Just this weekend alone

Mountain Man said:
That is a tough predicament because to suddenly go voice-off could appear to some as if you are withdrawing from them. You need to make them aware of the difficulties you face trying to communicate orally and that signing allows you to better express yourself in a language that is more natural to you. Even better if you could encourage them to learn sign language, too. And you definitely need the full support of your husband. I hope he's learning sign language along with you.
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:ty: MM,

I am signing as much as I can with what I am learning with the younger children (7 and 10). I have only been able to pick up sign language through DVDs and online sign dictionaries at the moment. (I have absolutely no way to interact with the Deaf community here, except when I am home in Australia on occasion).

With the older kids (teenagers and young adults) I am taking it gradually telling them that I will continue to sign, but I am not expecting them to sign back to me until they are comfortable to. My husband is supportive but due to the nature of his work, and also that we have a lot of his work colleagues constantly around him even at home, I cannot have the freedom to use sign language suddenly off the bat like you said. So, I am not expecting my husband to sign with me, only if he so chooses to (which may come in due course).

You see, my all-hearing family are still adjusting. It has been a shock to them when I suddenly, around 2 years ago, told them the honest truth that I was severely-deaf and not just HOH. They still say 'but Mum, you have managed just fine all your life and all our lives' They are trying to understand. I have been doing things gradually to make a comfortable transition for everyone around me.

I just need to make a bold leap into the deep end for myself. I am not timid, just building up my vocabulary in sign language enough to use it consistently. The little kids are no problem if I sign to them, they sign back. If they don't catch what I am signing, I let them figure out what I am saying, if they still don't know, I then interpret for them. I don't sign and speak. I sign, then interpret into spoken English. The next time, I usually find they will remember the new sign.

Here are some of the steps I am taking: I have already for quite a long time now insisted on CCs when viewing TV or movies/DVDs. I refused to watch anything without them. I am now refusing to take voice calls which was/is the most difficult thing I have had to face now and in the past. (I don't have access to tty or relay services here, however, I do use relay in Australia). I use Skype, FB or email to communicate to people outside of the family. I now sms the family and I am insisting they SMS ONLY back to me and not to voice-call me. (I can just manage to decipher my family members on the phone, if the volume is turned up really loud, but cannot strangers.) Because I get worn down with all this deciphering. I know now that I have the option not to - a choice for 40 years or more I didn't know I had).

I am soon ready to take the plunge to go totally voice-off at home. As for work-related situations, I plan to use English as my acquired language. If I can use sms, I will do so, if I can get information in written form I will. I will only speak when it is required that I do so and even then only when I absolutely have to.

If it calls for it, I have no qualms to inform people that I need to speech-read for comprehension.

If there are any further suggestions of what more I can do, they will be very welcomed. :ty:
 
It was interesting, one of them has a deaf family, all oral - she was like.. fffuuuuu and learned sign language at school on her own.
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The IRONY!!!! Then again......I think I have heard of Deaf families sending their kids to CID or Clarke...but usually if they do that, they sign out of the classroom....that might be why Clarke has the tradition of signing out of the classroom, and why, although it's oral it's still kind of deaf friendly.
WE ARE TIRED because it doesn't come naturally, it is an continuous effort that doesn't get easier as time goes by.....
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Exactly. If it was nautral, then we wouldn't need intense speech therapy or a lot of other speicla ed stuff!
 
posts from hell said:
No idea on how happy they were with being oral.. It was interesting, one of them has a deaf family, all oral - she was like.. fffuuuuu and learned sign language at school on her own.

There will always be people who look down on ASL negatively. There is one guy here in particular..... my god. He is involved in deaf politics and all, very strong. But he uses SEE all the times. It's morbidly hard to understand him.

There also are people that will stick around to "be around people" but dont exactly fit in. Usually because they dont know their identity..
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Is this guy the one who has an obsession with Obama?
 
Today during lunch, I talked to a friend of mine who grew up with SEE. I asked her what she thought about ASL. She said that she actually prefers SEE and doesn't understand ASL because "it is so backwards."

Never knew this about her. I thought she was signing to me in the English way (more PSE) because it was easier for me to understand, but apparently not!!! So I guess she does look down on ASL negatively.
 
My old schoolmates I finally met again in the 90's never learned to sign and still were fluent with oralism. I knew them since we were in Pennisula Oral School which is a preschool back in very early 80's.
 
