Suppose ASL you use, English messages understand help need? Messages I will help understand. Time I have not much, but some help I can. My name click; message write me. Messages you need help, which?

My best friend was deaf and we only used ASL until her death a few years ago. I love the grace of the language and it was fun to talk about people while they were standing right there with no clue! I miss having someone to sign with now. I did teach my daughter a bit but she lives 5 hours away now. I find when I'm talking to someone I still sign some things just because I got used to talking and signing when Susan was around so she could be part of all conversations. She was also fantastic at lip reading which is something I never really could pick up.

I'm not sure why you typed this in a disjointed, sign type way. The deaf people I know write and read the same as anyone else. Sign is just phrased differently to make it faster. There is signed English but it is so painfully slow to do that hardly anyone uses it. It follows word for word the same as English.

That is why my first message asked if they needed help to understand posts. Many do not, many do.

Many deaf are very intelligent, and when they have that along with education for the deaf, they do just as well as anyone. The problem is that many born deaf have other disabilities, too, or simply that their parents didn't send them away to Deaf Schools. For many it meant living away from home and many parents didn't want that, understandably. Also, many parents simply did not know what to do. Their doctors, though well meaning, often recommended public school and making them learn to communicate in other ways than ASL. But unless they had special help, which many did not have available, that kind of start in life just led to frustration. Of the Deaf I know, I'd say that about 40% went to Deaf School and learned to read English well enough to get by without frustration. But the others live in smaller cities and did not get sent away to Deaf School. When I text them, I have to use language like my first post for them to be able to understand. And even that is hard for some of them.

Nowadays there is more help available in many cases. Colleges have to provide interpreters and if the deaf got enough out of their primary and secondary educations, they can get through college.

Also, many who use ASL are not completely deaf, and although they are very much a part of the Deaf Community, they are able to hear some and therefore the English language makes sense to them.

It sounds like Susan's circumstances were very good for her, and her friend's, too. However, I do feel for children who have to leave their families to go to a Deaf School because of missing those family times. And the DS in a city near me had faculty that were abusing the children. I am sure that was cleared up by now, but I know one young person (about 30 y.o.) that suffered trauma at that school and had a difficult youth. I also know deaf in their early 20's who cannot communicate without ASL because they did not go to Deaf School or schools that had what it takes to teach them to. It is hard for families to know what to do if they have difficult choices to make.

It is wonderful that you took time to learn ASL to communicate with Susan. Few people, even family sometimes, do that. And it is a huge undertaking.

Somehow these posts are out of order. ???

I'm sorry your friend died; I'm sure it was hard for you to lose her.

Many deaf cannot understand printed English, especially if they were born deaf or went deaf young. Those who went to deaf schools were likely taught printed English but many did not go to deaf schools, and for many of them, reading English is like if I held up a printed Greek message for you to read (assuming you do not read Greek.) They can pick up words as time goes on, or learn some in public schools, but if they learned ASL, the sentence structure is different and they may have a very hard time with it. ASL is an entirely different language that actually originated in France. When hearing persons learn a new language, the structure is often different.

Of the ASL users I know, the only ones that can make sense of printed English are those with some hearing or those who went to deaf schools and learned English. For many of the rest, it is as foreign as can be. I have several deaf friends who cannot read English.
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Hmmm, maybe things are different in your area but all the deaf I know are able to read and write. Most of Susan's friends had college or university educations and held good jobs. Susan worked in the office for GM for years until she got a teaching degree to teach ASL. It must be very hard to be deaf and have no communication beyond signing. I had a TTY at one time and then this lovely invention the computer came along and we could chat that way. Not being able to read or write would be a horrible disadvantage.

Susan was born deaf, married a deaf man and had 2 daughters who were both born deaf. She was very clever and her oldest daughter is a huge advocate for the deaf today. Only thing Susan wasn't smart enough to do was quit smoking which eventually cost her life.

Hi Kesach;
I was wondering from some of your posts on other topics if you were deaf or hard of hearing, but thought it rude to ask. I've learned some ASL over the years and had the unique experience of attending a sign language immersion camp for a week years and years ago. That was very interesting as I was at the disadvantage of being able to communicate as I was really more of a beginning sign student then. I've gotten farther away from signing than I would have liked to, I need to take some refresher classes. I live in CT and there is a fairly large deaf population in several areas. We do have the American School for the Deaf and a phenomenal National Theatre for the Deaf here in CT. My neices have learned some limited sign language in elementary school and through the Girl Scouts.

Hi mtbone,

I am hearing, but I work with the deaf and hard of hearing and have friends among them. It is good to see your interest, and other's interest, as these people are often very much separated from society as a whole due to their not hearing. Most of them enjoy life very much amongst themselves, but can have frustrating times when receptionists and so many others cannot communicate with them. The more people that learn sign language, the better. It is a huge commitment, though!

The reason I wrote the post above is because my hubby was on a cell phone forum and a deaf person asked if there could be a separate section for the deaf. People started writing in with rude comments indicating that they felt that the deaf did not need a section. It just showed a great lack of understanding, but then people don't understand things they are not familiar with. Obviously though, the deaf have different needs with a cell phone and may want to discuss using them together with other deaf that are interested in cell phones! Also, people do not understand that not all deaf can get by with writing notes to the hearing and reading their replies. I am glad that everyone on this forum is respectful and friendly.

Kesach;
How rude of those people. You are right about ASL being a committment. I am a social worker and had planned on learning enough sign to provide therapy to the deaf but I couldn't keep up with my master's and sign. Now I live farther from American School for the Deaf and there aren't many classes in my area. I learned from the deaf immersion camp that the deaf have a lot of different social needs and there is a heirarchy (sp?) of sorts in the deaf community. Also, as there are so few interpreters there seems to be a lot of preceived gossip problems. One of my former co-workers started beginner ASL with me and she went on to change her career and become an interpreter, unfortunately, I have lost contact with her. I may have to start checking out classes again, now that I am well done with my masters. Are you a social worker? Where is your deaf community?