[nfb-db] nfb-db digest volume 57 issue 12

[The Pawpower Pack]

Hello, Randy and all, 
I am DB, being born blind, and deafened 6 years ago as a result of hurricane Katrina and the resulting mold after the flood— I'm allergic to mold.
Anyway... I learned ASL tactually with a private teacher.  My rehab councilor paid for this.  
Randy, I find and interesting about the facial expressions.  I have never been able to see facial expressions, however, my ASL teacher as well as others have commented that I have very good facial expression.  It took a little practice— one entire ASL lesson was devoted to making faces.  It was hillarious.  Also, before I lost my hearing, I was a professional singer and theater performer, so have had years of training on expressive nonverbal communication which probably came in handy when I became deaf.  I'm also a dog trainer and since dogs understand best the language of face and body I have a lot of practice.  So all this to say you do need to practice skills of facial and body movements but that it is possible. 
Rox

Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 2, 2013, at 7:47 AM, "Randy Pope" <randy.pope at aadb.org> wrote:

> Hey Janice and all,
> 
> You ask a very good question.  For Deaf culture courses, the only college or
> university that I'm aware if Gallaudet University which has an excellent
> program.  However there are some community college that will go a bit
> further than just teaching ASL.  As part of the course, you will need to
> attend the silent dinner nights where the students and deaf people can have
> some fun.
> 
> I'm willing to bet that ASL would be quite difficult to teach to any totally
> blind people as it's require sight to see the facial and body expression.
> These components are very important in communication.  At Gallaudet there is
> one totally blind hearing student is taking courses to be a professional
> interpreter.  One barrier of course is seeing the expressions of the face
> and body.  Since the student cannot see, the professor had to resort to a
> bit of touching in order to give the student some clues of the expressions
> use.  
> 
> I don't know of any of the totally blind people know this.  No offense but
> often when I meet a hearing blind person, the facial and body expression are
> quite....what's the word....flat or difficult to read when communication.
> That's why many blind students have some difficult in creating the right
> expressions in order to communicate in ASL.  Even the ASL DB people who gone
> totally blind, the body and facial expressions go flat with time, especially
> when they are isolated.
> 
> But I can tell you this.  With a good and understanding professor, the
> totally blind people can master ASL in spite of being blind.  That is why
> Pro Tactile is fast becoming the necessary component for the DB people in
> communication.  Believe or not, even the non-ASL users can benefit from Pro
> Tactile method.
> 
> Lastly, just so that everyone here on this list know, I'm  Usher 2, meaning
> that I'm hard of hearing and low vision.  I can communicate in both ASL
> fluently and have good speech like a hearing person.  Almost my entire
> family are hearing/sighted.  Two of my son's children are hard of hearing
> but not blind.  For years I have been advocating for both hard of hearing as
> well as the culturally deaf DB people at both state and federal levels.
> 
> Hope this help, Janice
> 
> Randy  
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfb-db [mailto:nfb-db-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Janice Toothman
> Sent: Friday, November 01, 2013 6:32 AM
> To: NFB Deaf-Blind Division Mailing List
> Subject: [nfb-db] nfb-db digest volume 57 issue 12
> 
> Hi Randy,
> How do learn more about the deaf culture so that I can bridge the gap?  
> Also, where can I learn tactile ASL that is affordable to facilitate this
> communication with the ASL signers because that is my dilemma?
> Janice
> 
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