Hello from upstate New York!

SusanAbare1972

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Hello! I'm a student at SUNY Empire State College taking Community and Human Services with a concentration in Addiction and Disabilities. God, I hate that word being used for the Deaf community! This community is not DISabled. They are DIFFERabled! They can do anything that a hearing person can, sometimes even better; they just do it differently! Do they need specific accommodations? Sure, that is with anyone that is differabled! We have accessibility for those in wheelchairs, accommodations for those with learning differabilities, and help the blind with certain things without changing their circumstances. Why can't we do this for the Deaf community? When will there be acceptance in society for the Deaf community? Why do we have to try and change them? It angers me to no end that we as a society force the Deaf to speak to us! Why not learn their language?
 
Bats are disabled cause they're blind, right?
No, I don't think that the blind are DISabled; they are DIFFERabled! They just need certain accommodations in order to do what they need to do. They have canes to navigate their surroundings while the Deaf community is forced to assimilate to the hearing community, and I get extremely angry about that! Particular inventions to communicate with the Deaf are interesting at best and discriminatory at worst. The one that I continually get sent to me by well-meaning friends offends me! The glove that translates ASL into English is very limited. It doesn't take the whole picture of what is being said. The sign for late and not yet is the same hand sign but has a different connotation with mouth and eye context.
 
Who ever said life is fair lied, life is a challenge for everyone just in different ways, even those considered normal, there is no normal, all have challenges . . . too tall to short, to fat to thin, to old to young, to sensitive not sensitive and the list goes on :ohno: :2c: :deal::ily:
 
Susan, interesting. Speaking of "Different..." I do not like Hearing people keep inventing a new sign language. They have invented backward V for "Victory" The 2 hands to make heart, and as for "kidnapping" with just the thumb covered by the 4 fingers instead of our concept for kidnapped. We need to teach them OUR language, not them making new language that can ruin our language. It is like having Chinese forcing us to speak in Chinese instead of English. No thanks.

Second of all, I see you are from upstate NY. I am in Central NY. You are new, I am new. Welcome to AllDeaf!
 
Hi DeadRinkHistorian; I'm new here, from NH and work as Ed.Interpreter.(Hearing). I read you post about hearing people reinventing your language. I see many people disrespecting native Sign, making up things and it makes me sad.
I want to comment about V victory sign, bent hands heart, and kidnap signs. Maybe this is interesting to you.
During World War 2 Winston Church used the V fingers as a signal to keep courage, stay the course, we will have victory. This was in 1941. It remained a V for victory gesture for decades, then in the 50s and 60s it became know as the peace sign. A visual gesture to encourage people to be kind and peaceful. It was used casually like waving to someone you see or saying goodbye and wishing them peace. In these 2 cases I've never known a connection to Sign Language. It was not well known back then.
Hearing people use hands a lot. I don't know where the heart shape with hands came from but it is just a shape,, not a sign. Most hearing people have little knowledge of sign. Bit, we make gestures, like make a fist and shake it at something we are mad at, maybe a flat tire, or toy we tripped on.
When I get stuck or forget a sign I use only 3 sites from native signers to learn the sign. On Handspeak, she shows kidnap with 2 fingers around index finger...then another video that shows 4 fingers. Maybe it's a dialect difference.
Have a great week and
God Bless.
Christine
 
Hi DeadRinkHistorian; I'm new here, from NH and work as Ed.Interpreter.(Hearing). I read you post about hearing people reinventing your language. I see many people disrespecting native Sign, making up things and it makes me sad.
I want to comment about V victory sign, bent hands heart, and kidnap signs. Maybe this is interesting to you.
During World War 2 Winston Church used the V fingers as a signal to keep courage, stay the course, we will have victory. This was in 1941. It remained a V for victory gesture for decades, then in the 50s and 60s it became know as the peace sign. A visual gesture to encourage people to be kind and peaceful. It was used casually like waving to someone you see or saying goodbye and wishing them peace. In these 2 cases I've never known a connection to Sign Language. It was not well known back then.
Hearing people use hands a lot. I don't know where the heart shape with hands came from but it is just a shape,, not a sign. Most hearing people have little knowledge of sign. Bit, we make gestures, like make a fist and shake it at something we are mad at, maybe a flat tire, or toy we tripped on.
When I get stuck or forget a sign I use only 3 sites from native signers to learn the sign. On Handspeak, she shows kidnap with 2 fingers around index finger...then another video that shows 4 fingers. Maybe it's a dialect difference.
Have a great week and
God Bless.
Christine
 
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