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How on *earth* are you going to manage to get the whole country (or indeed the whole world) to learn to sign proficiently enough to be able to communicate for a whole day? Here in Blighty the vast majority of our citizens can't even master European languages, such as French, which follow, loosely at least, the same fundamental grammatical lines as English. Sign Language, (or at least British Sign Language anyway, that's the only version I know) isn't expressed in sentences in the same way as most Western languages are. I can see numerous fights breaking out as people, trying in vain to sign that it's a lovely day, get a smack in the chops for casting aspersions about the virtue of their friend's mother. |
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Maybe you should start with the no less ambitious "Mandatory speak your own language accurately and clearly" Day first? |
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i can understand signing like the deaf, but there are already enough people acting dumb. |
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Mandatory Blindness Day might work better, as long as people understand that they're not allowed to drive in that state. |
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there was a celebrity challenge last year, where three people were blindfolded and the challenge was to get from Blackpool to London in a couple of days. They had a white stick and presumably money, and they had to get from Blackpool Pier to The London Eye wearing this blindfold.
The first to make it was Gail Porter, who is an incredibly sweet girl also beloved by young and not-so-young men because she's gorgeous. She arrived and was met at the finish line by the presenter of the show, who helped her take the blindfold off, and you could see she was shaking and she couldn't stop herself crying (neither could I, by this point). She said simply "I can take the blindfold off." and I think no viewer was left in any doubt that from that experience she truly had gained a respect for those who can never 'take the blindfold off'.
barnzenen is on the right track. National empathy days might seem twee but we could probably all do with a day of self-inconveniencing, just to gain a bit of an appreciation for others. croissie. |
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//Mandatory Blindness Day might work better, as long as people understand that they're not allowed to drive in that state.// |
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However, there are 49 other states that you can drive, so please, feel free to do so. |
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// ... get a better feeling for what the deaf have to go through just to get a thought across... // |
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Sorry, fishbone for that bit. Any self-respecting hearing impaired person would be offended by that statement. |
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That's like saying let's have a Mandatory Portuguese day so we get a better feeling of what the Portuguese have to go through just to get a thought across. |
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Sign language is not difficult to learn, nor is it labo(u)rious to use. Hearing impaired folks don't "have to go through" anything. They just say things a different way than you do. |
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What Waugsqueke said (well). |
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Why would this lead to madness? Why is this offensive? When a deaf person tries to order a burger from McD's from a snot-nosed teenager that has no idea about sign language it usually breaks down to half-an-hour of pointing and grunting before something crosses the teen's mind that this person not talking and waving their hands might be trying to order a burger. Been there, done that, had it happen to me and seen it happen a number of times. Personally I know very little American SL, but I know enough to decipher whats going down, as opposed to proposed gang signs. It doesn't have to start with a country, it could start with a community or a locally owned business. You ever see Mr. Holland's Opus? In that movie Richard Dreyfus creates a light show to match music so that his deaf son can enjoy it too. This idea is similar to that, just turned upsidedown. A localy owned computer store could mute all their computers and talk only in sign for that day of the year/month/week. If there is a deaf community near that store, I would bet money that they would be more likely to visit there then the big Best Buy or what have you, where the clerks are more worried about what kind of shoes they have then they are about the people/community around them |
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Why can't the deaf guy just say "bigmac and fries, please?" do you perhaps mean a dumb guy (or whatever the pc version is: locutionally challenged or whatever). Plus, it's insulting to assume that anyone working in McDonalds (tm) is a snot-nosed teenager. |
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Yup, i'm back. Did Bliss miss? |
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I used to woik across the street from a School for the Deaf. My first day on the job was quite interesting. I'd seen the 'Help Wanted' sign just as it was being put in the window, went in - removed the sign and told the owner he had his Help right there in front of him. He explained how the beer/whisky bar woiked, and consisted primarily of Deaf Customers. My first shift was that night from 6 p.m. - 2 a.m. The owner had woiked out a system with the Deaf whereby they'd point at the brand they wanted or signed with a "thumbs up" for whichever "house" whisky and/or "thumbs down" for beer they preferred. Things went well until 1 a.m. - I'd noticed a few of the patrons had raised their hand(s) and had (with palm down) begun, if you will - flapping their extended fingers towards their thumbs or thumbs toward their extended fingers. Sometimes they did it slowly, sometimes they were hopping around whilst flapping their hands. The owner had come and gone a few times throughout the evening and by the time I heard him come through the back door at 1:45 a.m. it was sheer bedlam. I ran to the back and told him what was going on. He said "Oh no, they're singing again!" |
