[NFB-DB] Family Resources for Learning ASL

Fri May 4 18:36:34 UTC 2018

Hi Eric,

I think I have written to you all in regards to your son, if I haven’t and I am just imagining it, I apologize. 

A little background so that you understand why I am providing this information. I was born visually impaired. Through much of my childhood my vision decreased and then increased for various reasons. I finally lost my vision to what it is now in 2004. I now have only light perception , no usable vision. I began to lose my hearing in 2007, and later had such a dramatic hearing loss that I needed to learn sign language for communication purposes. 

My husband is also blind, so the first person we worked with one-on-one to learn sign language with was an educational interpreter. That person came to our home several times a week, we began to learn signs that be useful in our everyday life, and then started to fill in the gaps. We worked with that person through a whole summer. For two sessions it was $75 for two sessions. Once that person went back to school and their full time job they were no longer able to do the private lessons. We then found an interpreter who also needed a bit of extra money who did one-on-one sessions with us. I then went off to HKNC and bypassed my husband’s signing abilities. Today my receptive skills are great. My expressive signing skills are lacking but I am getting better. But because I can voice for myself, then I do not need to sign as much. I do work with Deafblind adults here in PA, so my signing skills come in handy. 

I live in a major city in Pennsylvania. I do know that the Deaf School here teaches classes for ASL. There is also an organization called Deaf hard of hearing communication agency that also teaches classes. So also getting involved in the community of adults who are deafblind can also be a good resource. 

Because I already speak English, I utilize for the most part sign English. Although I do understand ASL when speaking to consumers, I found it easier for me to use signed English. 

Getting involved in the hard of hearing/deaf community would also provide resources for learning sign. My husband today and I use sign when my hearings do not work, when I am not wearing them or when the noise impacts my ability to hear him speak; and although I know much more sign language, we always are able to communicate even with his limited skills. We have found that it can also help in other situations. When meeting with family, other professionals, that sometimes a private conversation needs to be happen so utilizing sign language can help with that. 

So in conclusion, finding an ITP student (Interpreting training program student), an educational interpreter who needs extra money, getting involved in communities with other deafblind, deaf and hard of hearing families and adults, making contacts at the local schools for the deaf and other organizations for the deaf/hard of hearing; will ultimately lead you and your family to being able to learn sign language. 

I hope that was helpful.

Thank you, 

Marsha Drenth  

email:  <mailto:marsha.drenth at gmail.com> marsha.drenth at gmail.com  

Sent with my IPhone or other mobile devices. Please note that this email communication might have been sent using my iPhone, as such, I may have used dictation and have made attempts to mitigate errors. Please do not be hesitant to ask for clarification as necessary. 

From: NFB-DB [mailto:nfb-db-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Eric V via NFB-DB
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2018 11:58 AM
To: NFB Deaf-Blind Division Mailing List
Cc: Eric V
Subject: [NFB-DB] Family Resources for Learning ASL

Good morning everyone.

We had a nice discussion with Danielle over the weekend & while we are going to pursue looking into the CI’s further, we also want to be begin learning ASL. We’ll meet with our district’s DHH team, but beyond our sons, my wife & I obviously want to learn in parallel. Can you share resources & ideas on how to pursue learning ASL & how the process might be different for us given our son’s are totally blind, compared to sighted ASL communication?

Thanks

Eric

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