[nabs-l] wanting to learn to sign with a sighted friend

[Kaiti Shelton]

Hi, Sam,

I learned a little sign language in my freshman year of college (I'm a
junior now).  I was in a sign-singing choir where we signed the lyrics
to our audience.  It was an interesting group.

For me what helped was sitting near a friend or someone with more
experience in the class so they could physically manipulate my hands
into the correct signs.  I followed this up by making very detailed
notes about each sign on my BrailleSense and checking anything I
didn't quite understand with the professors after class.  One worked
with sign language a bit in a facility for those with severe
disabilities, and the other was an actual sign language interpreter.

Of course that situation was a bit different because we had to be very
concerned with timing in the music and used pieeon with no letter
signs at all, but it did teach me a few important things.  For
example, you have to be very careful and check your signs so they're
correct.  It's very easy to get something wrong, even if it's simple,
from someone's verbal explanation and sign something offensive.  I've
never done this in public, but we had a few good laughs at my expense
in rehearsals when I got signs wrong, most of the time with just a
finger out of place or something turned around a different way.  Also
remember that pigeon signs which are still used in ASL for words or
phrases may very from region to region.  They're kind of like changes
in dialect that us in the hearing community might use, or slang terms
that are specific to a given area.

Just food for thought.  Good luck and have fun learning.  Perhaps you
can ask the deaf girl to teach you herself by showing you signs and
then finger spelling what they mean.  It won't be fast, but it could
show her you're willing to learn and foster a good relationship
between the two of you.

On 4/26/15, Carly Mihalakis via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Evening, Sam, I, too, have been intrigued by the idea of signing in
> which  the body is employed to convey things, so sensual, so
> inigmatic! However,, in my own case, I have a thing they are calling
> tactile appraxia, a ressult of brain damage, so am not too confident
> in my hand's ability to actualize intricate movements that are
> present, to the best of my own knowledge, in signing. By the way,
> though I believe I have retained all I ever knew of the braille code,
> appraxia has made actually bodily experiencing the tricky little
> braille caricters, I like to say, pretty much a pipedream!
> Let us know if you get too much in to signing, and how it goes, won't you?
> Car   At 03:50 PM 4/26/2015, Sam Nelson via nabs-l wrote:
>>Hello.
>>
>>  I'm wondering if anyone has experienced this situation. There is a girl
>> in
>>the building I live in who is deaf. She's very very nice and I think we
>>could be good friends. She comes up and grabs my hand and gives me a hug
>>sometimes. And though my other sighted friend doesn't know ASL she can
>> tell
>>by gestures and facial  expressions what she's saying. Like she said I
>> have
>>a pretty smile, pointed to her ring her boyfriend gave her and made a
>>breaking motion to  say they broke up.
>>
>>  Anyway I really want to learn to sign and communicate with her. My
>> friend
>>and I have learned some signs off a website. I think learning sign is cool
>>because it helps with fine motor skills and body awareness.
>>
>>  Anyway was wondering if anyone has had the experience of signing with a
>>sighted person. I've seen some things about deaf blind people signing but
>> in
>>this case my friend isn't blind so wonder if there's another way to go
>> about
>>it. Or just any thoughts in general about learning to sign as a blind
>>person.
>>
>>  Thanks.
>>
>>  Sam
>>
>>
>>
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-- 
Kaiti