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barnzenen, I used to be friends with a couple of hearing impaired people. One was a good friend, she preferred the word "deaf" but I still have trouble using that. Anyway, she used to carry a pen and notepad with her for just such situations as you mention, eg. McDonald's. Deaf people can write and read. |
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I know that hearing impaired people can read and write, Waugs. But what whould happen if one day they forgot to take the pad and pen with them and tried to go into a retail store and needed help finding something. Or, like my earlier example, suddenly needed to eat (perhaps for medical reasons ie low blood sugar) and went to McDonalds. This is were I percive the chaos UB. Alright, Bliss, alright, maybe it shouldn't be manditory, but like another idea on here suggests, maybe there could be rewards for signing all day. Of course you would have to have someone watching you all day to make sure you didn't break out of sign, but still, there you go. Yama, I didn't mean that everyone at McD's is a snot-nosed teen, it just seems to me that they are preveilant whenever I do go, and the turnover rate is so high that I never see the same one twice. The fastfood employees that I do constantly see are the older ones, like the retired people that want to earn a little extra, or the manager, or the person that worked there from 1986 and just got stuck working there. |
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Sure, there are always exceptions. But my point is that I object to the 'pity the deaf' attitude here. |
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I could see such a day would be a good idea for a school, where the kids could be taught simple sign language. (Kind of like how in French classes the teacher makes you say everything in French.) |
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(And I don't think helping people who can hear to understand more about deaf people equals "pitying" them.) |
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I think (maybe) that if someone once heard some music, never to hear it again, it would probably play on in their head, almost perfectly remembered. That might not be such a great thing if the tune was some shit like........ (fill in blank here) |
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Bliss, I think that being able to give your hearing for just one day to someone would be wonderful - and a really valuable experiance for us. Too bad that the idea's not valid for the halfbakery... |
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// I don't think helping people who can hear to understand more about deaf people equals "pitying" them. // |
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'stu, it is pity when it's said in with the intent of seeing what they "have to go through." |
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There's more of it here, too, and I don't even think you guys know you're doing it. Bliss, be assured that those who have been deaf since birth have heard and felt things hearing people never can. Blind people can develop an extraordinary '6th' sense of perception of surroundings. |
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And bliss, and you too, yama - what makes you think a deaf person would want your gift? I think that's very presumptuous. I think you'd be surprised at how many would turn you down, particularly those deaf since birth. |
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Again, I will state that I have no problem with the essence of this idea, and in fact, encourage everyone to learn SL, but the pity bit has to go. |
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waugs: The thought was in my mind as I wrote the anno, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if the vast majority refused the gift. But it would still be a wonderful opportunity for those who would want to give it a try. |
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At the end of the day, pity becomes insulting because it assumes that the pityee would be better off if they were like us. The opportunity to see life from a different angle, however, is not the same thing. |
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Let me demonstrate something. Imagine, right now, a song in your head. Pick a favo(u)rite. Okay, got one playing? Good. |
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Now answer this: how are you hearing it? You can hear it, right? Every note, every beat. How? |
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My point is that, just because people cannot hear through their ears, it doesn't mean they do not know sound. One only needs to consider the later works of Beethoven to know how great the imagination's ability to "hear" really is. |
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Alright, to please waugs, and probably a few lurkers, I'll reword this idea to take the pity aspect out of it. |
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Or listen to Evelyn Glennie [waugsqueke], an exceptional deaf percussionist. |
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I'm 85% deaf in both ears, as I have been since birth. Result of Rubella (German Measles) epidemic of '59-'60 which affected many Mothers/Offspring in the same manner. Other Mothers/Offspring were affected in the same manner as she and I, or were born Blind, or with Mongoloidism. Many of those born with Nerve Deafness had +/- % deviations from the standard than mine. More often than not, those who were born in the same time period as I, or a prior time did not get diagnosed until they were over 2 1/2 years of age. Developmentally, that is a/the key age/cutoff point for one with Nerve Deafness to have the Sense of Hearing developed to it's fullest potential. Bear in mind in those days, Doctors, Nurses, Parents didn't have the presence of mind to snap their fingers or softly clap their hands behind a newborn infant to "test" an infant's hearing almost immediately after birth. Also bear in mind children were thought to be simply wonderful [which I am anyway ; )] or not having to tiptoe around for fear of awakening [Godsend, which I am anyway ; )], so on and so forth. So one cannot blame the parents, as I do not - though cursing gawd isn't out of the equation (which I do with alarming frequency).
