American Sign Language

All things American Sign Language related. :) Main blog here :)

[deaflepuff]

How to ... with someone who is Deaf / Hard of Hearing (HoH)

Communicate with a Deaf/HoH Person

DO:

Ask them their preferred method of communicating (paper & pen, voiced, Sign language)

Don’t:

Assume just because they’re d/Deaf/HoH that they all know Sign Language.

DO:

Face them when speaking as most d/Deaf/HoH lip read. Body language/facial expression is important too.

Don’t:

Face away, cover mouth, exaggerate on lip movement, chew while talking.

DO:

Talk to them normally, just like anyone else. We are normal human beings, we just can’t hear.

Don’t: YELL, Talk slow with exaggerating lip movements, as if they are ‘stupid’

DO:

If they ask you to repeat, do so. If they ask from a specific point, don’t repeat the entire sentence, just from the current point on.

Don’t:

say “Never mind” “I’ll tell you later” or ignore them when they ask to repeat. We want to be engaged in the conversation too. Saying “Never mind” is like a swear word to the d/Deaf/HoH Community.

Get Their Attention:

DO:

tapping their shoulder, move hand slightly in their vision view, stomp ground, tap table, or flash light (most common in group setting)

Don’t:

Shake them madly, wave your hands wildly in their vision view, or flicker lights rapidly.

Manners are important. Always keep these things in mind, please.

[crystalqueer]

Photos and final product for Mq. & Mrs.’s amazing lgbtq coloring book for kids.

Model : Alicia Michele

[asl-americansignlanguage]

A wonderful post for some LGBTQ signs! Hope you're all doing well! :)

[carodoodles]

Best headcanon of spiderman. Pass it on. 

[asl-americansignlanguage]

Something adorable this evening. Hope you're all doing well! :) I've been very busy with life, but I'll be posting more soon! If anyone would like, I can start making some videos of signs/sentences that anyone would like to learn. Let me know! :)

[micdotcom]

Watch: Nyle DiMarco reminds voters what’s at stake on election day for people with disabilities

[Nyle DiMarco signing] You can keep this ad muted if you want and keep scrolling past it. But if you’re still listening to my voice, please know that there are a lot of people out there without one. Among the 50 million Americans living with a disability, many don’t have the ability to work, to travel, or to do countless other things you might take for granted. So this November, please consider voting for the only candidate with a plan to change that.

[carodoodles]

Best headcanon of spiderman. Pass it on. 

[asl-americansignlanguage]

☺️❤️

[realsocialskills]

ASL is a language

American Sign Language and other signed languages are languages. It’s important to respect them as languages.

ASL is not English. It is a completely different language. Similarly, signed languages aren’t all the same. British Sign Language is completely different from ASL.

Signs are not universal, any more than spoken words are universal. The meaning of a sign isn’t always obvious just by watching; many signs are completely arbitrary.

Sign is not pantomime, and it’s not ad hoc gesture. It’s also not like symbolic gestures that are sometimes made up to accompany kids songs either. It’s a language, with all the complexities of language. The difference is important, and it needs to be respected. 

In order to know what signs mean, you have to learn them. (Just like in order to know what spoken words mean, you have to learn them.)

ASL is not just gestures, any more than spoken languages are just sounds. ASL has grammar, vocabulary, and culture. It’s important to respect this and not erase it.  

[asl-americansignlanguage]

This post is wonderful and so true.

[carodoodles]

This is created for recent trending #whyIsign. #whyIsign was started by Stacy Abrams. She wanted to spread knowledge about sign language, how it helped so many deaf people and families, like myself, and to encourage more people to learn and use sign language, especially with deaf children.

I am eternally thankful for American Sign Language. You can find #whyIsign on facebook, twitter, and instagram. ★ Patreon ★ Tapastic ★ Twitter ★ Facebook ★

[staylovelys]

How to Deaf Culture

I’m about to go attend a deaf event, so I decided to write this quick little list! A lot of my followers don’t know any ASL or even what ASL is (American Sign Language) , so here’s a guide for if you’re ever around Deaf people and how to respect them!

 DO NOT use the term “hearing impaired”. Good willed people like to use it for political correctness, but to the Deaf Community, it’s offensive because they are proud to be Deaf. They embrace their deafness and the lifestyle that comes with it.

TAP, don’t YELL. Yes, unbelievable, I know. They’re deaf. So yelling in their faces won’t help you or them one bit. Besides that, waving obnoxiously to get a deaf persons’ attention is also rude. Simply give a little tap on the shoulder to alert them.

ASL is not a direct translation of English. It is its’ own language, something like Korean or Mandarin or French and so forth. ASL has its own grammar structure and rules, so signing direct English is incorrect. Besides that, every country has a different sign language system. ASL is not universal. 

If using an interpreter, talk directly to the deaf person. Facing the interpreter is like saying that the deaf person is not there, which is extremely rude. The interpreter will catch on and interpret even if you’re not facing them, that’s their job.

Breaking eye contact is rude. In the hearing world, eye contact isn’t as important because we can look at one thing but still listen to the speaker. In the deaf world, eye contact must be made while conversing to show respect.

