Making small talk with hearing strangers

shel90 said:
Because of history...

Got tired of explaining ourselves to them and when running errands or exercising, I dont want to explain my deafness. Especially when I need to focus on shopping, exercising or etc...

Just like what KristinaB said...
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So, explain to be what should change? How would you fix this if you had a magic wand?
 
posts from hell said:
Like I said, the deaf arent educated theirselves in that aspect.
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I'm with you. If you can't understand speech, sign (or write) that right from the start. Don't pretend to understand if you don't. You have the right to communicate, don't accept less.
 
faire_jour said:
So, explain to be what should change? How would you fix this if you had a magic wand?
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So, is it my job to educate every hearing person out there when I am doing my errands or trying to exercise? Is that what you are saying?
 
shel90 said:
What do you mean?
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The reason I sign to people 24/7 no matter who it is is because I "discovered" it while teaching ASL to a few people. One asked me why don't the deaf people sign because she works at a gas station and she had a deaf customer that "understood everything she said" and walked off while she was trying to inform him he left his keys. That was when she realized he was deaf.

So I took it upon myself to sign to people to see what results it would generate. It was surprisingly easy, and once you get over the hurdle of "signing to people" because its not in your comfort zone it will be much easier to live. That is how it is for me.

As of now, all the deaf people arent formally educated in that. They only have their social norm, upbringing, etc to go by. I am so grateful I learned to sign to people no matter who it is.

There is now a formal class in Gallaudet, and it's called Deafhood - it will cover this exact discussion, on top of many other issues.
 
faire_jour said:
I'm with you. If you can't understand speech, sign (or write) that right from the start. Don't pretend to understand if you don't. You have the right to communicate, don't accept less.
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If I was in a social situation, a meeting with a hearing person, or doing business with a hearing person, or something that I go where I know I will have to communicate with a hearing person, that is what I do.

This is about us doing our errands like getting gas, shopping, exercising, or just enjoying a stroll at the park where we dont want to be bothered and hearing strangers start chatting with us and then we have these thoughts in our heads "Oh boy..."" but end up nodding and pretending to understand because we dont want to go through the Q & A due to our history of constantly dealing with that and sometimes getting nowhere.
 
posts from hell said:
The reason I sign to people 24/7 no matter who it is is because I "discovered" it while teaching ASL to a few people. One asked me why don't the deaf people sign because she works at a gas station and she had a deaf customer that "understood everything she said" and walked off while she was trying to inform him he left his keys. That was when she realized he was deaf.

So I took it upon myself to sign to people to see what results it would generate. It was surprisingly easy, and once you get over the hurdle of "signing to people" because its not in your comfort zone it will be much easier to live. That is how it is for me.

As of now, all the deaf people arent formally educated in that. They only have their social norm, upbringing, etc to go by. I am so grateful I learned to sign to people no matter who it is.

There is now a formal class in Gallaudet, and it's called Deafhood - it will cover this exact discussion, on top of many other issues.
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Yea, I guess growing up in as a "hearing" person, it is a habit to adapt to meet their hearing ways because that was how I was taught.
 
shel90 said:
Yea, I guess growing up in as a "hearing" person, it is a habit to adapt to meet their hearing ways because that was how I was taught.
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Well, thats how pretty much every single deaf person are taught.
I discovered it myself in my 20s.. Sad, eh.

Everyone should learn to be theirselves, hearing or deaf.
 
posts from hell said:
Well, thats how pretty much every single deaf person are taught.
I discovered it myself in my 20s.. Sad, eh.

Everyone should learn to be theirselves, hearing or deaf.
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Totally agree. If you are Deaf, sign. If you don't understand speech, don't pretend.
 
faire_jour said:
No, I'm asking what you would do to change it. That is what I said.
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And I have when I am those examples I mentioned before. Very few have been able to adapt to meet my needs while most dont.

I will start signing to them instead. Maybe it would be better for me in the long run.
 
Jiro said:
like.... letting them know that we cannot hear and understand them instead of nodding and pretending to understand.
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That is the point of the thread...do I want to let every hearing person I encounter while I am doing errands that I cannot hear for the risk of getting bombared with questions or them continue to chat away thinking I said something in relation to what they said?
 
faire_jour said:
No, I'm asking what you would do to change it. That is what I said.
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Only if I had a wand.... What would I do to change this issue... hmm

I'd change that dude (doctor, forgot name) in France that denounced sign language and make the other philosophers and Parisians back then who thought highly of sign language write a few big pieces about the langauge.

THAT would change the world dramatically to this day.

But I'm thinking too big... What would I do? I'll think about that.
 
shel90 said:
And I have when I am those examples I mentioned before. Very few have been able to adapt to meet my needs while most dont.

I will start signing to them instead. Maybe it would be better for me in the long run.
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Give it a try. "I am deaf" They usually will go "oh." They will give you a pat on the back from once in a while because awkward silence needs to be filled by something so they will do something.
 
shel90 said:
And I have when I am those examples I mentioned before. Very few have been able to adapt to meet my needs while most dont.

I will start signing to them instead. Maybe it would be better for me in the long run.
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I am wondering, if you had the power to change the entire interaction, what would you have happen? Would you just have hearing people never talk to you? Would you change some way about the way they interact? What would you have happen?
 
One thing I would love to change is the "community" sense of things. It does seem the hearing people have that missing.
 
posts from hell said:
Only if I had a wand.... What would I do to change this issue... hmm

I'd change that dude (doctor, forgot name) in France that denounced sign language and make the other philosophers and Parisians back then who thought highly of sign language write a few big pieces about the langauge.

THAT would change the world dramatically to this day.

But I'm thinking too big... What would I do? I'll think about that.
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I was thinking of a smaller wand then that! :giggle:
 
I just read the last 5 pages or so of this thread and it aint going anywhere but in damn circles and is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY off topic from what its suppose to be.
 
ncff07 said:
I just read the last 5 pages or so of this thread and it aint going anywhere but in damn circles and is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY off topic from what its suppose to be.
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not really "waaaaaaaaaaaaaay" its pretty much related, but down a different line.
 
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