Ever had a stranger sign to you?

ladysolitary85

ladysolitary85

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My girlfriend and I were out downtown, enjoying our yogurts and signing together (I absolutely LOVE that she signs with me) and these couple across us stopped and started signing to us. It was pretty cool :-D Never experienced that in my hometown.

Nice to know this place is deaf friendly :-D
 
ladysolitary85 said:
My girlfriend and I were out downtown, enjoying our yogurts and signing together (I absolutely LOVE that she signs with me) and these couple across us stopped and started signing to us. It was pretty cool :-D Never experienced that in my hometown.

Nice to know this place is deaf friendly :-D
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Yes indeed. One clerk in a store seemed to be telling me I must be tired with my new baby keeping me up, and I was pretty puzzled as I am a grandmother.

Turned out it was his new baby keeping him up, but it was a nice conversation all the same. :P
 
I miss signing with my customers, that was always the highlight of my day. Especially when my boss at the time stared and watched like I was some alien speaking another language.

But comforting to see people are out there :)
 
Just last month, out of town, female cashier at the mall asked me are you deaf in asl...git this, she knew asl a lot more than me and she is a hearie. I was raised oral deaf. :roll: and born deaf...smh
 
The most I have seen while out is a "thank you". Still makes me very happy. I go to the mall to walk cos it is really hot here and have only seen one couple signing. I don't know why, but it makes me feel alone and kind of sad.:-(
 
ladysolitary85 said:
Ever had a stranger sign to you?
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To answer to that question - yes, million times. Mostly through store employees as "thank you" etc... but not on-the-street strangers. I just started a new job that are store - counter employees always asked me how to sign "thank you", "how are you", or "good morning" so that way they can greet deaf customer with sign language.
 
Yeah, people often ask about ASL. When I worked at Denny's, they asked me how to sign certain terms. One time, they called me in when they had a deaf customer. It was nice to sign to them.
 
i was on train once and two women were signing a racey conversation and i was watching,they turned around and mimed i was nosey,i signed back to them i was deaf,it took them by surprise and they included me in their conversation which incerdently was about sex or lack of it
 
I used to work at a movie theater and there were a few deaf people that came about 2 times per month and we would stand in the lobby and have long conversations. It was pretty great. My coworkers never said anything to me about not working because they thought it was awesome. :)
 
It's happened to me often...and guessing it's my deaf accent. But neverless, it brings a smile to my face and kudos to them
 
Just met a guy yesterday, total stranger and we were picking up our kids from the boys and girls club at the same time, he was signing to his daughter and i had signed at my sons and he stopped and we looked at each other, he asked if i'm deaf, said no hoh and we had a conversation for a minute and went about our business. :)
 
Angel1989 said:
The most I have seen while out is a "thank you". Still makes me very happy. I go to the mall to walk cos it is really hot here and have only seen one couple signing. I don't know why, but it makes me feel alone and kind of sad.:-(
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That has happen to me too, cashiers will sign "thank you " to when I am checking out. Or a stranger will do , it kind of bug me that people think I know sign language because I wear a HA. People do not expect people that wear eyes glasses to know how to read braille.
 
I was wandering around a store once when a girl who worked there kept following me around. I wasn't aware that she was asking me questions like, "Can I help you?" That does get annoying... But at least she realized, "Oh gosh, she's deaf!" So she approached me and did ASL. I was impressed, but didn't need any help anyway. I truly hate it when people walk up behind me asking if I need help and think that I'm a snob because I don't respond. It was never an intention of mine.
 
lanapoo said:
I was wandering around a store once when a girl who worked there kept following me around. I wasn't aware that she was asking me questions like, "Can I help you?" That does get annoying... But at least she realized, "Oh gosh, she's deaf!" So she approached me and did ASL. I was impressed, but didn't need any help anyway. I truly hate it when people walk up behind me asking if I need help and think that I'm a snob because I don't respond. It was never an intention of mine.
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I was in K Mart with my hearing dog Finlay and he was had 'hearing dog' all over him. It was on his vest , collar and leash and I had short hair so you could see my HA too. I did not know a sale woman following me all over the store asking about my dog. I finally saw her and asked her how long she was following me and calling me and didn't she stop to think that I was HOH and that my dog was a working dog. I could not believe that woman followed me all over the whole store. Another time I was shopping with my daugther and grandchild and my hearing dog was with me . I was watching my grandchild and a sale woman was asking me about my dog, I told her I was busy watching my grandchild and the sale lady then asked me if I was blind! WTF I just told her I was watching my grandchild -and I being asked if I am blind. My dog was wearing his vest .at the time.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
I was in K Mart with my hearing dog Finlay and he was had 'hearing dog' all over him. It was on his vest , collar and leash and I had short hair so you could see my HA too. I did not know a sale woman following me all over the store asking about my dog. I finally saw her and asked her how long she was following me and calling me and didn't she stop to think that I was HOH and that my dog was a working dog. I could not believe that woman followed me all over the whole store. Another time I was shopping with my daugther and grandchild and my hearing dog was with me . I was watching my grandchild and a sale woman was asking me about my dog, I told her I was busy watching my grandchild and the sale lady then asked me if I was blind! WTF I just told her I was watching my grandchild -and I being asked if I am blind. My dog was wearing his vest .at the time.
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Wow, some people can just be oblivious sometimes. I just wish that maybe stores would put into rules... "Ask someone face to face if someone seems confused" instead of approaching literally everyone who seemingly walks around the store.
 
