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

[Sam Nelson]

 Hey Kaitee, 
 Thanks for all this! When I was at a camp talent show an ASL interpreter,
that was her day job, decided to sign the words to this song that made her
think of this other guy and his wife where the guy had gone through cancer.
No one there was deaf but she did it because it looked really beautiful I
guess and was very touching. 
 Yes I've been trying to write down how to do the sign. Or I might have
someone talk into my  recorder while we're doing it to have some record to
look back on. Because  I've had someone show me something and then five
minutes later I'd forget. 
 LOL what signs did you mix up? 
  Sam

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kaiti Shelton
via nabs-l
Sent: Sunday, April 26, 2015 10:54 PM
To: Carly Mihalakis; National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] wanting to learn to sign with a sighted friend

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

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