Back to my life story, the idea and the point of posting. Don't think for a second that I have not or do not long for 100% hearing without use of a hearing device which I wear on one ear and which when worn brings me up to 15% loss/85% of Normal Range of hearing. There were 15 of us kids from a town of 1500 who went to Hearing School 30 miles away day in, day out for at least 2 1/2 years. By the time they would under normal circumstances be going to Kindergarten for their first day of school at the age of 5, they either stayed in Hearing School full-time or went to Kindergarten. Sad fact of the matter is, only one made it to Kindergarten straightaway. Me.
Sad as it makes me even now, I realize this was a result of the efforts of Parents and Teacher alike, least of all me, though it was up to me to recognize I was going to this school for a reason from day one, as every student had wires dangling from their ears down to a vest which contained the hearing device which highly resembles and perhaps was an inspiration for a Star Trek Communicator as was the order of the day. I didn't see people on TV or in the store or at relatives homes wearing these things. So it was time to get serious at the age of 2 1/2 so I could get the hell out of there and do whatever it was that other kids my age whom I was yet to meet were, and ASAP. Kindergarten was 1/2 my day, another newly opened Hearing School was the other half. In my instance, 1st and 2nd Grades were double-timed - full day crammed in before noon - off to a newly opened Hearing School at less than 1/2 the distance I'd go for the remainder. Bear in mind when Ronald Reagan was Governor, The State of California wanted to basically separate Deaf Children from their parents and send them to Sacramento to have their education in one central location. Imagine that, dorm life for a child. Though invited to Reagan's Re/Inauguration as Governor, my Father adamantly refused on those grounds. The plan was shelved due to backlash.
I've done the "Blind for a day" challenge courtesy of a bandana as I and my Primary School classmates did in 5th Grade, and forever respect my Teacher for that, along with the fact she was a gorgeous hottie who wore no panties beneath her miniskirts. No telling if she was finally walking around the room naked that day as all the boys hoped, but that's a whole 'nother ball of wax.
Over the years, I've run into various Classmates of mine from Hearing School. Sometimes I wish I could sign as much as I suppose they wish they could hear and speak clearly. Though we shared that Classroom and our Hearing loss, there is little else we can share in the form of communication. They sign, I don't. It is not because I had the best hearing in the class, as my hearing was the worst of the class. Somehow I was fortunate to recognize their shoes could easily be filled by mine and that at some point I'd want Independence in every way, shape and form. So I did the whole Helen Keller bit then to avoid doing the Helen Keller bit now. Hearing is fragile, must be protected and developed as much as speech when in these shoes. Early Mantra - "Gotta sound Normal"
The only sign language I know is curse words, and with good reason. In my case, it would be going backwards to learn sign language. Don't think for a second that the idea posted here has demonstrated pity. The author and those who have responded have clearly demonstrated empathy for their fellow man, who but for the unbeknownst grace of gawd, go I. |
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//I could see such a day would be a good idea for a school, where the kids could be taught simple sign language.// |
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I've often wished for that day myself. We are just as likely to run into a deaf person we need to communicate with as a foreign speaking person, so it should be an optional part of the curriculum just as foreign languages are. |
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My father has two deaf brothers, and from a young age they developed their own way to communicate without using the accepted sign language. It's a series of gestures, eye movements etc. I often marvel at the way the simple raising of one eyebrow can evoke raucous laughter in another brother. |
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Yet I, myself have never been able to put across more than and "hello, how are you"? Something which I deeply regret as there are so many things I would like to discuss with them. My daughter has picked up on this shortcoming of mine (as they do) and has immersed herself in sign language books/people with disabilities etc to the extent where I think it may have an influence on her future career |
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Sign language for the deaf is different in different parts of the world. My uncle's deaf wife used to compete in sport internationally, and when staying in America could not understand their system of sign language. |
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I would quibble just a bit with UB's assertion that sign language is just another language. Spoken languages have strengths and limitations related to speech. Sign language, being physical, has limitations, but also strengths that arise from that physicality. I personally think there are *enormous* potential advantages for expressiveness using sign language that cannot be duplicated by spoken languages. Just as music can express something that literature or visual art cannot. I've added a link to an idea of what I mean (one of my first hb ideas, by the way). blissmiss, my link may also give you some hope for those who have never heard music. Anyway, for the exploration of the expressive uniqueness of sign language, I'd love to have very creative and artistic people learn more sign language, and I'd love to know it better, too. |
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Also, with respect to learning a few basic signs: Beginning at the age of 7 months, my wife and I will begin to teach our daughter basic sign language. It turns out that babies can begin to master language intellectually much earlier than they can learn to form words with their mouths. Hand and mental dexterity make basic communication with sign language feasible as early as 7 months. Rather than retarding the onset of speaking, as one might expect, early experience with sign language seems to actually advance the beginning of speaking, and is said to often result in improved language ability that persists throughout life. |
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