Daredevel7 said:
Today during lunch, I talked to a friend of mine who grew up with SEE. I asked her what she thought about ASL. She said that she actually prefers SEE and doesn't understand ASL because "it is so backwards."

Never knew this about her. I thought she was signing to me in the English way (more PSE) because it was easier for me to understand, but apparently not!!! So I guess she does look down on ASL negatively.
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What does that have to do with this thread?
 
posts from hell said:
What does that have to do with this thread?
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Because of this:
posts from hell said:
There will always be people who look down on ASL negatively. There is one guy here in particular..... my god. He is involved in deaf politics and all, very strong. But he uses SEE all the times. It's morbidly hard to understand him.
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Basically, I was just saying that today I found a person who does do sign language but looks down on ASL in a negative way.

But yea, technically it doesn't have anything to do with the OP.
 
Daredevel7 said:
Because of this:


Basically, I was just saying that today I found a person who does do sign language but looks down on ASL in a negative way.

But yea, technically it doesn't have anything to do with the OP.
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Oh gotcha, was wondering what was up.

Thanks.
 
My old schoolmates I finally met again in the 90's never learned to sign and still were fluent with oralism. I knew them since we were in Pennisula Oral School which is a preschool back in very early 80's.
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Really? All of them? I thought back then it wasn't that unusual for oral first kids especially back then to learn ASL as a second language....Like back then (and prolly even today) they counted "mainstreaming" as sucessful as long as they didn't go off to the state Deaf School. And even for the kids who could do well early on, there's the Fourth Grade Glass Ceiling. Which means a lot of kids would end up in dhh high school programs.
 
I know there are many out there who would fit PFH's description in the OP to the tee.
PFH, I apologise if I seem to be getting off the point a bit. However, your description would be my "ideal" but I am hitting some walls with it. Do you have any suggestions of what more I can do? If not, that's fine. I can take it to PM if you like, and will just 'sit pretty' from here on in and anticipate a poster who can really contribute to your description. :lol:
 
Daredevel7 said:
Because of this:


Basically, I was just saying that today I found a person who does do sign language but looks down on ASL in a negative way.

But yea, technically it doesn't have anything to do with the OP.
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We need to be clear here, even if it does appear to be semantics. It isn't semantics, however, because the wording implies the very important difference. SEE is not a sign language. Only a language based solely on the symbol of sign for communication is a sign language. It is a manually coded form of English. English is based on a spoken language. Just because one invents signs to manually code a spoken language does not mean it is turned into a sign language.
 
All of the deaf kids from my oral class when we were toddlers all are fluent in ASL now. That's about 7 of us.
 
All of the deaf kids from my oral class when we were toddlers all are fluent in ASL now. That's about 7 of us.
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That's b/c many kids who grew up oral only aquire ASL as a second language. NOT b/c of oral failure (although that can be the case in some cases) but b/c ASL is an awesome second language to have.
 
deafdyke said:
That's b/c many kids who grew up oral only aquire ASL as a second language. NOT b/c of oral failure (although that can be the case in some cases) but b/c ASL is an awesome second language to have.
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The 5 of us who still keep in touch didnt learn ASL as a 2nd language because of it being an awesome language. It was because we were burnt out and sick and tired of struggling to fit hearing society's needs 24/7. We agreed that we would have been better off with ASL growing up. The other 2..not sure as I am not close to them.
 
jillio said:
We need to be clear here, even if it does appear to be semantics. It isn't semantics, however, because the wording implies the very important difference. SEE is not a sign language. Only a language based solely on the symbol of sign for communication is a sign language. It is a manually coded form of English. English is based on a spoken language. Just because one invents signs to manually code a spoken language does not mean it is turned into a sign language.
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Ok ok! Geez!! :)

You know what I meant.

What would you call SEE, SSE, etc? Manually coded English? What about PSE? What category would PSE fall under?
 
Daredevel7 said:
Ok ok! Geez!! :)

You know what I meant.

What would you call SEE, SSE, etc? Manually coded English? What about PSE? What category would PSE fall under?
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English. It is in the name. PSE Pidgin Signed English
 
It was because we were burnt out
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I wonder how much burn out happens in auditory verbal or auditory oral programs for the KIDS?!?!?
I mean constant speech therapy cannot be healthy!
 
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