DEAF CULTURE

"Well-meaning efforts to integrate deaf people into conventional schools and to help them learn to speak English are provoking fierce resistance from activists who favor Sign Language and an acknowledgment that the world of deafness is distinctive, rewarding, and worth preservation." To read more of this wonderful article by Edward Dolnick see Deafness As Culture.

AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE (ASL)

American Sign Language (ASL) is a visual language. It has its own grammatical rules and semantics. Many people believe that ASL is a system of symbols where one symbol is substituted for every imaginable English word, (or Spanish, German, etc.) but is completely untrue. ASL has no similarity to spoken languages.

Contrary to popular belief ASL is not used world-wide, although a system has been developed called Gestuno for use in international conferences for Deaf people. There are, however, unique sign languages around the world: French Sign Language, Japanese Sign Language, and so forth, which again have no bearing or resemblance to the spoken language in that locale. In addition, ASL is not an elaborate form of mime. Occasionally a signer might resort to some of the techniques used, but mime is not a language.

ASL uses the entire space in front of the signer to set up objects, or nouns, in certain places and are then referred to for the duration of the conversation with different movements that can be classified as adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and direct objects. At the same time the signer incorporates the use of his or her body, giving essential meaning with eyes, face, shoulders, arms, hands, and even occasionally the lower torso of legs and feet. For ASL facts go to American Sign Language.

DISABILITY RIGHTS AWARENESS

Is your business at risk of being sued due to inaccessible communication? Are you placing undue hardship on some Deaf individuals? To read more see Disability Rights Awareness.

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