Hello all you lovely new to me people!

[tranquil.ataxia]

Hello there, everyone!

I, like so many here, am a student of ASL out here in Portland, OR. Signing was taught to me when I was a wee child, then I worked at it on occasion as I grew up, as I did with many other languages and Braille. I enjoy communicating, being helpful and understanding people, so I've been working on removing possible barriers. And finally I've gotten around taking classes that I get actual credit for. (I will post in the correct forum for that as well. :P ) My hope is to find some folks with whom I am able to communicate, who like to share and are patient. I have especially been fascinated by signing, because to me it's akin to the hula and belly dancing. It's a beautiful fluid dance of hands and expressions.

Not sure how to label myself, especially since I personally think labels can inhibit rather than excite growth. I suppose, in the grand scheme, I'm a hearie. I do have the ability to hear. I have a difficult time discerning the sounds into individual words. What I've been told and what I recall, I was born with 25% hearing. Since I was about 5, I have had a handful of surgeries to bring my hearing up (which actually made the following months rather painful); due to the scar tissue and what not, the last audiologist appointment I had, they determined that what's left of my hearing is in a decline (that was a few years ago). They wanted to do more operations, but I decided, I function fine. I've learned to navigate a world filled with a cacophony of noises that I barely understand on a normal day. I'm okay with that. Some days, clear as a bell, I can hear a whisper behind me. Other days I can't understand anything that's being said around or to me.

Now, I have some questions, if any would be kind enough to answer. Some are academic/grammatical and some lean toward culture of the Deaf community. (I like to understand the etiquette of a culture as well as the language.) I've been lurking around, reading as much as I could so I don't ask the same query that other folks have. I apologize ahead of time, in case I say something inappropriate. :Oops: I am a curious person and tend to be rather forward in my queries. I respect everyone here, because you deserve it for simply being. If anyone would be willing to answer my questions, I would appreciate it. (This turned out longer than I meant, didn't realize I had been holding in so much, hence waiting to post questions, so I don't put folks to sleep )

Thanks for your time (and patience for reading this novella), and look forward to becoming pals with anyone who is interested.
Bubbles

 

[Calvero]

How long have you been learning Braille? I've been interested in learning it for a while.

 

[Bottesini]

Now, I have some questions, if any would be kind enough to answer. Some are academic/grammatical and some lean toward culture of the Deaf community. (I like to understand the etiquette of a culture as well as the language.) I've been lurking around, reading as much as I could so I don't ask the same query that other folks have. I apologize ahead of time, in case I say something inappropriate. :Oops: I am a curious person and tend to be rather forward in my queries. I respect everyone here, because you deserve it for simply being. If anyone would be willing to answer my questions, I would appreciate it. (This turned out longer than I meant, didn't realize I had been holding in so much, hence waiting to post questions, so I don't put folks to sleep )

Thanks for your time (and patience for reading this novella)

Hopefully by novella, you don't mean you are giving a fictional account of yourself?

Secondly, what are your questions?

 

[tranquil.ataxia]

Hello Calvero - I've attempted to learn Braille off and on since I was about 8 or 9. I haven't done much in the past few years. Since I'm a very tactile person, it is a fun thing to learn.

Howdy Bottesini - No, not fictional. I know I didn't use novella with its technical meaning in mind. It just sounded more poetic than "almost a novel". I have a slight allergy to guilt, so I don't fib much, because I always feel guilty afterwards. Maybe one day, I will share the sad story of my $10 lie.

To start:

First , I'm ambidextrous. I naturally do some things with my left hand (eat, bat, shoot) and some with my right hand (stir, flip, draw). I write with both hands (not simultaneously. ) So from the beginning I have fingerspelled and do 1 hand signs with my left, but if both hands are involved, 80% of the time, my right hand becomes the dominant. Is this wrong? I haven't found anything that supports which hand HAS to be dominant, just that I have to pick one. Thinking about which hand I'm supposed to use slows down my signing considerably. Does it really matter?

Second, I am meeting many hearing folks that sign (some are CODAs, involved romantically with Deaf people, or have been signing for years) who claim they are lazy signers. Is this similar to reverting to slang or abbreviating words? For example, the proper thing to say is "I'm going to", but some people say "I'm gonna" or "I'm goin' to." Is this acceptable when signing to a Deaf person? Is signing exactly as I'm taught via professor, websites, etc, seem more stiff?

