Hello everyone. My name is Robert and I am a 23 year old that lives in Arizona. I am neither deaf, nor hard of hearing. I am just a guy that wants to learn sign language and be able to immerse myself into the deaf/hard of hearing community. It is such a beautiful language and I find it really fascinating. But, that's not what originally made me want to learn it.
One day a while ago a woman walked into my work who was deaf and I felt utterly useless trying to communicate with her. She was very nice and patient with me while we wrote notes back and forth on pieces of paper. Like I said, she was nice enough and seemed very understanding; but it got me thinking. She probably goes through that a lot when she walks into a place and needs a good or service. Wouldn't it be a nice surprise to her to have someone that would be able to communicate with her in her native language? That way a normal few minute communication wouldn't take a plethora of time and paper to get even the simplest message across?
So I decided that I would not let that happen again. I decided that I wanted to take up sign language. I have not taken any classes, nor do I even know anyone to communicate with in sign language. I have been attempting to self teach myself for the time being through many sources, including the internet. I stumbled upon this site and figured that it would be a great place to learn about the language, community, and even maybe where I can find some places close by that offer a class or someone who would be willing to practice with me.
I thank all of you in advance for your patience with me and for all of your help which I look forward to recieving from all of you and the site. Thanks for reading and have a great day
One day a while ago a woman walked into my work who was deaf and I felt utterly useless trying to communicate with her. She was very nice and patient with me while we wrote notes back and forth on pieces of paper. Like I said, she was nice enough and seemed very understanding; but it got me thinking. She probably goes through that a lot when she walks into a place and needs a good or service. Wouldn't it be a nice surprise to her to have someone that would be able to communicate with her in her native language? That way a normal few minute communication wouldn't take a plethora of time and paper to get even the simplest message across?
So I decided that I would not let that happen again. I decided that I wanted to take up sign language. I have not taken any classes, nor do I even know anyone to communicate with in sign language. I have been attempting to self teach myself for the time being through many sources, including the internet. I stumbled upon this site and figured that it would be a great place to learn about the language, community, and even maybe where I can find some places close by that offer a class or someone who would be willing to practice with me.
I thank all of you in advance for your patience with me and for all of your help which I look forward to recieving from all of you and the site. Thanks for reading and have a great day
to AD! I grew up in AZ and know the Deaf community there. What part of AZ?
...welcome aboard!...The deaf community needs more people like you! Thanks....
