AdmiralBumblebe
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- Joined
- Sep 18, 2007
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Hi!
I am not deaf. In fact I have extremely good hearing and have made my living as an audio engineer and acoustics design consultant.
I am here because as a child I went to 'school' with a girl who was deaf (private tutor for gifted children), and she taught me signing for 2 years as I was the only person of the 6-7 normal kids present who did not treat her as an inferior. Since then I've not had a reason to use any signing skills.
Recently I was doing some research to try and help myself. You see, I have high-functioning autism, and I have significant trouble understanding people's unspoken language (among other things). Body language, hand movements, and facial clues. It has plagued me my whole life and I have only become aware of it in the last few years as it's been the first time I've had anyone (my wife) who actually gave me some honest feedback on my misunderstandings of other people, rather than just laughing at me.
That research has lead me to re-discover signing, and the deaf community. I realized that almost all the non-vebal communication skills I have were entirely due to spending time with a deaf person.
I have decided to dedicate my spare time to re-learning ASL and trying to find a local community of deaf people who perhaps would not mind accepting someone who is not deaf. I really hope that I can help myself learn to understand body language better (as it is a very significant part of signing) and give back to that community in any way I can.
Hopefully I can learn some things here on this forum as well
I am not deaf. In fact I have extremely good hearing and have made my living as an audio engineer and acoustics design consultant.
I am here because as a child I went to 'school' with a girl who was deaf (private tutor for gifted children), and she taught me signing for 2 years as I was the only person of the 6-7 normal kids present who did not treat her as an inferior. Since then I've not had a reason to use any signing skills.
Recently I was doing some research to try and help myself. You see, I have high-functioning autism, and I have significant trouble understanding people's unspoken language (among other things). Body language, hand movements, and facial clues. It has plagued me my whole life and I have only become aware of it in the last few years as it's been the first time I've had anyone (my wife) who actually gave me some honest feedback on my misunderstandings of other people, rather than just laughing at me.
That research has lead me to re-discover signing, and the deaf community. I realized that almost all the non-vebal communication skills I have were entirely due to spending time with a deaf person.
I have decided to dedicate my spare time to re-learning ASL and trying to find a local community of deaf people who perhaps would not mind accepting someone who is not deaf. I really hope that I can help myself learn to understand body language better (as it is a very significant part of signing) and give back to that community in any way I can.
Hopefully I can learn some things here on this forum as well
here and enjoy AD! 
