A Deaf Inspiration

Today I met an amazing Deaf girl who lives in Perth. It was the first opportunity I had to practise my signing and I was able to ask her how she was and say it was nice to meet her. She also asked me about my job and I knew enough signing to explain that I was a teacher at TAFE, sort of.
Anyway, this is her website and I think you'll agree that she is inspiring!

http://www.drisanalg.com/?page_id=8

My 2nd Deaf Birthday!

Today is my second deaf birthday and while the kids don't think it's fair that I get two birthdays each year, my husband thinks he'll get a free celebration dinner so he's going along with it. I don't get gifts, sadly, but something profound happened to me two years ago that should be acknowledged and to some extent celebrated. Why celebrate? Well it could have been something much, much worse couldn't it? Plus, deafness has provided so many more opportunities for me. So, happy birthday to me!!!!!

What do you do with a deaf dog?

Teach it sign language of course! My neighbour has a doberman who is deaf. She's not an old dog, just a deaf one, he tells us she can't hear a thing. So he taught her sign language so that she sits, stays, comes etc when he gives her the sign. It's not the sign language I know, he has made up his own signs to command the dog and she does exactly what he signs. A dog reads an owner's body language anyway so he has just extended on the idea. Very clever really.

More on the Sign Language Course

Well the sign language course is going well. Today my fellow students and I sat through a 2.5 hour class only signing, no speech. In the break we all talked like crazy and then when the class started again, back to signing only. I started having personality confusion problems, I'm deaf, I'm hearing, I'm deaf, I'm hearing ........... what I am? Can I be both? Is having a cochlear implant technically "hearing"?  I think I might be hearing aided or maybe deaf/hearing or maybe having an identity crisis. Anyway, for those who would like a basic introduction to Australian sign, here is a video. I'm speaking so you know what I'm signing. Have a go!

Soundwaves Newsletter from the Ear Science Institute

http://www.earscience.org.au/communications/soundwaves/soundwaves-14.aspx

A new language .........

Today I started my sign language course and it was awesome! Our teacher is deaf and only signed. She didn't speak or lipread. We had an interpreter for today but as of next week we are not to talk during class, only sign, should be interesting. The class is made up of a number of different people, a few hard of hearing and the rest hearing. All females, and most of them working with children with either disabilities or deafness. The class is held at the WA Deaf Society which is great because they know exactly how to cater for my deafness!! They had microphones for when people spoke to ask questions and the interpreter also wore a microphone so I had no trouble hearing what was going on. While it was a little exhausting watching the signing, and listening (and lipreading) the interpreter, and reading the presentation notes, I feel like I understood everything that was going on.

The first class was all about the grammar, syntax and the structure of Australian Sign Language which is nothing like English. I imagine this to be true of other sign languages (American, French etc). In English for example we would say "two mice" but in Auslan it is said as "2 mouse". English we would say "that car is black", Auslan we sign "black car". Auslan is a visual language and cannot be written or read.

So my homework this week is to read all about the background to Auslan and start to use some signs. I can't wait for the next class!