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!

Auslan (Australian Sign Language)

Next week I start my Auslan course to learn how to sign. I'm actually really excited. While I use a small number of individual signs at home and teach Key Word Signing to my TAFE students, I don't know sign language as a language. I'm almost embarrassed to be a deaf person who doesn't "speak" the officially language of my own kind but all that is about to change ............. I hope .......................

A little mention in the Western Australian Legislative Council May 2013

I was mentioned in Parliament recently regarding the speech I did for the Ear Science Institute. This is a direct quote from the Legislative Council Statement by Hon Liz Behjat, Tuesday 14 May 2013:

"A number of speakers spoke about their experiences. One of the most amazing people was Jane Goodfellow, a 39-year-old woman who was born with single-sided deafness. Three and a half years ago, very suddenly, in the course of one day, Jane went completely deaf. She said it was the scariest thing that had ever happened to her. She woke one morning feeling a bit strange and by the end of the day could actually hear nothing at all and was obviously very scared.

She then became a patient of Professor Marcus Atlas. She said to him that her two biggest fears in life were being eaten by a shark and going completely deaf.  His advice was, "Well, don't go swimming because your hearing is not coming back". She then received a cochlear implant from ESIA, and her hearing has now returned".

Another semester comes to an end .......

......... and my lovely students surprised me with a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates to say thanks.