of the study. To consider events as

a part of the life script, it must be mentioned by at least 25 percent in the participants’ responses

(Rubin et al., 2009). Next, these same participants will be to report the seven most important

memories in their own personal life from their birth to their present age, followed by the same

four questions.

Given the limited literacy among the deaf population in Saudi Arabia, the researcher

will sign instructions to all participants using a video platform to collect the data. The data will

be conducted in SASL to document life scripts and stories and will also be recorded for later
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analysis. This approach will enable the researcher to gain more in-depth information and more

detailed stories which will help the researcher to accurately analyze the information relevant to

the research questions.

Data Analysis

All life scripts and life stories will be collated into a master list. Those life scripts that are

reported by 25 percent of the participants will become the master list for the life scripts of the

participants. Each event is then followed up with four questions. These include the prevalence of

the event, the importance of the event, the age at which the event occurred, and the emotional

valence of the event. The responses to these four questions will be calculated using descriptive

statistics and reported as frequencies given that they will be converted to nominal data, except

the question regarding age which will be reported as the mean, standard deviation, and the range.

The same procedure will occur when asking participants to discuss their seven most

important events in their life story. Again, a master list will be developed, after which a final list

will be reported for the events reported by 25 percent of the participants.

Assumptions

Assumptions are defined as the use of interpretive/theoretical frameworks that inform the

significant of the research that addresses the meaning individuals or groups ascribe to a social or

human issue (Creswell, 2016). The following assumptions were taken into consideration in this

study. First, the literacy skills, word recognition, and reading comprehension among Saudi deaf

individuals are at lower level when compared to their hearing peers (Alsmadi, 2013). Their

struggle with reading led to this study being conducted in SASL to avoid any misunderstanding.

Secondly, due to gender segregation in Saudi Arabian society (Alothman, 2014), it is assumed

that there are difficulties gaining explicit personal stories from female participants; therefore, this
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study focused only on men. Furthermore, Deaf culture and SASL are oppressed by the dominant

hearing culture and spoken language, which could affect the life scripts of the deaf participants.

Limitations and Delimitations

Limitations are potential weaknesses or problems in quantitative research that are

identified by the researcher (Creswell, 2015, p. 618). One of the limitations of this research is

that the current Saudi hearing life script is unknown which limits the potential of exploring if

there is any overlapping between Saudi hearing individuals’ scripts and Saudi deaf individuals’

scripts. Additionally, the sample used in this research was raised in hearing families where there

was no SASL or Deaf culture exposure, leading to an inability to generalize this research to all

Deaf Saudis. Finally, social censure, repression, or dissociation could impact the willingness of

the participants to share negative personal stories which will limit the participants’ narratives

(Berntsen & Rubin, 2002).

Delimitations are those characteristics that limit the scope of the study and identify the

boundaries of the study during the development of the study (Simon & Goes, 2018). The major

delimitation of the study is that it focused on cultural life scripts and life stories of deaf men due

to the gender segregation in the Saudi community. Most Saudi women wear “niquab” which is a

kind of “hijab” where they are required to cover their face and hair when they appear in society.

The niquab is a piece of black cloth worn over the face but leaves the eyes uncovered

(AlMunajjed, 1997). This face covering could restrict the participants’ facial expression and

these facial expressions are fundamental components of sign language. As the study will be

conducted using face-to-face interviews in SASL, it would be difficult to include female

participants because there is a potential for misunderstandings between the female participants

and the interviewer that may occur due to a lack of the participants’ facial expressions.
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Additionally, this study will not be able to be generalized to Deaf Saudis who grew up

with SASL and an understanding of Deaf culture. These individuals grow up in a different

context, that can be expected to impact what they expect others in society to believe about deaf

Saudis.

Definition of Significant Terms

• Arabic signs (AS): Arabic Sign are an amalgamation of signs (a patois) from various

Arabic sign languages that are used in a variety of different contexts, primarily at events

like conferences, media and large-scale Deaf events comprising multiple linguistic

groups, and in travel and other social scenarios. Compared to natural sign languages, it is

manufactured and limited (G. Alamri, 2017).

• Bilingual Deaf Education: A linguistic methodology using two or more languages (for

example, ASL and English, with ASL being the target language and English being the

second language) for teaching Deaf and hard of hearing students (Baker, 2011).

• Deaf culture: A group of Deaf people who hold similar values, languages, folkloric

references, and arts; they also have similar beliefs about other cultures and life

experiences and share cultural and behavioral norms. People in this particular culture

typically identify as Deaf or Children or Kids of Deaf Adults (CODAs or KODAs)

respectively (Padden & Humphries, 1988; Leigh, Andrews, & Harris, 2018).

• Audism: Is the notion that one is superior based on one’s ability to hear or behave in a

manner of one who hears (Bauman, 2004; Bauman, 2008; Emery, 2009).

• Life Scripts: Life scripts defined as culturally shared expectations about the order and

timing of life events in a prototypical life course (Berntsen & Rubin, 2002).
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• Life Stories: Life stories are defined as personal experiences and life events within one’s

own life (Berntsen & Rubin, 2002).

• Saudi Arabian Sign Language (SASL): Saudi Arabian Sign Language is a visual

language. It is a natural language of Saudi deaf community. SASL is used among Saudi

deaf individuals to communicate and convey meaning. It contents hand shape, movement,

and placement, as well as body movements and facial expressions. SASL has it is own

grammar and lexicon similar to American Sign Language (Researcher’s definition).

Summary

Chapter I includes an introduction to the study, the background of the problem, the

statement of the problem, and the theoretical framework. In addition, in this chapter, the

researcher provides the rationale behind the proposed research study, assumptions, limitations

and delimitations, definitions, summaries, and organization of the research.

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