Deaf culture - do's and don'ts, etc. Let's make a list!

These posts don't always affect me, but all are interesting glimpses into our complex deaf culture.

One item miffing me no end is people sending talking-head and music videos. Some are even HOH friends. Most are clueless to total deafness. When I tell them the video made no sense, please write out what you want me to get from it, they either ignore the request or say something like, "Oops, forgot."

Some will say, even though it's not captioned, it's entertaining without them, and you'll enjoy one of the hand signs.

NO. There's usually very little to enjoy when you have no idea what sound is involved. To me it's 3-5 minutes of aimless hand-fluttering. How am I supposed to guess which one is a sign?

Ha ha ha, I have been retaliating. To some repeaters I send an uncaptioned video of a joke in sign language. The more dead-pan the teller, the better. I say it's hilarious and even if you don't know sign, you'll get the message.

They never do, but I'm hoping they'll get my message.
 
Chase said:
Dixie, that would make my jaw drop in disbelief IF I hadn't been the victim of a plethora of junk thrown at me and past me because some idiot hearie (never a deafie) was too lazy to walk a few feet or yards to tap me. Some people!

My recent brush with the unthinking was at church. A lady bubbled up to me after Mass. After several tries to calm her, saying I was trying to read her lips, I got that she thought it would be a wonderful thing if I could sign the songs and homily for everyone during Mass, like on TV.

I just stared a moment, trying to review if I'd missed something. Finally, I said I couldn't hear.

She just smiled and wagged a finger at me (the "where" sign, and I remembered thinking "Where is your brain?"). She chided, "Well, others can't hear, either, and you should think of them."

I'm sure she's going around saying how that deaf man only thinks of himself.
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Sometimes the best response is to simply say, "You are correct. I am a very thoughtless and selfish perosn." and go on, LOL. Simplifies things a great deal!
 
jillio said:
Sometimes the best response is to simply say, "You are correct. I am a very thoughtless and selfish perosn." and go on, LOL. Simplifies things a great deal!
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You're right, Jillio. My problem is too much time usually goes by and the person is gone before I have time to respond with the proper sarcasm.

Ha ha ha, even while I'm standing there nodding my head like one of those figurines of a dog in the back window of a Chevy, I'm often still trying to make sense of the few words I recognized on the speaker's lips.

But thanks to this thread, I'm packing better ammunition, ha ha.
 
Chase said:
You're right, Jillio. My problem is too much time usually goes by and the person is gone before I have time to respond with the proper sarcasm.

Ha ha ha, even while I'm standing there nodding my head like one of those figurines of a dog in the back window of a Chevy, I'm often still trying to make sense of the few words I recognized on the speaker's lips.

But thanks to this thread, I'm packing better ammunition, ha ha.
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LOL! The degree of studpidity does have the power to stun!
 
InnocentOdion said:
Seems as though because people are Deaf it's okay to throw pencils, pens, blunt or sharp knives, pieces of raw chicken, probably including compost, stamp their feet, mess with hearing aids of cochlear implants, SHOUT REALLY LOUDLY, and O--VER---EM-PHA-SI---ZE THE WO----RDS WHEN THEY ARE TA--LKING TO--- YOU---.
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This happened again yesterday at work. What did I do? Threw a huge breast fillet back at the guy and got him square in the face, lol :D He didnt throw another thing at me the rest of the day.
 
IslandGal said:
Good thread here!!

Oh I hate it if someone throws a dangerous object at me. Once a friend threw a pen at me and know where the pointed end landed? Right in between of my eyes. I said OW and reached my hand up to where it had hurt. I then saw some blood on my hand and looked at my friend whose eyes were wide open. I then went to look in a mirror, seeing that I looked so horrible with blood running down my nose. I told my friend what if it had landed right into my eye?! Thank goodness, it didn't.
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This girl in my math class threw an eraser at me, so i picked it up and threw it back at her. I think she got the point not to throw anything at me again after she had to duck the earser because I threw it at her so hard :laugh2:
 
I got another one. Dont get mad at me or frustrated with me when I dont know a sign for something. Oh, and dont tell me I should know every sign there is. I am not a linguist, scholar, and I dont have a phd in Asl.
 
pepsiwoman said:
I hate it when someone is talking to me and that person know about my hearing and the person would turn their head so i can`t see their lips.:pissed:
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What about those who put their hands over their mouths so you can't see them talking?

That's very rude, even if done to hearing people.
 
Would anyone know a place where they would have definition of deaf terms?
And could you make a list of all the do's and don'ts? That would be very helpful.
 
I hate it when I am in class, and everytime before a test, suddenly all the hearing people want to know if I can send them a copy of my "notes" (the transcripts for the class session that my typewell captionist has taken). Actually what they do is ask my captionist if they can pay him for a copy before they ask me. He of course says he's not allowed to do that, but they can ask me if I want to share a copy. Usually for the first test I oblige, but by the time the second test comes I know who the users are and who are the people that genuinely are interested in studying together or sharing notes. The last test I sent copies of my transcripts to like 4 people. One of them thanked me for sending them and then shared her fill in the blank study sheet that the professor had given us. The others I never heard from at all...not even an email to say thank you. One girl said thanks verbally sometime after. And this boy who never said thank you or even acknowledged receiving them the first time had the audacity to ask if I would send him the notes again. I smiled and nodded and acted as if I had no idea what he was saying. Then he EMAILED me to ask(replied to the first copy of the notes I sent him so obviously he got them). Wow, I can't believe people! I go to class and I take notes by hand like everyone else. I read the teachers lips and I participate in the class discussions. My transcripts are more for a back up for anything that I have missed. They are not the ultimate study guide that enable me to get good grades without ever reading a book or taking notes or participating in the class. Anybody else ever had such problems? How do I politely explain that I don't want to participate in a one way sharing of notes?
 
cterry7799 said:
I hate it when I am in class, and everytime before a test, suddenly all the hearing people want to know if I can send them a copy of my "notes" (the transcripts for the class session that my typewell captionist has taken). Actually what they do is ask my captionist if they can pay him for a copy before they ask me. He of course says he's not allowed to do that, but they can ask me if I want to share a copy. Usually for the first test I oblige, but by the time the second test comes I know who the users are and who are the people that genuinely are interested in studying together or sharing notes. The last test I sent copies of my transcripts to like 4 people. One of them thanked me for sending them and then shared her fill in the blank study sheet that the professor had given us. The others I never heard from at all...not even an email to say thank you. One girl said thanks verbally sometime after. And this boy who never said thank you or even acknowledged receiving them the first time had the audacity to ask if I would send him the notes again. I smiled and nodded and acted as if I had no idea what he was saying. Then he EMAILED me to ask(replied to the first copy of the notes I sent him so obviously he got them). Wow, I can't believe people! I go to class and I take notes by hand like everyone else. I read the teachers lips and I participate in the class discussions. My transcripts are more for a back up for anything that I have missed. They are not the ultimate study guide that enable me to get good grades without ever reading a book or taking notes or participating in the class. Anybody else ever had such problems? How do I politely explain that I don't want to participate in a one way sharing of notes?
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Just politely tell them that you are forbidden from distributing transcripts by the disability services office, but you'll be happy to share your CI with them if they think it will help.
 
jillio said:
Just politely tell them that you are forbidden from distributing transcripts by the disability services office, but you'll be happy to share your CI with them if they think it will help.
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My response would be a more direct "get lost loser"
 
Or how about those people wo think you've got it easy because you have your own 'personal notetaker'.

uhhhhh not quite mate.........
 
i see that my extremely accurate and helpful list of do's and don't's has been removed.

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?
 
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