I also said the same thing in another thread under Seattle, Tacoma... but I thought I would mention it here since that is an old thread that is probably not viewed.
Wierd night.....
I went to the Bellevue Starbucks tonite for the Deaf get together, and I felt rather wierd and left after only 5 or 10 minutes. As far as I could tell, I didnt see any Deaf or HoH people, only ASL students. The students I did see though werent using ASL properly. For example, I watched two hearing girls "signing" when all they really did was fingerspell every word. One girl asked her friend "w-h-a-t k-i-n-d o-f c-o-f-f-e-e d-o y-o-u w-a-n-t?" and she fingerspelled every single word.... wierd... From what I could tell, nobody there was Deaf, although one of the two girls fingerspelling every word had a slight monotone voice, so I believed her to be Deaf or HoH, and then I saw her fingerspelling everything and not signing. Strange... I did see a small group of people signing, but I felt like I would feel akward and out of place if I joined them since I didnt know them. Did I leave too early and some Deafies showed up later? Not to mention my father wanted to go, so he went with me, and he knows absolutely NO sign, and doesnt understand Deaf culture, manners, etc. so I felt wierd with him being there. I plan on finding someone from my class to go with me next friday to the one in Seattle, and maybe there will be some native signers or at least people who use signs at this one? LoL
Teg
Wierd night.....
I went to the Bellevue Starbucks tonite for the Deaf get together, and I felt rather wierd and left after only 5 or 10 minutes. As far as I could tell, I didnt see any Deaf or HoH people, only ASL students. The students I did see though werent using ASL properly. For example, I watched two hearing girls "signing" when all they really did was fingerspell every word. One girl asked her friend "w-h-a-t k-i-n-d o-f c-o-f-f-e-e d-o y-o-u w-a-n-t?" and she fingerspelled every single word.... wierd... From what I could tell, nobody there was Deaf, although one of the two girls fingerspelling every word had a slight monotone voice, so I believed her to be Deaf or HoH, and then I saw her fingerspelling everything and not signing. Strange... I did see a small group of people signing, but I felt like I would feel akward and out of place if I joined them since I didnt know them. Did I leave too early and some Deafies showed up later? Not to mention my father wanted to go, so he went with me, and he knows absolutely NO sign, and doesnt understand Deaf culture, manners, etc. so I felt wierd with him being there. I plan on finding someone from my class to go with me next friday to the one in Seattle, and maybe there will be some native signers or at least people who use signs at this one? LoL
Teg