Questions and debates about blindness:

Nika said:
I think if I had to pick I would also go with NLP blindness. At least if you're NLP no one is expecting you to see or hoping you see more than you do. Likewise with being profoundly deaf (unless you are a CI user and as a result get people assuming that CI hearing is the same as natural hearing). But I think if I was NLP blind I would have gotten more of the resources I need just because of the black-and-white thinking my educators and parents have.
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I agree.
 
Hear Again, Thank you for the info, i was/am really nervous about the terp starting, but now that i know a little more, i'm not as nervous. At first i was afraid that a bunch of stuff that i had known for a long tim would get changed around on me. I thought i might have to start from scratch again.
 
no, you won't typeingtornado. from what my sign language instructor at my local deafblind center told me, 95% of asl is identical to tactile sign.
 
Hear Again said:
you're welcome. i don't know if all deafblind people have their terps fingerspell emotions, but i did. in some cases, it was much easier and faster to tactually feel someone fingerspelling "s-a-d" instead of using the actual sign. that's what's so nice about tactile sign. you don't *have* to follow the rules of asl if you don't want to. it's all adaptable according to the deafblind person who uses it.
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That's interesting. Thanks for letting me know about it. I'm learning tactile signs at the moment.
 
Hear Again said:
no, you won't typeingtornado. from what my sign language instructor at my local deafblind center told me, 95% of asl is identical to tactile sign.
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YAY!!!! Thank you. I think i am going to ask for a tactile terp instead of close range, because at close range there are still some signs that i have trouble understanding. *the sign for struggle for example* I am still really nervous, but it will get better.
 
if any tactile terp tells you that you can't adapt signs or create your own shortcuts and abbreviations, they are wrong. my tactile terps did this for me all the time.
 
Hear Again said:
if any tactile terp tells you that you can't adapt signs or create your own shortcuts and abbreviations, they are wrong. my tactile terps did this for me all the time.
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Thanks, i'm glad, there are a few signs that i would not appreciate feeling.. Because of the closeness to body parts.
 
typeingtornado19 said:
YAY!!!! Thank you. I think i am going to ask for a tactile terp instead of close range, because at close range there are still some signs that i have trouble understanding. *the sign for struggle for example* I am still really nervous, but it will get better.
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Same here! I struggle with the sign for STRUGGLE.

I have no depth perception so I have a really hard time seeing signs that involve movement towards or away from the signer.

Can't wait to do tactual signing. Maybe when we meet up some day we can practice with each other. <wink>
 
I'm glad it's 95% overlap between tactual and visual. So the transition should be easy for me. <excited>
 
nika,

just a polite correction. it's called tactile sign -- not tactual sign. just thought i'd mention that in case you ever need to have a tactile terp. if you say "tactual terp," no one is going to know what you mean.
 
Nika said:
Same here! I struggle with the sign for STRUGGLE.

I have no depth perception so I have a really hard time seeing signs that involve movement towards or away from the signer.

Can't wait to do tactual signing. Maybe when we meet up some day we can practice with each other. <wink>
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Same here, any sign where one hand moves one way, and the other moves the other way is hard, *except the sign for coffee* I can never tell witch hand is moving witch way.
 
Hear Again said:
nika,

just a polite correction. it's called tactile sign -- not tactual sign. just thought i'd mention that in case you ever need to have a tactile terp. if you say "tactual terp," no one is going to know what you mean.
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Whoops! That's what I meant. No idea why I wrote "tactual" instead of "tactile." <laughing at self>

I have a hard time understanding signs like WORLD and EXPLAIN. How are these signs modified for tactile ASL?
 
the words "world" and "explain" are not modified in tactile sign since they are easy to recognize tactually.
 
one example of how a sign is modified in tactile sign is the word "idea." instead of the letter "i" being moved a considerable distance from the side of the head to the air, the motion is condensed or made shorter so that it is easier to feel and recognize.
 
That's cool Hear Again. Thanks for explaining.

I would definitely understand WORLD and EXPLAIN better tactually since I could perceive the dimension I miss visually.

How about signs like MYSELF or SWEETHEART? How do you deal with the awkwardness of touching someone else's chest area (especially in the case of women)>
 
typeingtornado19 said:
What about the sign for struggle?
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nope. that sign isn't modified either since it involves making a back and forth motion with both hands with the thumb and index finger touching each other. that's pretty easy for me to recognize tactually anyways.
 
Hear Again said:
nope. that sign isn't modified either since it involves making a back and forth motion with both hands with the thumb and index finger touching each other. that's pretty easy for me to recognize tactually anyways.
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Thanks, maybe it will be easier tactually for me too.
 
Nika said:
That's cool Hear Again. Thanks for explaining.

I would definitely understand WORLD and EXPLAIN better tactually since I could perceive the dimension I miss visually.

How about signs like MYSELF or SWEETHEART? How do you deal with the awkwardness of touching someone else's chest area (especially in the case of women)>
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when my tactile terp makes the sign for "myself," she flattens her hand in a 5 position against her chest. i feel this and flatten my hand in response. i don't feel uncomfotable with signs that touch the signer's body. it's all a part of tactile sign. i was a little uncomfortable about it when i first started learning sign, but quickly learned that it wasn't a big deal since terps who use tactile sign are very comfortable with physical touch between themselves and their deafblind client.
 
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