What matters deafness of the ears, when the mind hears?

I will be overseas on a backpacking trip from 13th Dec to 23th Dec.

There will be no updates during this time.

Thank you all, and Blessed Christmas in advance!

The brown background makes this webpage difficult to read, but other than that, it’s a well explained FAQ site.

Highlights:

1. How do I differ from hearing individuals?

I do not recognize spoken words at all times, and I reply on visual communication such as sign language, written words, typed words, closed caption, open caption, pictures, and diagrams.

2. How can I communicate with a hearing person?

If an interpreter is available, I use sign language for responses, and then the interpreter translates the responses into voice for hearing people to understand. This communication tends to be free of any problems. If hearing employees know sign language, communication between them and me would be smooth and fast. Otherwise, I write notes for them to read; these notes would make a good record.

Read on…

A vlog by a deaf chap who signs in ASL.

Wait, what’s a vlog? I guess it’s adapted from ‘blog’, except that the ‘v’ in vlog stands for ‘video’. :)

Am glad to say I can, by and large, understand the ASL used in the video - I need to concentrate very hard though - and I find that I sure need to brush up on reading fingerspelling!

Go on to lenois.com!

(Thanks to Andrew for the heads up!) 

 

Is it possible for a group of children to invent an entirely new and unique language of their own? Sounds far-fetched?

But the answer seems to be "Yes!", based on this intruiging case study.

In at least one case, however, a group of children was able to spontaneously invent a totally new language out of necessity. The children in question were deaf, illiterate, and devoid of all but the most basic language skills, yet they were able to devise an intricate method of communication to use amongst themselves. Nicaraguan Sign Language (or ISN, for either Idioma de Señas de Nicaragua or Idioma de Signos Nicaragüense) is a unique and remarkable linguistic phenomenon of recent years.

Read on…

For all the deaf people who look down - whether subconsciously or otherwise - on other deaf folks with poor English skills, and for all signing deaf who look down - whether subconsciously or otherwise - on deaf people with poor or no signing skills.

Discimmination DOESN’T become us! 

I was a part of the hearing world, and I expected them to meet the expectations I had for my fellow hearing friends, who had to write to me in order to eventually learn how to sign in SEE. I carried this attitude for years. I actually began to realize my errors recently, when I pondered on how there are Deaf people who would choose to not accept me as a part of their world because my ASL is obviously very flawed. If it was wrong for them to not accept me because I was unable to sign in their language, then how could it be right for me to not accept them because they cannot write the way I do?

Read on…

I like the opening lines, short, succient and provides a an overview of the issue and a history of sorts.. all in one paragraph. 

Few people change our fundamental view of the Deaf world: Socrates, Plato, L’Epee, Sicard, Gallaudet, Clerc, Verditz, Stokoe, a handful of others. It is impossible to imagine our lives without them, for they got people thinking about the thinkable: Deaf people have American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate information and knowledge to make new meanings. Nothing could be simpler, nothing more natural and judging from the recent incident at Mississippi School for the Deaf, nothing harder to achieve.

Read on…

For background information on the incident, click here.