Does anyone out there feel lonely because they have no one to sign with?

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lauriesmyname

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I am hoh, its getting worse faster than I anticipated, and my family all make fun of me for using sign. They are not supportive of sign...they just get irritated when I sign as I talk to them. I haven't been able to go to classes at UVU (Utah Valley University in Orem, Ut.) for about 18 months due to health problems and I really miss being able to communicate with others. I keep dreaming that someone is having a conversation with me, and I start to sign in my sleep. Usually, the dream ends because I have accidentally hit my husband in my/his sleep.

I used to have a really great friend and mentor that lived just a few houses down the street, but she moved about 4 years ago. You can't just replace a friend, and I don't want to, but I really would love to "talk" with other signers. ASL is my passion now, but I don't have anyone to share that with until I can get back to classes again. I will probably enroll in ASL classes as long as I live just to keep learning and to feed that passion.

Anyone out there have some wisdom about web-cams or programs that I could tap into to make new friends and maybe even another mentor for a very eager student? I don't want to barge in where I am not welcome, but I sure wish I lived nearer to another lover of ASL.

I have to add this: I am not much more than a mediocre signer...I have not seen it for so long that I am very rusty, plus, one of my medical conditions makes me sign "crooked" because my left arm is fused palm-down. My friend used to tell me it was not a problem to make myself understood, it just gave me an "accent"....

I hope someone out there might be interested in helping an average "old" lady get her eyes back and her hands limbered up!!!

lauriesmyname
 
:welcome: to AllDeaf forum. I don't know where you can find some deaf friends or people who are interest in ASL to share with you on signing. I don't know if you have a hearing society in your area. If you live in the rural area, then it would be hard to find someone to sign. Gotta go to the big city like Salt City where there are deaf people or hearing society. You can try looking up in the phone book for deaf organizations somewhere. I hope you find one. Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading and posting all the threads here. Have fun with us. See you around. :wave:
 
That is one of the reason that I'm moving is because I'am the only deaf person in my town.
 
i live in a town that don't have much deaf people i rare see them much but i do have lot of deaf people nearby town, and all my friends live there.
 
I know what you mean. I took my ASL class and once it was out I had no one to sign with and my wife just would get iritated with me when I signed and talked. I have forgotten alot now and I am afraid I will fail my next ASL class because it has been a few months before I had the last one. Stick in there, everything will be alright.
 
thanks to those with suggestions...

Actually, I do have a really great resource at my disposal. UVU (previously UVSC) is the local university along with BYU. I have some exellent professors there that are great about allowing me to take classes over and over because I can't seem to get through a semester without having to go in the hospital for asthma. I think I am going to ask for a nice web cam for Christmas and that is when I will really get excited about getting to all of you better!!

ASL is the most beautiful language I have ever come across in my 44 years of life. I don't think I would mind going deaf so much except I will lose my music. Since music used to be livelyhood, I fear that more than anything.
 
I lost all of my hearing at 45. I had been hoh for 37 years. I have a non-supportive family amd I am teaching myself ASL since I can't afford to go to the college to take classes and there isn't anything else available unless I live in St. Louis, which I don't.

I really miss my music, but I am thankful that I can still hear the songs in my head. Since I read music, it makes things a little easier.
 
i do too, but for different reasons, MOST of trhe deaf adults here are badly educated barely a 'healthy' crowd for my intellectual stimulations needs, groans.... Im working my ass off and hope to get out of here to somewhere where I will myself in the 'right sort of social environment' its hard i feel really alone when i can only talk about very superficial shit around here. also maybe on my parts i dont sign fast enough......geeez
 
SKOREAPV83 said:
Gotta reply to this one. I definitely feel extremely lonely because I have no one to sign with. I haven't had no visits with signers in many years. The Deaf sighted of Hamilton County, OH would much rather be at work than be with me. On June 2, 2006 I was very++ mean to most of my former Deaf friends. I said, "Go on back to work!!! I ain't comin' around to bother y'all no more!" Since then I only see 3 of them guys, and only about every 2-3 months. Everybody I have yet to meet shuns me 98% of those minutes @ every Deaf/Signing Community Event in Hamilton County, OH. I NEED new Signing friends to visit often - 5 so that I have a different person to see each week of the month. Truth is, I felt a tighter friendship bond with the Deaf-BLIND than the Deaf sighted. I love tactile signing:)!!! I miss it so bad after OADB banished me in 2004. I won't stop spreading the word about how they done me wrong. The tactile signers did more than just be there for me - they touched me in all the right ways at all the right times. With friends as intimate as the tactile signers get with me, I don't need no girlfriend cuz love as a friend is close enough to love as a lover when I'm friends with tactile signers. I just found out KADB, the Kentucky Assn o/t DB, only has ONE tactile signer. So does Center for DB Persons in Milwaukee, WI. So neither of the organizations I had been in touch with all year have enough tactile signers for me to meet. What a shame! As for the heartbreak caused by OADB & the tactile signing Cincinnatians, the end is still not in sight:roll::cry:.

I am NOT demanding to be coddled as the two meanies who replied to my very first post said. I just need a little more attention than an average person. I have just been left deserted by the Signing Community since my grandfather died. I paid $6,600 to learn ASL @ Cincinnati State College. I will NEVER in this LIFETIME have that kind of money again. It's the only reason I continue going to these Deaf events, spending 2 hours on a Metro bus full of ignorant non-signers who cuss up a storm and get away wit it. I can't let myself say I'm done with the Deaf sighted of Hamilton County, OH until I'm back with the tactile signers of another county of another state. I fear the language changing on me & having to spend $1,000s that I'll NEVER have to relearn it.

My former best friend already let herself get outta touch with the Signing Community. She lost her title as THE14ME (the one for me) because of it. Her signing was the top thing that made her THE14ME. One of the Cincinnatian tactile signers became THE14ME for a short while in 2003. But since then, nobody is THE14ME.

Any tactile signers on this site might find my page on human touch interesting:

The Way I have Changed about Human Touch
Click to expand...

just wanted to let you know that there are several totally deafblind people (including myself) in the milwaukee area. the center for deafblind persons in miwaukee has monthly activities which many deafblind people attend.

remember that not all deafblind people are familiar with or attend the deafblind center, so there are more deafblind people in the area than those who attend the center. i'm sure there are other deafblind people who are in denial about their vision loss/blindness/hearing loss/deafness, so those people need to be accounted for as well.

i would love to have the opportunity to meet you sometime. i've been using tactile sign (pse primarily, but also see and asl) since i started learning it in 1995.
 
welcome to ad! :)

if you'd like to talk about asl or tactile sign, i'd be happy to. just send me a message under my profile.
 
Yeah, it does get lonely not signing to anyone for weeks to months at a time. I always feel better after going to a Deaf event down at Austine. It's pretty good that some people at work are learning sign too. There's someone I know of who wants to set up a Deaf club for southern Vermont because most of the events are way up in northern Vermont, so I'll make sure it'll succeed.

Getting a VP does help with calling your friends. I've signed with three people I knew from RIT, but it'd be nice to have people close by to sign with in person, like at a club.
 
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