Originally Posted by DragonYoga

Nice!!! Love your avatar, 1/2way man!

If anyone tries to tell you that "all" of this or that is true, then it is automatically a lie because there is always an exception to the rule. I'm Deaf myself, and in the Deaf culture, there is a significance to the use of the captialization of the letter D - it denotes a pride of the culture that we are a part of. If you see someone using a little d - as in, deaf - then it's more of a medical/pathological point of view, as in stating a hearing loss but not a part of the culture. (not all though)

HI! I've had people ask me if I could read and write. I remember when I was about 9, an old woman gave me a magazine full of pictures because she thought I couldn't read. The fact I had a 3 inch thick book with me apparently escaped her notice...





Someone said earlier that those with ASL communication don't usually have the skills to write in English because it's difficult to translate from one to another is partly right. We (my class) actually studied this last semester. What we found out is that the teachers - usually hearing and who learned signs in college/school - will give a very quick translation in English without details.

Let me explain: If a child asks "Teacher, how do I sign this? (signs a car driving manically around twists and turns in the road, and nearly smashes into a tree)" The teacher will say, 9 times out of 10, "The car's driving fast and it almost hits a tree." What happens is the student never learns to make that connection - that English *can* be as descriptive as ASL, and they end up writing the way they have been taught. I was fortunate that my love of reading taught me what I needed to know about writing.