I Forgot To Post Yesterday But DPAN.TV Had An Interpreter Team For The Debate. You Can Still Watch It.

Happy Hanukkah

Sources: SigningSavvy, Lifeprint, ASLDeafined

[Image ID:

The sign for Hanukkah in American Sign Language. Both hands in the 4 handshape palms facing away from signer, tips of index fingers touching, then hands move apart. Movement is illustrated by arms that are translucent blue and pink in different stages of the sign. Background is white.

End ID]

Here's a funny little story about disability accommodation.

So I'm a bit deaf. Like...I have a prescription for a hearing aide but don't own one kind of a bit deaf. And I used to work at this noisy ass addiction treatment clinic. So even in my office I relied a lot on lipreading.

So one day I'm working with this client, and she's getting more and more upset and shut down, no matter how I try to steer us onto a calm, relaxed subject of conversation. And I can't figure out why the conversation has gone so far south.

And then I realize I am sitting at a buckwild angle in my chair, leaning waaaay over to the side. I'm almost falling off this chair. I look like a total goober.

And then I realize I'm doing that because I'm trying to lipread this client, who keeps turning further and further down and away from me. I probably would have noticed sooner but lipreading is actually kind of hard and I was focusing on noticing her upset rather than my body language.

And then it clicks.

She thinks I'm leaning like this because I am being a passive-aggressive asshole who is trying to force/shame her into making eye contact with me. I'd known this client enough to know she hates eye contact- possibly autism, possibly anxiety. Always possible it's both or something else.

I sit up straight and say. "Oh! Hey, I don't give a shit about eye contact, I'm trying to read your lips so I can understand what you're saying to me."

Instant vibe change. She relaxes, and sits upright comfortably in her chair, looking about a foot to the left of my head, so I can see her face clearly but she doesn't have to either fake or evade unwanted eye contact.

From then on things go a lot smoother, and we can get some good work done.

One side benefit from normalizing accommodations and reducing barriers to them is that it allows for low-stress conversations about what everybody needs in order to fully participate in an interaction. If I hadn't named the need I was trying to meet, she wouldn't have realized she could have her need met as well.

Invisible/Overlooked

Sources: SigningSavvy, Lifeprint, ASLDeafined

[Image ID:

Invisible/Overlooked in American Sign Language. Hand upright in in open B handshape palm facing back rotates at the elbow so hand swipes past the face.

Image 1 is white to blend in with tumblr's true blue mode, image 2 is dark blue to blend in with tumblr's low-contrast mode, and image 3 is dark grey to blend in with tumblr's dark mode

End ID]

it felt like was the only one learning asl for nonverbalism reasons and i always felt weird about it cus there was never really any information about using asl for mutism like i'm appropriating deaf language or something? but i just got so sick of typing things out to communicate and people getting annoyed with how long it takes. its embarrassing. i've found that a sentence that comes out garbled and incomprehensible or doesn't come out at all when i try to speak verbally comes out easy as shit in sign. i also don't need captions for asl movies and videos (i got audio processing issues) so i'm working on my receptive skill also. anyway if you haven't done it before, what's the sign for selective mutism?

I am definitely grateful to the deaf community for sign languages. I don't think there would be sign languages if they hadn't developed and fought for it. But I don't think its appropriation to learn it for nonverbalism. For me personally, I'm just excited there's another person in the world I could sign with! I think it sucks that others assume people would only wanna sign if they have to! I've been in a number of situations in which I'm signing with someone, they ask if I'm deaf or hearing, then immediately start speaking when I say hearing. ASL is a wonderfully expressive language that feels so much more natural to me than spoken language.

Selective Mutism

Source: Lifeprint

[Image ID: Selective Mutism in American Sign Language. Hand in 4 handshape over the signers mouth, like the sign for "talk" then closes in S handshape over the mouth. The first part of the sign is red, and the second half is blue. End ID]

My school had a back to school bash with arts and crafts so I painted the ASL sign for Dinosaur

[Image ID: Dinosaur in American Sign Language in acrylic. A hand in flat O handshape is painted with a yellow eye, a nostril, green scales, and teeth lining the thumb and index finger. End ID]

Sources: SigningSavvy, Lifeprint, ASLDeafined

Sorry for the Hiatus, if been working on being an author or something. Check out my stuff at @elliottnotyet. I'll try to post stuff regularly on here again

Pig

Sources: SigningSavvy, ASLDeafined

[Image ID: Pig in American Sign Language. Hand in B handshape palm down rests under the chin then changes to Bent-B handshape. Above the hands is a pig face. End ID]

Candle

Sources: SigningSavvy, Lifeprint, ASLDeafined

[Image ID:

The sign for Candle in American Sign Language. Base hand in 1 handshape touches palm of dominant hand. Dominant hand is in 5 handshape with palm facing signer. Fingers wiggle. Movement is illustrated by arms that are translucent pink, red, orange, and yellow in different stages of the sign. Background is transparent.

End ID]

Ujima(Collective Work and Responsibility)

Collective Work and Responsibility

Sources: National Black Deaf Advocates

[Image ID:

The sign for Collective Work and Responsibility in American Sign Language.

Collective is signed with both hands linked in F handshape. Hands pull each other in a circle parallel to the ground in front of the signer. Movement is illustrated by arms that are translucent black in different stages of the sign.

Work is signed with both hands in the S handshape. Heal of dominant hand taps 2-3 times on thumb side of base hand. Movement is illustrated by arms that are translucent red in different stages of the sign.

Responsibility is signed with both hands in bent, open B handshape tapping dominant side shoulder 2-3 times with fingertips. Movement is illustrated by arms that are translucent green in different stages of the sign.

Space between Work and Responsibility implies the body shift version of And in ASL. Background is white.

End ID]

Heres a transcript from their website:

[Image ID: screenshot from the DailyMoth.com. Its logo, a lightbulb with a moth on it, is in the top left corner. A transcript reads:

Did you know that the famous Greek philosopher Socrates who lived in the fifth century B.C. may have been the first person to write about sign language? He said, “Suppose that we had no voice or tongue, and wanted to indicate objects to one another, should we not, like the deaf and dumb, make signs with the hands, head and the rest of the body?”

[Sponsored Video from GlobalVRS: www.globalvrs.com]

I got this piece of history from this book.

[“The Deaf Community in America: History in the Making”]

The authors Melvia and Ronald Nomeland said the remarks by Socrates “illustrates that deaf people existed then…”

End ID]

Deaf History: Socrates on sign language

More interesting information to share about Deaf history, thanks to Alex at The Daily Moth Deaf news.