Look I Can Sign!!
A woman approached me at the bar and said I can sign.
I pretended to look impressed /fascinated when she then onto alphabetical order A,B,C by the time she got to the letter Z ,I have ordered a pint of Guinness and told her it was wrong.
So she proceed to do it all again when she got to letter G , I interrupted and said wrong again
She looked at her hand puzzled and said is it this finger or that finger?
She looked at me puzzled and I said to her you learnt all that at the Brownies or Girl Guide didn’t you?
She replied yes at the brownies .
Unlearn what you learnt at the brownies then because I can tell you that’s finger spelling but you told me that you know sign language.
She was red faced when I said can you sign “I would like to buy a pint of Guinness for my friend as an apology “
She doesn’t know sign language only finger spelling and I know it’s very rude of me to talk like this but this sort of thing happens every time when I am out with my deaf friends,
You know when you get a lot of people staring and that and then the approach you at the bar with a blonde bimbo look “hi I can sign”
Usually women but never men so I guess you don’t get to learn finger spelling at the scouts then.
You were absolutely rude to this women. Not only that you could have had a friend for life and helped her learn ASL. Instead you made other ASL users look bad and probably lost your only chance to get some.
Jack,
The co.uk on my site is a bit of a give away so I don’t know ASL.
What I was talking about was BSL (British Sign Language)
Yes I was rude but after a 100 times you hear people say I can sign you get pretty fed up of it.
Well, then don’t be astonished when no one cares about learning sign. You can live in your deaf culture world and talk amongst yourselves. It what you want anyway don’t you?
Jack,
You know nothing about me and don’t just assume that I live in my own world I don’t.
And we do not talk among ourselves either.
If that woman made an effort to find out the different between Sign and Finger spelling I would have encouraged her.
This was claimed by a woman who look in her 30’s says that she can sign when in fact she learnt finger spelling just to get her brownie badge or points when she was a little girl.
You have a cli linux attitude!
I can picture you responding like that to a new user who thinks they know linux because they can run ubuntu and update with synaptic, but doesn’t know how to open man pages!
Bill,
I try to be helpful regarding Linux so I never respond like that because everyone has to start somewhere
Hello,
That is your choice the way how you reacted but honestly I wish you would have approached the better way.
One thing I just don’t get it is we all Deafies in this world always hoping that more hearies out there know sign language which usually excite us.
But how can it ever happen if some people made fun of them, hurt their feelings, etc?
I grew up with an old hearing friend of mine then we fell apart. About 12 years later, we ran into each other again and of course we hugged and were thrilled to see each other! But, anyway she forgot all signs, I told her she can easily pick it up just like riding a bike all over again.
She said she stopped trying to sign because a group of Deafies made fun of her when she was being rusty after not using sign language for about 8 years.
How did that makes me feel? She admitted that she has lost interest in trying to learn signs ever again.
I can guarantee you that woman will never ever want to learn signs.
-SG
SeekGeo,
Thanks for your comments,but your friend would know the different between finger spelling and sign.
I can spot a mile off if anyone is interested or not but after 100 times from women saying I can sign it would grate you.
In the pass I have given people information on where to take classes and none of them show up so it just to show that they are only striking up a conversation, so it gets a bit tedious repeating your selves.
I stopped signing vids myself because of ‘zero tolerance’ to my attempts, BSL users in Britain are a very hostile lot ! so I may tend to sympathise with those who think the deaf are downright rude at times Fintan, everyone has to start somewhere, and isn’t the major campaign in the deaf world, to teach hearing to sign ? so they don’t end up isolated or downright dependant on terps ?
Maybe learners just don’t understand the ‘protocol’ of approaching deaf people, and how it can be seen as invading their space ? (Which seems to be your gripe), perhaps this is another ‘bug’ in BSL classes (Along with zilch awareness of other deaf people being taught!). I don’t use BSL, they still wander up to me too, asking me which sign is right for …? I just tell them all deaf don’t sign, it’s all I can do, I don’t think I’d be rude to them.
Deaf people have to be more open if they want their access to evolve.
Guys, you are utterly completely missing the bloody point!
What she did was incredibly patronising and assuming and above all, thinks that is all you need to communicate.
Not only that, it’s embarassing to be on the receiving end of someone who wants to show off on account of you being deaf.
I don’t go and run along to a French person and attempt to speak French just for the sheer sake of it.
If she was so keen, I’m sure she could use her skills in a more appropriate setting.
Well, you never get a second chance to make a good first impression. I feel perhaps you should be more accepting of people wanting to learn. There’s ways to explain the right way to do things, without patronising THEM. You’re probably talking about someone who learnt 4 signs yesterday and is flushed with the success of that ! it is important at that stage to encourage, not discourage, because you need all the intrepters you can get, and it may well influence this person whether she continues or not, to go on to that level, or says, “Perhaps I won’t bother, they just get angry with you…”
Fair point MM, but I can only be nice to one person a day.