ladysolitary85 said:
My girlfriend and I were out downtown, enjoying our yogurts and signing together (I absolutely LOVE that she signs with me) and these couple across us stopped and started signing to us. It was pretty cool :-D Never experienced that in my hometown.

Nice to know this place is deaf friendly :-D
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all the time! :lol:
 
lanapoo said:
Wow, some people can just be oblivious sometimes. I just wish that maybe stores would put into rules... "Ask someone face to face if someone seems confused" instead of approaching literally everyone who seemingly walks around the store.
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I uses to joke that I was going to put flashing lights reading 'hearing dog 'on my dog , and hoped people would get that. I been asked a few times if I was blind when I had Finlay with me. I thought it was funny as I used a leash on my dog and a guide dog wear a harness with a handle to hold onto.
 
I've had that happen to me a lot. (Not as often here in Dallas, TX... as it did in Rochester, NY.)

Does it bother me? It depends.

If it's at a nice restaurant, then it's not polite to bother a couple sitting at a table. If you absolutely have to bother them, then make sure it's short and simple. We've had friends see my wife and I while they're walking in/out. So, they will stop and say "hi" before exchanging a few words and then move on. We're fine with that. We don't like it if they stop and spend the next 15 minutes chatting away while our food gets cold.

If it's at a fast food restaurant, at a mall, or at a store... then anyone can bother us.

Now, signing skills... that's another story. We don't mind someone who is learning ASL to try to communicate with us. We can understand them if they talk normally or sign awkwardly, but not if they're going to stand there trying to sign every... single... thing... SLOWLY! Argh!

There was a time when my wife and I were eating dinner at a nice restaurant. Some guy approached us and told us that he took an ASL class years ago, but forgot most of it. Then he proceeded to introduce himself... in sign language... awkwardly.

HELLO... *looks up* MY... *looks around* NAME... *hums* IS... *looks constipated* M... S... *looks at hand* *shakes head* "Sorry. My bad." *slaps hand* A... R... P... *shakes head* "Boy, this is tough!" *slaps hand* K...

So, it took him 5 minutes to say... "Hello, my name is Mark."

He then tried to continue the conversation, but we interrupted him by telling him that it was nice see that he remembered some sign language and that it was nice meeting him... then wave down our server to ask for a refill. (HINT! LEAVE US ALONE!) ;)
 
Wirelessly posted

I am hearing, my friend is deaf, there are times when someone see's us signing in public like the mall , they would introduce themselves in sign language and start signing small conversations, like I am a student learning ASL. They ask us, you born deaf? I let my friend answer. They look at me, you ? I sign hearing and they say, oh, thought you were deaf. I explain , I am an interpreter :

I had Chinese people come up to me speaking Chinese lol ok off the topic
 
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Rio said:
Wirelessly posted

I am hearing, my friend is deaf, there are times when someone see's us signing in public like the mall , they would introduce themselves in sign language and start signing small conversations, like I am a student learning ASL. They ask us, you born deaf? I let my friend answer. They look at me, you ? I sign hearing and they say, oh, thought you were deaf. I explain , I am an interpreter :

I had Chinese people come up to me speaking Chinese lol ok off the topic
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A guy I was dating went on a verbal fast and wrote down what he wanted to say. We where out grocery shopping one day and where checking out the items of food on a shelf and a guy tapped us on our backs and he is holding a small card that say he a "deaf mute' and on back if the ABC in sign language. I was wearing a body style hearing aid and my boyfriend has his
pad of paper and pen and when the guy with the card saw my HA and the pad of paper he got all flushed and started to apologize to us by using his 'voice'. He thought my boyfriend had to write down things so I could understand him. It was very funny to see the way the guy reacted when he realize I was HOH too.
 
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