“S…L…O…W…L…Y” is a no. Some deaf can read lips. Does that mean you should mouth every syllable of a word at a snails’ pace when talking to a deaf person? No. It’s like having the same done to you. Also, though it may be done with good intentions, it often comes off as stuck-up/having the higher power. Speak normally.

I encourage you to learn ASL/your countrys’ sign language if you’re curious! Learn from classes, because online diagrams will not give you the correct forms. Sign language is a beautiful form of communication , along with the people in the community! Remember, every culture has its differences, and Deaf Culture is no exception!

[sarawr429]

[asl-americansignlanguage]

If you're learning asl, this is a cute/funny blog about asl students! Enjoy! :)

[the-almost-officialnurse-deacti]

In my humble opinion, sign language is important to know for anyone going into the medical field. Yes, there are interpreters, but in some situations, interpreters may not be able to make it to the patient in time for essential communication   to be held between the health care provider and the patient. Below is a list of resources you can use and add to in order to learn and gain an understanding of ASL and Medical ASL.

Websites to Learn ASL

American Sign Language University ASLPro.com Start ASL Signing Savvy Handspeak

Apps to Learn ASL

ASL Coach ASL: Fingerspelling Marlee Signs

YouTube Channels to Learn ASL

Dr. Bill Vicars Rochelle Barlow Rob Neilson

Dr. Bill Vicars Medical Sign Language Lessons 

Lesson 01 Part 01 Lesson 01 Part 02 Lesson 02 Part 01 Lesson 02 Part 02 Lesson 02 Part 03 Lesson 03 Part 01 Lesson 03 Part 02 Lesson 03 Part 03 Lesson 04 Part 01 Lesson 04 Part 02 Lesson 04 Part 03 Lesson 05 Part 01 Lesson 05 Part 02 Lesson 06 Part 01 Lesson 06 Part 02 Lesson 06 Part 03 Lesson 07 Part 01 Lesson 07 Part 02 Lesson 07 Part 03 Lesson 08 Part 01 Lesson 08 Part 02 Lesson 08 Part 03 Lesson 09 Part 01 Lesson 09 Part 02 Lesson 10 Part 01 Lesson 10 Part 02 Lesson 10 Part 03 Lesson 11 Part 01 Lesson 11 Part 02 Lesson 11 Part 03 Lesson 12 Part 01 Lesson 12 Part 02 Lesson 12 Part 03

[asl-americansignlanguage]

Perfect websites to learn! :)

[allthingslinguistic]

Spread the Sign is an online multilingual sign language dictionary: you can type in a word, phrase, or fixed expression and get it translated into almost two dozen different national sign languages, including Swedish, British English (BSL), American English (ASL), German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Estonian, Lithuanian, Icelandic, Latvian, Polish, Czech, Japanese, and Turkish. 

Not all languages are available for every word, but all the ones I tried had at least a dozen or so languages available. Once you’ve searched for a word or phrase, you click on the flag for the national sign language that you want, and you can see a video clip of the sign as well as a translation into the same country’s spoken/written language. 

It’s a project of the European Commission, so there tend to be more European languages — I notice a lack of Auslan (Australia), for example, so here’s a list of around 300 sign languages — but it’s definitely a great rebuttal to the idea that there’s only one sign language, as well as being incredibly interesting to click around!

Note though that it’s just a dictionary, and doesn’t account for grammatical differences between the languages in addition to the vocabulary, although you could probably recover some of the grammar from close attention to the phrases.

There is also a list of fifteen different sign alphabets, with images. Note that despite the fact that most of the fifteen languages are spoken in countries that use the Latin alphabet, their signs for, say, A, do not generally resemble each other. As a particularly obvious example, ASL has a one-handed alphabet while BSL has a two-handed alphabet. And Japanese Sign Language has signs for all the hiragana, which isn’t strictly speaking an alphabet. (Is the distinction between an alphabet and a syllabary still meaningful when you’re signing both of them? I…honestly have no idea. Apparently there is an Arabic Sign Language alphabet though, and none of the charts I found online include the short vowels, so I guess it would still qualify as an abjad? Wow, I don’t even know.)

[asl-americansignlanguage]

This is neat and could be of some use!

[huffpost]

See The Amazing Moment When A Deaf Person Hears For The First Time

[asl-americansignlanguage]

There's no need to change anything about yourself, but these people decided to and this is what made them happy. :)

[thesochill]

Common sign language

[asl-americansignlanguage]

That's the truth.

[teach-with-your-hands]

[asl-americansignlanguage]

A Seattle sign language interpreter says too many deaf people have been assaulted and arrested by police officers who didn’t know they were deaf, and thought they were being defiant. So she is crossing the country, training police officers in 54 cities on basic sign language and reminding them to be aware of the deaf community.

[xmixedxsignalsx]

This is my brother. He’s Deaf. Back in 2011 he did an ASL cover of Look At Me Now by Chris Brown and it’s the coolest shit I’ve seen to this day. Probably the coolest thing you’ll watch tonight.

[asl-americansignlanguage]

This is amazing. So, so awesome!

[dailyhumorpost]

See more interesting facts here! (Source)

[missalsfromiram-deactivated2020]

A new Toronto restaurant is staffed with deaf waiters, and encourages customers to order and do business entirely in ASL.

[asl-americansignlanguage]

Yes, yes, yes!!!