Quote:
Originally Posted by Deaf Mortgage
Here's another thought...
If a person is really motivated to learn ASL... they will need to marry the language to excel and become fluent in ASL. As deaf individual, we fell love and married to ASL. We learned all kinds of structures that is not covered in the classroom.
The fastest way to learn is to "marry" the language as attending any deaf social events and have a deaf friend to social with.
Otherwise... its a waste of time to open a club or weekly classes where they will be limited to book information. Life experinces is best way to learn...
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I totally agree. You have to love ASL, but the way you do that as a hearing person is to fall in love with your Deaf friends or family. Unfotunately, so many people don't ever even meet a Deaf person because they are afraid they don't know how to commuicate. Some hearies are shy and afraid to offend, and some just don't really give a !@#$ about anything but themselves. You wouldn't want to know them anyway.
I remember that I cried when I started reading about Deaf culture. I got every book I could, and I was so pissed off when I read about ASL being taken away from the children in their own schools. Now, I look around me and I see Deaf schools struggling to survive. They teach more pigeon than ASL, and hearing people don't even know that it is happening. They are thinking everything is just fine, because it never hits the news.
Last summer, the administrators in Oregon tried to merge the Deaf and Blind school because the Blind school is sitting on a prime piece of property. It was all a money thing. Both communities - the Deaf and the Blind - were against it. We rallied and petitioned and we handed out flyers and raised a stink. The sale was postponed. But, as I was talking to people and trying to get them involved, I found out that they had no clue that it was happening. They were shocked. The newspaper had a few small articles, but the news didn't carry it. I guess I am afraid that if the school here gets shut down over funding, all of the kids will be in public schools and they will not be able to communicate. I just wish that all kids could know both sign and english. Hearing and Deaf alike. If the hearing community expects Deaf people to learn to speech read and be oral or to be fluent in writen English, then why can't they meet half way and learn sign?