And third, this one is kind of a big one for me. And I truly hope I do not offend. My fiancé (who will be starting his ASL classes next term) and I plan to adopt and foster special needs children after we are married. (Another reason, I've found it would be helpful to learn ASL because it is wonderful for helping young children communicate who otherwise have no way to do so.) Since there are quite a few Deaf/HOH children needing families, this concern is something regarding what has been said to me by several people, who have ties to the Deaf community but are not deaf. That a good amount of the community dislike those that are not Deaf, and that this dislike is also toward those that are Deaf, but do not have a strong lineage of Deaf ancestry. Is this true, in part or as a whole? I inquire because it would sadden me to have a deaf child that would be disregarded because she or he is being raised by a hearing person. I plan to teach my children, to not judge a person by circumstances they cannot control, whether by birth or accident, nature or nurture, but by the actions they commit from then on. With that, I would hope that it would not matter either way to our munchkins. I have read things here that seem like there is some prejudice or annoyance toward those that are not Deaf, key word “seems.” Such as someone saying those of us learning ASL and coming to forums like this one to ask for thoughts are Jane Goodalls or think of those within the Deaf community as lab rats. Is it because of the way the other people presented themselves? If any of the children we are gifted with are Deaf or HOH, I would like to get them involved in the Deaf community. I don't want them to possibly to feel they might have to choose between their hearing family or Deaf family. I have heard and even read on here a few sad stories about mixed hearing/Deaf families. I would not want to subject a child to that.Maybe I’m too concerned about something that shouldn’t be a concern at all?

Thank you

 

[Bottesini]

.

Howdy Bottesini - No, not fictional. I know I didn't use novella with its technical meaning in mind. It just sounded more poetic than "almost a novel".
Oh..
To start:

First , I'm ambidextrous. I naturally do some things with my left hand (eat, bat, shoot) and some with my right hand (stir, flip, draw). I write with both hands (not simultaneously. ) So from the beginning I have fingerspelled and do 1 hand signs with my left, but if both hands are involved, 80% of the time, my right hand becomes the dominant. Is this wrong? I haven't found anything that supports which hand HAS to be dominant, just that I have to pick one. Thinking about which hand I'm supposed to use slows down my signing considerably. Does it really matter?
Don't switch back and forth . One dominant hand will make more sense.
Second, I am meeting many hearing folks that sign (some are CODAs, involved romantically with Deaf people, or have been signing for years) who claim they are lazy signers. Is this similar to reverting to slang or abbreviating words? For example, the proper thing to say is "I'm going to", but some people say "I'm gonna" or "I'm goin' to." Is this acceptable when signing to a Deaf person? Is signing exactly as I'm taught via professor, websites, etc, seem more stiff?
Contracted words? There are specific words that way, but not that you can make decisions willy nilly. There are rules.
And third, this one is kind of a big one for me. And I truly hope I do not offend. My fiancé (who will be starting his ASL classes next term) and I plan to adopt and foster special needs children after we are married. (Another reason, I've found it would be helpful to learn ASL because it is wonderful for helping young children communicate who otherwise have no way to do so.) Since there are quite a few Deaf/HOH children needing families, this concern is something regarding what has been said to me by several people, who have ties to the Deaf community but are not deaf. That a good amount of the community dislike those that are not Deaf, and that this dislike is also toward those that are Deaf, but do not have a strong lineage of Deaf ancestry. Is this true, in part or as a whole? I inquire because it would sadden me to have a deaf child that would be disregarded because she or he is being raised by a hearing person. I plan to teach my children, to not judge a person by circumstances they cannot control, whether by birth or accident, nature or nurture, but by the actions they commit from then on. With that, I would hope that it would not matter either way to our munchkins. I have read things here that seem like there is some prejudice or annoyance toward those that are not Deaf, key word “seems.” Such as someone saying those of us learning ASL and coming to forums like this one to ask for thoughts are Jane Goodalls or think of those within the Deaf community as lab rats. Is it because of the way the other people presented themselves? If any of the children we are gifted with are Deaf or HOH, I would like to get them involved in the Deaf community. I don't want them to possibly to feel they might have to choose between their hearing family or Deaf family. I have heard and even read on here a few sad stories about mixed hearing/Deaf families. I would not want to subject a child to that.Maybe I’m too concerned about something that shouldn’t be a concern at all?
On the bold, when you ask about your key word "seems" why would you think people would take the trouble to write down how they feel if they didn't mean it? No seems about it. I think you may understand that this sentiment is very sincere. And not just in this forum, but very much in the real world, although you may go years in the real world on a superficial level and have no one directly tell you something of that nature.
Thank you

...

 

[tranquil.ataxia]

By that sentence, it wasn't meant that someone would be insincere about what they were expressing. Rather that perhaps I may be misunderstanding, reading it in the wrong tone. Without watching someone's face while they interact with me, it is difficult sometimes to know for certain how someone means something. In only text jokes, sarcasm, satire, all of that can be misconstrued without the accompanying physical markers, at least for me, unless I know the person.

Thank you, Bottesini, for the advice and feedback. I will work on selecting a dominant hand. I've found my fingers of my left hand are more dexterous but my right hand just likes to be in charge. As for the rules, I am working on learning them.

I will move that last question to a discussion forum, so that perhaps others will weigh in and help me better understand.