agentpigeon
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2008
- Messages
- 31
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Salutations. Legend has it that newcomers to the forum are to introduce themselves, so here I am. First, I am very much established as a hearing person. I am a cellist and pianist, and am incredibly fascinated with certain aspects of the English language. However, this fascination appears to be innate in myself, as I am equally fascinated with American Sign Language and the concept of expanding beyond the barriers of mere sound combinations into the arena of visual representation of concepts. Since a large part of comprehension depends upon the ability to visualize the problem or concept, ofttimes an English sentence cannot hope to compare with the way ASL can communicate a complicated idea in a few simple motions. But all of this is merely my intellectual fascination with ASL, and has nothing to do with my as yet unmentioned involvement.
My beginnings in ASL were, admittedly, humble. I met my HOH friend, Rob, when I was about twelve, and that then nearly inert spark of fascination impelled me to casually learn a few signs. My skill was very limited for a very long time, and I only used - and knew about - SEE. I knew a little sign, but remained largely stagnant in my ability. Two years ago, I discovered ASL. The spark within me had been fanned when I took a year of Spanish and loved every minute of it, and now it carried even greater force when it gave me the desire to learn all about ASL as an individual and complex language. I gradually took up ASL grammar (and am still working on understanding and implementing it in conversation) and today I might be classified as an intermediate to advanced signer. I comprehend, as an observer, much of what is "said", and have been told I utilize well the visual and spacial capabilities of ASL.
I recently started participating in the deaf community where I live - most likely why my comprehension recently took a leap in the right direction - but I want to keep learning. ASL and the deaf community is intriguing to me.
There is only one more thing which I wish to mention before I bid adieu for now. It would be contrary to my being to neglect mention of it. I know Jesus as my personal Savior, and I believe because of the verifiability of His truth and existence through existential, philosophic, and historic evidence, and faith. As a result, I know peace, and I desire to follow His example and commission to love my neighbor as myself (which includes you!). Thank you.
My beginnings in ASL were, admittedly, humble. I met my HOH friend, Rob, when I was about twelve, and that then nearly inert spark of fascination impelled me to casually learn a few signs. My skill was very limited for a very long time, and I only used - and knew about - SEE. I knew a little sign, but remained largely stagnant in my ability. Two years ago, I discovered ASL. The spark within me had been fanned when I took a year of Spanish and loved every minute of it, and now it carried even greater force when it gave me the desire to learn all about ASL as an individual and complex language. I gradually took up ASL grammar (and am still working on understanding and implementing it in conversation) and today I might be classified as an intermediate to advanced signer. I comprehend, as an observer, much of what is "said", and have been told I utilize well the visual and spacial capabilities of ASL.
I recently started participating in the deaf community where I live - most likely why my comprehension recently took a leap in the right direction - but I want to keep learning. ASL and the deaf community is intriguing to me.
There is only one more thing which I wish to mention before I bid adieu for now. It would be contrary to my being to neglect mention of it. I know Jesus as my personal Savior, and I believe because of the verifiability of His truth and existence through existential, philosophic, and historic evidence, and faith. As a result, I know peace, and I desire to follow His example and commission to love my neighbor as myself (which includes you!). Thank you.
to AllDeaf forum. We don't talk too much about God and Jesus even when I tried to define what the Bible was about in other threads. Right now we don't have any religion anymore because everyone is arguing about it. As for you now that you are able to communicate ASL with someone in the Deaf community. Just try to understand our point of view as a Deaf person that we are experiencing difficulty understanding the hearing person talking to us that hearing person expect a Deaf person to lipread and understand the hearing person. Some of us has different variety of hearing loss from mild hearing loss to profound. Any way I hope you enjoy reading and posting all the threads here. Have fun with us. See you around. 
