Aposta-Deafies

by White Dove 41 Replies latest jw friends

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  Lady Lee

  I love sigh language - have even before I started learning it - years before.

  When interpreting I used SEE - Signed Exact English. But with my friend I think I used more ASL - probably a mix of both. This was way before the push for accreditation.

  I hate watching those little interpreters in a box for some programs. They look so stiff. Their faces are cardboard. ASL is not like that. It is alive with body movement and facial expression. How anyone can sit there and be so stiff is beyond me. Do the deaf actually like this? Or is it a case of stiff being better than nothing.

  I remember one convention I was signing the drama with a really good interpreter - his mom was deaf so he was a natural. At some point in the drama we turned just a fraction towards each other and were talking to each other. It was a moment of being in "the zone" as some people say. Everything else disappeared and we were acting out the drama. I would have kept going but he stopped and turned back to the audience. The moment was gone. Afterwards a few people came up and said they saw it happen and it was good. But even without that continuing both of us were good enough to give a lot of expression to the drama. His body and facial expression matched my own - or maybe that is better put the other way around. Mine matched his.

  Signing brought me out of my shell. I was very shy and never looked people in the eye. Signing forced me to stop that and helped me find a voice.

  Bluecanary

  A great way to improve your speed and skills is to practice signing songs. The rhythm of the music will move you to sign faster. I always did this when I was teaching and people loved it. It helped to build a natural rhythm for signing.
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  White Dove

  Blue canary,

  I read about someone like that. It was a teenager from Russia who could hear sounds but could not process any of them into anything understandable. It was like auditory dyslexia, or something. Don't know the name of it.
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  Scott77

  asilentone, how old are you? are you Deaf or deaf? been to deaf school or mainstreamed?

  Lady Lee, thank you for sharing. I agree 100% what you stated in the latest posting. I a m surprised by the extraordinary level of enthusiasm you had for learning asl.

  Scott77
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  asilentone

  wow, you are asking me more questions here, Scott.
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  asilentone

  If I answer all of your questions, some hounders can identify me, too dangerous.
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  Scott77

  Ok, I understand. Iam sorry. Are you still an active JW.? Iam surprised how its so easy for some to maintain a double life style without any bothering of their conscience. Its amazing.

  Scott77
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  asilentone

  I am inactive, but I still have JW family that is still in that I want to keep in touch with. I do not want to be df'd or da'd.
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  asilentone

  Scott, you can start a new thread about double life, just an idea for you.
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  Scott77

  ATO

  Though your idea for me to start a new thread under double life is good, I generally dislike to start new thread. I prefer to do so after sometimes. However, the topic of doublelife has already been discussed to the best of my understanding.

  Scott77
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  bluecanary

  When I was a young teenager we had a deaf group in our KH. A lot of us kids liked to watch them sign and wanted to learn. We would sign along during the songs. I also practiced signing while listening to pop songs at home. There are still a few songs from that time I can't listen to without imagining the signs I used to do! But I think what we were learning was Sign English rather than ASL. My class now is very concerned with teaching us, not just the language ASL but about Deaf culture, too.