Hi all. I've been lurking a bit reading some stickies about deaf culture and so on (Do's and don't's and what's annoying are very helpful threads.)
I'm a hearie living in Iowa City area, and I'm taking the signingonline.com courses. I took one about four years ago and didn't follow up, but I enrolled for all four courses, so there's no reason not to. I'm also watching the video podcasts put out by USI with Vonda Templeton and Laura Templeton. These I highly recommend.
My dad was HoH, stubborn enough never to get a HA. He read lips a bit to help, so I learned early about facing him.
I think my first exposure to sign language was when I was 8, and on the Smurfs, there was an episode where a mute elf taught the smurfs sign. I remember this because I was fascinated that someone could communicate like that without making a sound. Also, I remember the sign for smurf, which looks a lot like the American football referees' sign for safety (causing me much amusement the first time I saw that in a game). The bit was called "Smurfing in Sign Language" and I found it here (the one from youku.com). It's a slow connection, but I'm letting it load while writing this.
I got reinspired to learn ASL after I went to CONvergence, a sci-fi, fantasy, comic book, and general geek convention in Minneapolis, and there were some fantastic ASL interpreters there. Their skills were put to the test when it came to Vilification Tennis, which had some fantastic insults being hurled back and forth at high speed. They were fabulous and by the end of the con, most of the crowd of thousands knew a few signs more than when they went in. I think in addition to the wonderful job they were doing interpreting, they did a good deal of consciousness raising. It was wonderful.
Well, this has gotten long. Anyway
and 
I'm a hearie living in Iowa City area, and I'm taking the signingonline.com courses. I took one about four years ago and didn't follow up, but I enrolled for all four courses, so there's no reason not to. I'm also watching the video podcasts put out by USI with Vonda Templeton and Laura Templeton. These I highly recommend.
My dad was HoH, stubborn enough never to get a HA. He read lips a bit to help, so I learned early about facing him.
I think my first exposure to sign language was when I was 8, and on the Smurfs, there was an episode where a mute elf taught the smurfs sign. I remember this because I was fascinated that someone could communicate like that without making a sound. Also, I remember the sign for smurf, which looks a lot like the American football referees' sign for safety (causing me much amusement the first time I saw that in a game). The bit was called "Smurfing in Sign Language" and I found it here (the one from youku.com). It's a slow connection, but I'm letting it load while writing this.
I got reinspired to learn ASL after I went to CONvergence, a sci-fi, fantasy, comic book, and general geek convention in Minneapolis, and there were some fantastic ASL interpreters there. Their skills were put to the test when it came to Vilification Tennis, which had some fantastic insults being hurled back and forth at high speed. They were fabulous and by the end of the con, most of the crowd of thousands knew a few signs more than when they went in. I think in addition to the wonderful job they were doing interpreting, they did a good deal of consciousness raising. It was wonderful.
Well, this has gotten long. Anyway
and 
