#sign language

[katlovesshrimps]

Blue helps out a lil tapir at the library

[rikaklassen]

“There is a cyborg hierarchy. They like us best with bionic arms and legs. They like us Deaf with hearing aids, though they prefer cochlear implants. It would be an affront to ask the Hearing to learn sign language. Instead they wish for us to lose our language, abandon our culture, and consider ourselves cured. They like exoskeletons, which none of us use. They don’t count as cyborgs those of us who wear pacemakers or go to dialysis. Nor do they count those of us kept alive by machines, those of us made ambulatory by wheelchairs, those of us on biologics or antidepressants. They want us shiny and metallic and in their image.”

― Jillian Weise, "Common Cyborg" from Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-first Century edited by Alice Wong. Edit: Updated. Sorry for the incorrect attribution. I didn't have a copy of the book readily available and assumed deaf authors I follow on social media were correct when they were sharing this quote. Thank you @themathomhouse for bringing this to my attention.

[shamebats]

[howstrangethemusicsoundstome]

People are trying to bring back 1880s-era anti-ASL sentiment. Worst timeline.

[this-is-audism]

audism is the fact that in the US cops are only legally obligated to provide an interpreter after a Deaf person is detained. this results in many Deaf people being murdered by the state for not understanding instructions at things as simple as traffic stops.

many cops make no effort to use alternative communication with Deaf people even after we have identified ourselves as Deaf.

audism is also the fact that our signing is considered threatening and something that warrants murder. audism is the fact that our signing is labeled as gang signs and is used to justify murdering us. (and, for the record, actual gang signs also don't justify murder)

audism is the way Deaf people are accused of lying to "get out of things" when we identify ourselves as Deaf.... which is then used to deny us accommodations like interpreters or written communication.

audism is the fact that multiple Deaf people (mostly unhoused) have been murdered in my city alone in the last 5 years under the premises of "refusing to follow instructions" and "threatening hand gestures" and "gang signs." audism is the fact that Deaf people (and especially multiply marginalized Deaf people such as Black Deaf people) disproportionately experience police brutality even when it isn't lethal.

[epistleii]

idk man. i just think itd be really cool if sign language classes were mandatory throughout primary school. yeah because it would make communication with deaf kids and autistic/nonverbal kids much easier. and those kids would be accessible to the others so they could make friends and have healthy relationships. yeah. and kids would eat that shit up man. like their own little secret language? they love that.

[spyld]

THE DAY OF LANGUAGES!!!

This 7th of May, 2026, we use our own language again!

If your language, native or not, is something other than English, on May 7th you're encouraged to speak that language all day!

You’ll blog in your chosen language(s) all day: text posts, replies, tags (except triggers and organisational tags).

Regardless of what language people choose to speak to you, you can answer in your own.

Non-vocal, non-written languages (like sign language and dialects) are more than welcome!

English native speakers can participate in any other language they're studying/have studied/know.

The tag is gonna be #Speak Your Language Day or #spyld for short.

Please submit me some language facts for me to share on this day <3

Pinned post and FAQ

[purplebehittindifferent]

Ghost tries their first sentence

+ bonus doodles