MM,
I had this at work last week so it’s two people in a space of two months.
Same answer learnt it in the brownies..
I asked her are you taking up sign language she said “no .. no time for that id be too busy clubbing drinking and having a good time, no time for college”
Says it all really doesn’t’ it?
I’m puzzled why they approach ME lolol !!! I must have deaf stamped on my head or something, because I very rarely use any when out on my own, is there some subtle visual clue, hearing people can see I don’t know about ? Perhaps it’s the idiotic answer I give them when they ask me things like “Have you the time ?”, and I say “It’s not mine I don’t know who it belongs to…”
Thus giving this subtle clue, MM has no hearing worth a candle (There’s a blog on that somewhere), they then assume I am a BSL savant or something. I think I’ll have cards made with ‘read my blog’ on it……
Jeasus keep the jokes to your self MM
Hi Kyle & Fintan,
Ok point taken. I understand sometime how frustrating it can be when someone come to us 50th time or 100th time knowing only 90% of them will never take up time to learn ASL/BSL/AUSLAN or whatever.
But I always try to be patient and just give positive every possible way I can then say I have to go and it was nice meeting you rather than giving some negative feelings that will put them down completely.
Just show some encouragement or give positive feedback even for 2 or 5 minutes of our time might make the difference if anyone can… who knows they might become terps later on, etc… we all never know.
-SG
Seek Geo,
99% of my time I do tell them nicely and get them to join the group conversation with us.
They come away feeling positive..
So SG Says “But I always try to be patient and just give positive every possible way I can then say I have to go and it was nice meeting you rather than giving some negative feelings that will put them down completely.”
And that, my friends, is why everybody, me included, loves SG! :^)
Of course, we g33ks get all the love we need when our “so-called-friends” computers break down!
When I am in a congenial mood and at a loose end and maybe inebriated, I would spare a bit of time to help strangers with finger spelling but I hate it when they start asking for rude swear words in sign……
Them: “…..what is the sign for ‘Fuck off’?”
I just stick two fingers at them….
Duh! I do have another version for that but I cannot be arsed by that stage.
Tony B,
yes I had that too, another was how to say
“fuck you” and I happily showed it them they walked away happy with the sign ” I am an inbreed”
are you cringing fintan its me avril!
for all of you that dont know im fintans younger more offensive sister and if you want to picture me just imagine fintan in a frock!
actually i think fintan was trying to point out how some people genuinely think deaf people can only communicate very slowly and basic. im hearing and do sign at a basic level, but common sense should tell you that a few weeks course doesnt qualify you as the worlds best interpreter! and its not just a deaf hearing issue, more of a common sense one, its like when someone (like teachers or health visitor ) does a psycology course for a couple of weeks then think it perfectly acceptable to ‘diagnose’ some one. not tha im comparing mental health to being deaf just the ‘we have been on a course we know it all aspect!, ( then agian it my have some bearing on fintans mental health)
the amount of hearing people that are amazed that deaf people can drive is astonishing many people think they can ask me as i know lots of ‘deafies’ ( i actually hate that term deafies)and that i wont get offended. i do. i get as offended as fintan when someones mouths at him in a very very very slow slow slow voice!!
but to balance the argument i also think people that wont sign to a beginer or a hearing person is a total tosser too. and iv also been told im patronising becouse i want me hearing kids to learn sign. well they can sod off too!
thanx for taking the time to reed this
avril
Fintan in a Frock… an image to ponder on lol almost as embrassing as me trying to do travolta
MM,
Get yer mind out of the gutter
Just hope betty does not read this .. crikey
You do have a point in telling that lady where to go, but still … OUCH!
As I re-read it - did she buy you the pint? I probably would have asked you how to sign that, and bought it for you. But I care more about learning, than about showing off.
That’s probably why I got into Linux. Something new to learn, but I found plenty of both types of people - the rtfm/google it types, and the people who were willing to be helpful and share.
@Bill
No she didn’t buy me a pint.. she is them type of women that thinks if she flutter her eyelashes we would be falling over our selves buying her drinks and then she scarper off.
So you see being older and wiser it does not work with me
I got into Linux years ago and what you find that with Linux you always find something new.
One night we had a discussion about beryl and to us lot its eye candy and we will soon get bored of it.
One guy went away and took it to a Blind school and as you know some people have a big screen monitors and the likes.
None of them could by a laptop as you need to lug big screens around as these big screen needed to show icons 50 times as big as we see them.
Since Beryl was shown I could see how it would be useful for them.
But I do see what you mean about RTFM types but have you noticed that they never say this when joining a local group
Think of us as alien trying to make contact. Yes we don’t all get it right, but at least were trying. Maybe you can teach us .