[nfb-db] Deafblind Group Communication

[Haben Girma]

Thanks for explaining all of that, John. In trying to imagine the 
situation, I had totally loverlooked that fact that in an all-signing 
group anyone could interpret what the rest of the group is saying. Then 
your wife doesn't have any special powers of communication that members 
of the group would lack. All can sign, and all can communicate with you.

Haben

John Lee Clark wrote:
> Haben:
>
> Sure, I find myself in groups and I often host them.  However, ninety
> percent of the conversations are between two people.  They just do it in a
> group setting.  It is rare for a true group conversation to happen that
> includes the group as a whole.
>
> Yes, I would talk with the people on either side of me, but I also have an
> extra chair so that anyone else can come over and sit there to talk directly
> with me.  There may be brief spurts of interpreting involved, such as two
> other people having a conversation and one of them says that I know
> something about something and asks me through one of the people sitting next
> to me.  If it happens that this question leads to a whole new conversation
> that is getting deeper, I ask the person to come and sit in that chair so we
> can continue the conversation.
>
> When I am the host, I'd be too busy for a serious conversation during the
> meal.  So while I am attending to everyone's needs, I'[d just have short
> conversations with everyone in turn as I go around.  I'll have time for
> longer conversations later in the evening.  
>
> In the event there is a real group discussion or when someone is addressing
> the group as a whole, I might have the person next to me at that moment
> interpret for me, or I'd sit next to the person who is signing to the whole
> group, meaning there's no interpreter.  My wife has sometimes interpreted in
> this scenario, but not often.  We rarely sit next to each other.  After all,
> we are together every day at home.  But if she does interpret, it would be
> because she happens to be in the right spot or has offered to, but anyone
> else in the group could be the same.  It's not like she has a special or
> extra responsibility for me.  Just anyone would do, and it's just part of
> the flow.
>
> If there are other deaf-blind people in the group, or the group is all
> deafblind, things may be different, but even in the entirely deafblind
> group, interpreting may come up.  I've often interpreted myself, as a relay
> interpreter or a chain interpreter.  
>
> Remember that one principle is that whatever I get myself involved in, it is
> something I can do on my own just as well as with my wife.  If it's
> something where I would have trouble on my own, I'd make other arrangements
> even if my wife is involved.  This is to say, whether or not my wife is
> there should make absolutely no difference.
>
> Does this help?
>
> John
>
>   
>
>
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