Sitting in starbucks...thinking

echobutterfly

echobutterfly

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Hi, Echobutterfly here, just thinking away!

So, Im sitting in starbucks observing people. Im not deaf but I've been sitting here and signing for the past hour, to my computer, and Im getting all kinds of weird stares. I think its pretty funny that people think its strange.

So my question is Alldeaf.com, how do Deaf cope with people watching them and their judgements?
 
echobutterfly said:
Hi, Echobutterfly here, just thinking away!

So, Im sitting in starbucks observing people. Im not deaf but I've been sitting here and signing for the past hour, to my computer, and Im getting all kinds of weird stares. I think its pretty funny that people think its strange.

So my question is Alldeaf.com, how do Deaf cope with people watching them and their judgements?
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Never bothers me. I make it a mission to sign as much as possible. The only way others can be aware of someone else knowing sign is if you use it.

Have had interesting experiences because of this.
 
I love it so much. Im only in ASL 1 in my college but I sign as much as possible. Every time a song comes on the radio and I know the sign I sign it. Theres a lot to remember but I know some asl students are hesitant to sign infront of hearing. I like coming home from class and sharing what ive learned with my family.
 
Used to bother me as a kid but as an adult, I dont care.
 
I am signing more and more now as I am learning. I was getting the weird stares, but as the same people see me more and more, I get a lot of "thumbs up" and some people asking how to sign specific things. I know one day while at Cracker Barrel, when the hostess asked how many in the party, I signed and said 6. She commented that I was showing "3" on my hand, so I took the time to show her the numbers 1-20. We were sitting next to the doorway where she was and I saw her practicing and having a problem with 16-20 so I got up and showed her again. I then pulled out my "Gallaudet Survival Guide to Signing" and her boss copied the page of numbers for her. We had an occasion to return 2 weeks later and she was using it with all the people she was seating. Like, "Oh so you have 3 (and signing 3) people in your party? She was so happy.
 
I have actually learned that it is easier to communicate using sign rather than trying to hub flub my way through a voice conversation.

I am d/hh, raised all oral with no exposure to ASL growing up. Hated it. Now I'm also learning sign and I am considering getting a deaf coffee chat started in my area if possible. We will see.

I have no problem using sign in public if it helps in communicating.
 
I don't really mind to be stared at, I am used to it, between being a hippie type with a, shall we say, "unique" personal style, for about 8 years I had a service dog with me at all times, Now I have big ol' obvious CI equipment on both sides of my head, and I'm just naturally silly. So I am always getting stared at, especially here in Oklahoma. I do feel self conscious using sign in public, and yes people stare then too. But I am only self conscious because I am not fluent in sign (yet). Once I am fluent I probably won't be. Hey, either way at least I am entertaining someone somewhere. LOL
 
echobutterfly said:
Really? :( I wished I had been raised learning sign language. :(((
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posts from hell said:
I think everyone should be.
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I'm honestly puzzled as to why sign isn't a 2nd language in almost every country. AFAIK, except for the American Indians, that has not been the case. IIRC, it was theorized that American Indians used sign language instead of a common oral trading language to deal with their different accents.

Well, almost every country has people with different accents, so it would be a good idea for other nations also to implement this. Plus it can be convenient to be able to sign a few things quickly to people that are far away, in a noisy place, or even in another car.

Baseball, scuba divers and motorcyclists use a limited form of gestures because its convenient.

Like I say, I'm honestly puzzled.

ETA: By 2nd language, I meant 2nd language for hearing people.

And as for all the great characterisitics ASL has -- I still only know a little bit about the language. I'm sure almost everyone else that posts here knows more about how great ASL is than I do.
 
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echobutterfly said:
Hi, Echobutterfly here, just thinking away!

So, Im sitting in starbucks observing people. Im not deaf but I've been sitting here and signing for the past hour, to my computer, and Im getting all kinds of weird stares. I think its pretty funny that people think its strange.

So my question is Alldeaf.com, how do Deaf cope with people watching them and their judgements?
Click to expand...

Lol...oh yeah, that is very common for hearing people to stare at d/Deaf people signing ASL in public. To me, most of the time it does not bother me because I got used to it since I was young but I sometime tell at one or a group "what's up" or "yeah, what are you looking at?" Sometimes some of them stopped staring and turned their head.

Oh, sometime I caught them saying something nasty like mocking fun of me or when I am with my deaf friends, I would say in my own voice, "what is your fucking problem?" or giving them a flip bird.
 
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