Which area in New England was once noted for its large deaf population where deaf people were at practically no communicative disadvantage because both deaf and hearing people used sign language on an everyday basis to communicate?

Answer:
The communities of Chilmark and West Tisbury in Martha’s Vineyard. Deafness ran in several families, and an unusually high proportion of the native population was born deaf. Many native children attended the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, carrying their “Martha’s Vineyard dialect” (a major source of ASL) with them to school, and bringing a richer, more sophisticated form of signing (“Old ASL”) back to the island when they graduated. The deaf population gradually dwindled and died out completely as natives moved off-island and intermarried with other families that lacked the Vineyard “deaf gene.” What is especially remarkable about the Vineyard communities was that both deaf and hearing natives used signing as a common language. Deaf people weren’t seen as odd or strange. Hearing natives even used signing when no deaf people were around—e.g., crews on passing boats. Researchers have filmed and preserved some of the Vineyard signs, as recalled by elderly hearing Vineyarders.

Name three U.S. cities with large deaf populations.

Answer:
Washington, D.C., Northridge, California, and Rochester, New York. All of these have “college hubs”—Gallaudet University in the Washington area, National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology (NTID/RIT) in Rochester, and National Center on Deafness at California State University (NCOD/CSUN) in Northridge. Another city with a high “Deaf presence” is Silver Spring, Maryland, headquarters of the National Association of the Deaf. Many Gallaudet University alumni and retired faculty live in the Potomac/Chesapeake/Tidewater area.