Willing To Tolerate A Hearing Asl Student?

Olivia Twidwell

Olivia Twidwell

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Hi there! My name is Olivia and I've been learning ASL for almost four months now. I'm finishing up ASL 1 in about three weeks and I would really love to meet people who are fluent or experienced signers who would be willing to tolerate my signing. My professor is Deaf and told me the best way for me to learn is to meet d/Deaf and HoH people, so if you would be willing, I'd love to skype or FaceTime with anyone who signs. Message me or leave a comment if you'd be interested. Thanks so much!!
 
Hello :) what about a Deaf coffee chat or other newbie-friendly Deaf place to meet where you are? Meeting one-on-one with people in your own area you get the most out of it.
 
dogmom said:
Hello :) what about a Deaf coffee chat or other newbie-friendly Deaf place to meet where you are? Meeting one-on-one with people in your own area you get the most out of it.
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Sure IF there are any where she is! I have been unable to find any over the years where I live.
 
I know sometimes they can be hard to find or maybe the person can't get there due to mobility/transit issues - BUT - seems many students come on making the assumption that AD exists to help with homework - including the "meet the deaf person" thing - and also without first even trying to locate anyone locally to meet. I think the point of starting/learning ASL and then having an interaction is to have a "live" experience and leave one's own little world...online is not the same as real life.
 
dogmom said:
I know sometimes they can be hard to find or maybe the person can't get there due to mobility/transit issues - BUT - seems many students come on making the assumption that AD exists to help with homework - including the "meet the deaf person" thing - and also without first even trying to locate anyone locally to meet. I think the point of starting/learning ASL and then having an interaction is to have a "live" experience and leave one's own little world...online is not the same as real life.
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I'm so sorry if I came off rude or like I just wanted to meet d/Deaf or HoH people as part of homework. That's not it at all, I promise. I genuinely want to make friends so I can learn more about the culture. I don't want to be someone learning SL who is completely ignorant to Deaf culture and people. I want to make friends and connections with non-hearing people. I live in a small town and the closest Deaf/ASL event to me is an hour away and I don't drive, plus I've been to two and everyone there was at least 20 years older than me. I also have intense social anxiety so I have issues going to those kinds of events. I'm so sorry if my post seemed like I just want to meet non-hearing people for school. Sending you love and good vibes <3
 
:) Olivia, appreciate your explaining more...and if you live far from deaf events, that does make it hard, especially if you don't drive. I learned to drive in my 20's because of learning disabilities - had to learn for my first post-college job.
I'm Jewish so this doesn't work for me but sometimes churches have deaf ministries < as a way to connect, you could email/text the contact person> and churches can often be on buslines too.
 
dogmom said:
:) Olivia, appreciate your explaining more...and if you live far from deaf events, that does make it hard, especially if you don't drive. I learned to drive in my 20's because of learning disabilities - had to learn for my first post-college job.
I'm Jewish so this doesn't work for me but sometimes churches have deaf ministries < as a way to connect, you could email/text the contact person> and churches can often be on bus lines too.
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Where the bold is added true if the town even has bus service! Were I live we have not had scheduled bus service since the 1950's. This is the closest thing we have to bus service and it takes real planning to use. http://www.southcentraltransit.org/index.html

I see sooooo many posts on this forum from different people that are a matter of people assuming because something is readily available where they live it is true for everyone else.

dogmom
I am not trying to single you out. This thread just so illustrates something I have been concerned about for some time.
 
Jane, and I am not trying to sound rude or anything just curious. If you are defending her, why don't you teach her? I can see that you feel strongly about her and her education. A lot of people on alldeaf just want a cool place your hang and talk. Not a lot want to teach. It's not like these are video threads and you have to know how to sign, so if a new member or even an older well known member doesn't know how to sign doesn't mean the other members will jump to teach. Again not trying to be rude but I have seen so many people come here just to learn asl when other members just want to talk, be heard for once. Or maybe like me have had a bad experience with someone they were teaching.
 
DeafNerdMommy said:
Jane, and I am not trying to sound rude or anything just curious. If you are defending her, why don't you teach her? I can see that you feel strongly about her and her education. A lot of people on alldeaf just want a cool place your hang and talk. Not a lot want to teach. It's not like these are video threads and you have to know how to sign, so if a new member or even an older well known member doesn't know how to sign doesn't mean the other members will jump to teach. Again not trying to be rude but I have seen so many people come here just to learn asl when other members just want to talk, be heard for once. Or maybe like me have had a bad experience with someone they were teaching.
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I get the impression that by "her" you are talking about the gal that is having trouble finding in person contacts with other deaf or hoh. I am doing so because I am in a very similar situation!

You joined after I did and may well not be familiar with my history. The only ASL instruction that I have encountered where I live is taught by hearing instructors with the local Community College. I tried taking it twice (different semesters two different school years as an evening course) a long time ago and neither time did I make any contacts to continue using it. I have forgotten 99% of what I did learn.

I got fed up with the number of posters we have here that ASSUME because the contacts are easy to find where they are that is the case with everyone and it is not. So . . . I sounded off about it in this thread.
 
DeafNerdMommy said:
Jane, and I am not trying to sound rude or anything just curious. If you are defending her, why don't you teach her? I can see that you feel strongly about her and her education. A lot of people on alldeaf just want a cool place your hang and talk. Not a lot want to teach. It's not like these are video threads and you have to know how to sign, so if a new member or even an older well known member doesn't know how to sign doesn't mean the other members will jump to teach. Again not trying to be rude but I have seen so many people come here just to learn asl when other members just want to talk, be heard for once. Or maybe like me have had a bad experience with someone they were teaching.
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I think a majority of us just want a cool place to hang to talk to other deaf people. Sadly lots have left and formed little Facebook enclaves, which are great, but it ends up just small groups of us who have known each other forever.

I really think it's due to Switched at Birth making deaf look cool to youth.
 
I am sorry Jane that you have this problem too, I didn't know that. I know it can be hard to find a place to learn around different towns. And learning from hearing, unless a coda or we'll known terp, can be hard and even wrong.
 
Olivia Twidwell said:
Hi there! My name is Olivia and I've been learning ASL for almost four months now. I'm finishing up ASL 1 in about three weeks and I would really love to meet people who are fluent or experienced signers who would be willing to tolerate my signing. My professor is Deaf and told me the best way for me to learn is to meet d/Deaf and HoH people, so if you would be willing, I'd love to skype or FaceTime with anyone who signs. Message me or leave a comment if you'd be interested. Thanks so much!!
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hey i would LOVE to practice with you! im HOH but, im NOT fluent so if you could tolerate MY signing i would absatultly love to get fluent! send me a mess.
 
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