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  • DoctorEldritch's Avatar
    Community Manager
    @Saka I gave it a read, and you're right, it is a bit hard to digest. Some visual aids would be nice, but I think everything is better with visual aids.

    So then, sign languages may have 2 different functions: to help people with no hearing impediments to communicate with people who have them, and to help people with hearing impediments communicate with each other, and different languages are better suited for one or the other? SEE in this case seems to aim for the former goal and ASL for the latter goal?
  • Saka's Avatar
    Level 52
    @DoctorEldritch Actually, yes, it can be like that. In the US you can often see two different interpreters at an event, one is a hearing one who interprets the speech to sign, and the other one interprets the sign to a more appropriate format for culturally Deaf people.

    (also... culturally Deaf people are not always actually deaf, they can be just hard of hearing or hearing due to being CODA/other relatives of the deaf individuals)

    It's a complex matter and somewhat political too. The Deaf communities have suffered a lot of bad treatment historically and due to that there's still a lot of resentment towards hearing people from some of the individuals.

    I was raised outside of a Deaf community, so I don't belong to one. Often I actually feel like I don't belong anywhere, because even with two functional implants my hearing will never be equal to what hearing people have.
    Unamused Snarktooth. Advocate for hearing loss & accessibility. Person, friend and a terrible/terrific* artist.
    *delete as appropriate
  • DoctorEldritch's Avatar
    Community Manager
    @Saka It is a complicated issue, and deservingly so. It was surprising for me to learn that it is more nuanced than I thought, so far as 2 interpreters.

    There are communities that you don't get to choose and those that you can. Do you think it is important for you to be a part of a Deaf community and you wish you were, or is it more of a casual observation on things?
  • Saka's Avatar
    Level 52
    @DoctorEldritch Mostly an observation, where I live right now I wouldn't really have a community to hang out with. I live outside of the city on an island that used to be a separate town. So on its own it has already a small population, much less of the hearing loss people.

    If I became fluent in Finnish Sign Language I could technically join the Finnish Deaf community, but I think most of the use for the signing would be with my spouse when I can't wear my devices (so in the sauna or when I am feeling too sick to tolerate anything on my head).
    Unamused Snarktooth. Advocate for hearing loss & accessibility. Person, friend and a terrible/terrific* artist.
    *delete as appropriate
  • DoctorEldritch's Avatar
    Community Manager
    @Saka Community does not have to be confined by physical space these days. We're a gaming community but live hundreds of miles apart. Is there no "global deaf people community" or something like that?

    I guess sign languages are similar to spoken in that sense: you can choose to study one if you can see enough benefits in doing so. Some languages are more interesting than others, but ultimately, for me, at least, it comes down to how useful and enriching in life they are.
  • Saka's Avatar
    Level 52
    @DoctorEldritch Oh, there are those communities in the internet. I do belong to some of them. I am actually a moderator in a Discord community for cochlear implants users. It's just not the same thing, because being hundreds or thousands kilometres apart chances for a meet up are rather small.

    And absolutely, sign languages are equivalent to verbal languages. Some hearing people choose to study then not because they have a need for them, but just because they want to.
    Unamused Snarktooth. Advocate for hearing loss & accessibility. Person, friend and a terrible/terrific* artist.
    *delete as appropriate
  • DoctorEldritch's Avatar
    Community Manager
    @Saka Is a chance to meet in person a critical thing? It is nice to be able to, but the modern world is so digitised, it brings people closer and further apart all at the same time. How important is an option to meet in person?

    I wonder if there are pieces of artistic culture that are indigenous to the sign language? Spoken language has songs, written language has poetry and stories, and they both can be "translated" or "adopted" to the sign language, but does sign language have artistic pieces that were created using it and need to be adopted into other forms? Maybe the old ones in North America have something like that?