Hello, I KNOW SIGN LANGUAGE...AAAHHHH!

Tell them yes, and that you are contagious. :lol:
 
quiet gal said:
Another thing about people when they ask you this ~~~ Are you death?

I would say ~~ no, I am not death! I am alive!

Were you born death? How can I be born death if I am alive!
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Do they actually sign "death" to you? How can they possibly mistake the sign for death and deaf?? (sign* stupid people)
 
ThatGuy said:
Do they actually sign "death" to you? How can they possibly mistake the sign for death and deaf?? (sign* stupid people)
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I think she means they actually verbally say it, "death" instead of "deaf," it is a very common hearie mistake. a lot of ppl seem to have trouble with the f's and th's. Whatever.
As for the deaf/hoh "approach random person", I notice people staring when I'm signing, but don't usually have someone come up to me, except in a classroom sometimes, if I'm chatting with friends in sign. Even though I sign fairly well, and can hold a pretty decent conversation in sign, I wouldn't walk up to someone randomly at a restaurant or anything and start signing. Stupid hearies!
 
agreed, there is such a thing called "tact"....to everything turn, turn, turn....there is a season turn, turn, turn.....hehehehehe
 
Last year I was at the "FOOD COURT" at the mall. I was talking to my sister oralism. I learned oralism since I was 3 years old until I learned ASL after I graduate from high school. So anyway, one of the hearing come up to my sister and ask if she understand me. My sister was like EXCUSE ME! So I talked with the hearing and told them to F*CK OFF and then I use ASL in swear words. My sister laughed and the hearing walked away.
I guess the hearing saw I have my hearing aids on and maybe he thought deaf must use ASL.
 
bluegecko474 said:
Last year I was at the "FOOD COURT" at the mall. I was talking to my sister oralism. I learned oralism since I was 3 years old until I learned ASL after I graduate from high school. So anyway, one of the hearing come up to my sister and ask if she understand me. My sister was like EXCUSE ME! So I talked with the hearing and told them to F*CK OFF and then I use ASL in swear words. My sister laughed and the hearing walked away.
I guess the hearing saw I have my hearing aids on and maybe he thought deaf must use ASL.
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Is that all the hearie said? or was there more to the story? From what you say sounds like they weren't trying to be rude but just maybe curious. If there is nothing else to the story, then I think you may have not handled it very nicely yourself. Just my opinion.
 
The hearing guy come right up to my sister while we were eating and talking. He asked my sister DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT HE SAID! That was rude to us and my sister said "Excuse me I understand him the whole thing" SO the hearing said DEAF DUMB and that pissed me off. So I use my voice "F*CK OFF" and some other words. THen I insulted him in ASL. Then my sister laughing. The guy just stood there and walk away. Get it??
 
Well if he was being an asshole about it then that's fine, and I dont agree with disturbing a person while they eat. ok.
 
What is it about the Food Court LOL....Being a hearie with very (and I mean very) limited signing skills, I would never walk up to two people that are eating and ask about signing, etc.

I sort of got myself into a situation the other day and didn't mean to. I was in line at Subway at our local mall and I noticed the woman behind me in line was deaf. When I got near the register, her food came up too and she placed her food on top of the stack of trays that was there. It occured to her that I may want a tray but couldn't get one because of her food (even though I didn't want one). She held up the stack and said 'Tray?'. I signed to her No Thank You. Well, she got excited that I signed to her and she started signing back to me....and totally lost me after she signed it was nice to meet me. The impression I got from her and from our limited conversation was that she was visiting family in the area and didn't know any hearies and she said it made her happy that I signed No Thank You over the tray. I later learned that she would only be here a short time before returning home in Texas.

I am very limited in my knowledge of sign and did a lot of fingerspelling and broken sentences that were missing a word. She was also very forgiving of my limited knowledge. Its a shame that she wouldn't be staying longer...

Anyhow, in regards to restaurants and other businesses, I would consider it rude to walk up to somebody and try to start a conversation...especially claiming I know sign when I only know a few things. About every 2 weeks or so, I see someone signing in our mall (oftentimes the same people)...and as much as I'd like to approach them, I wouldn't want to be rude.

As some of you know, before I got into police work, I had very long hair that was in a mohawk. Very frequently in restaurants while eating, some stranger would grab my hair and hold it up and say 'Is that your real hair?' First, I don't know why they would think it was fake...but secondly, I never understood how a person could walk up to somebody who was eating...interupt them and grab their hair. It is this same logic I use in regards to seeing people in sign....I didn't like people interupting my meal to grab my hair and I wouldn't feel right interupting someone elses meal to ask about helping me learn sign, etc.
 
LOL, I'm not deaf but this thread really made me laugh. When I'm interpreting people will come up to me and say things like "Oh, my aunt's stepson is deaf, and I've always wanted to learn sign." Um...what am I supposed to say? "Great, so why didn't you?" Sheesh. ("Smile and nod," as someone else said here, is my usual response.)

Or, yeah, the "I know sign" and then they sign "tree" at me. "Yep, that's a sign all right!" Okay, I don't say that, I put on my professional smile but yeah, it is annoying to me, and I can only imagine how much more annoying to deaf people.
 
People find us so interesting. We look normal at first but when we sign, we took them by surprise.

Otherwise, these people don't get to use sign language often so they would forget most of it and really wanted to communicate with us.

So props to them for trying at the least. :wiggle:
 
quiet gal said:
Another thing about people when they ask you this ~~~ Are you death?
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Tell them YES! but this is my day off. My cloak and scythe are at home. Check tomorrow's newspaper. The obituary column will be empty.

Now go away or I'll put you on tomorrow's list.

brianb
 
today at work when i'm on way to punch out for lunch.. one girl a co-worker came up to me and told me " my brother's deaf and i know a little sign language" oh crap.. i jus ttried to be friendly with this new co-worker.. i jus ttold her " oh really. cool thats nice.."
 
when we are out with our deaf daughter, people interupt us when we are signing with her, telling us that they know ASL, then they will spell h-i to our daughter. We want to say, that is not sign language, that is finger spelling, big difference, but we don't want to discourage people from attempting to communicate with our child, or the next deaf person they meet. It's hard to be nice sometimes.
 
People either feel pity for the deaf person, or feel so eager at the opportunity to actually use a few signs they learned that they forget they don't have the skills to carry a conversation. I've seen people look excited to start with then look disappointed when they realize they're way in over their heads. I myself try to be nice, because of course, nobody is perfect. :) I once was stopped by a cop in Washington DC because she(yes it was a lady cop) knew a few signs and wanted to say hi. Looking back, that is a funny memory.
 
oh i tell people when i'm shopping or something..'please look at me when you talk i'm deaf' [i stopped saying hoh cuz they are worse to talk to if i say that]...and they ask me 'can you read braille?
 
i have a tty and it is kinda funny when i have to call the bank or utility co. and have to use the relay...'ummm welll.....umm....ask her if she knows her act number....and her name...?' i always want to give my act number but say i have no clue what's my name??
 
bigdaddyb said:
Tell them YES! but this is my day off. My cloak and scythe are at home. Check tomorrow's newspaper. The obituary column will be empty.

Now go away or I'll put you on tomorrow's list.

brianb
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:laugh2: omg i can't stop laughing....i've been asked that but never had a good answer...
 
crazed-wolf said:
oh i tell people when i'm shopping or something..'please look at me when you talk i'm deaf' [i stopped saying hoh cuz they are worse to talk to if i say that]...and they ask me 'can you read braille?
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:rofl: Can you read Braille!!!! :rofl:
 
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