II

Article / Updated 02-21-2017

American Sign Language (ASL), like any other language, allows you to communicate your feelings. You can sign about how that movie made you sad or how seeing your Deaf friend made you happy: Angry: Make the open-5 hand shape, palm toward your face, and pull your hand away from your face, scrunching up your fingers. Your fingers represent the furrows that appear on an angry face. Happy: Place your palms at upper-chest level, hands open and facing your torso, and make little circles with your hands or pat your chest. Sad: Using both hands, place your spread-out fingers at your face, palms toward your head so that you’re peeking out between your fingers. Then, making a drooping face, draw your hands down to approximately shoulder level. Scared: Make loose fists with both hands; place one at shoulder level, the other just above hip level. While making a scared face, move your hands into the open-5 hand shape, wrists crossing each other quickly in front of your body as if you’re protecting your body from something scary. Safe: Cross your arms at your wrists, hands in S shapes, palms facing but not touching your body. Pull your hands apart while twisting palms to face away from your body, stopping at the shoulder area. Keep those S shapes. Sorry: Make a sad, apologetic face. With a hand in the ASL letter S shape, place your fist, palm facing your body, over your heart and make a circle.

Article / Updated 11-23-2016

As you become more confident in your ability to communicate through American Sign Language (ASL) and begin to meet Deaf acquaintances and form friendships, keep some simple etiquette do’s and don’ts in mind. Do’s To get a Deaf person’s attention, tap him or her on the shoulder or flick the light switch. Let a Deaf person know that you can hear and that you’re learning Sign. If you’re at a Deaf social function, allow the Deaf friend you came with to introduce you to others. Introduce yourself using your first and last name. Converse about sports, the weather, politics, pop culture, or whatever else you’d discuss with your hearing friends. Don’ts Don’t barge into a Deaf person’s house because you think they can’t hear the doorbell. Avoid ordering for a Deaf person in a restaurant, unless he or she asks you to do so. Never try to correct a Deaf person’s signing or lecture them that they don’t sign the way your instructor does. Don’t initiate a conversation about a Deaf person’s hearing loss. Asking such questions implies that you think of the person as broken or inferior.

Article / Updated 11-23-2016

In American Sign Language (ASL), knowing how to sign the cardinal (counting) numbers helps you in everyday situations like banking and making appointments. Pay attention to the way your palm faces when you sign numbers. For 1 through 5, your palm should face yourself. For 6 though 9, your palm should face out toward the person who’s reading the sign.

Article / Updated 11-23-2016

Learning the manual alphabet in American Sign Language (ASL) will help you when you don’t know a sign as you begin communicating. If you don’t know the sign for something, you need to use the manual alphabet to spell the word, or fingerspell. Check out and practice the manual alphabet: Note: If you need to fingerspell a word that has two letters that are the same, make a small bounce between the letters or simply slide the repeated letter over slightly.

Article / Updated 11-23-2016

Practice signing these basic expressions in American Sign Language (ASL) to meet and greet people, join in on conversations, answer questions, and be polite and courteous.

Article / Updated 11-23-2016

Signing one-word questions in American Sign Language (ASL) is a way to initiate small talk, get to know people, and gather information. When you sign these one-word questions, look inquisitive; the facial expression will come naturally when you are genuinely interested. Also, tilt your head and lean forward a little as you sign the question.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Through the years, Deaf people have faced numerous challenges. For example, not all states in the United States recognize American Sign Language (ASL) as a foreign language. Other past challenges included little access to education and almost no opportunity for gainful employment. Although things have improved over time, Deaf people still face obstacles. This article discusses challenges past and present and looks at how the Deaf community has made strides to overcome them. Putting the past in the past Sign language, like the Deaf people who use it, has had to fight for survival. Around the world, Sign language — as well as those who communicate this way — has been viewed as lesser than that of the hearing world. Many hearing people have dedicated themselves to changing the Deaf and their language. For centuries, Deaf people had to undergo the treatment of being viewed as incomplete because of their absence of hearing. Some religious groups wanted to save Deaf people, while other groups wanted to teach them. Because of a lack of speech, Deaf people were viewed as deaf and dumb. This label, which Aristotle invented, has been attached to the Deaf people since ancient Greece. Deaf people have been associated with being demon-possessed because some of them can't speak. Due to numerous biblical verses labeling them as dumb and mute, the Middle Ages — a dogmatic religious time — wasn't kind to Deaf people. Deaf individuals were hidden by family members, locked in asylums, or forced to try speaking, even though they couldn't hear themselves. During World War II, Adolf Hitler's henchmen castrated Deaf men after they were locked up in concentration camps as part of various medical experiments. Contemporary religious leaders have attempted to heal Deaf people of their "sickness" and accused them of lacking faith when miraculous hearing didn't happen. Some people mock Signing in front of Deaf people or tell them how sorry they are that they can't hear the birds singing or the phone ringing. Others are so rude as to talk about Deaf people right in front of them as though they aren't even there. Many Deaf people and Deaf advocates have risen to challenge this oppression, and they seem to have been successful because Deaf people are still signing to one another every day. You've come a long way, baby Although Deaf people aren't viewed as being possessed by the devil anymore, they still continue to face the challenges presented to them by a hearing world. Deaf people have fought for equal opportunities in education and employment and for cultural recognition, just to name a few. Take a look at how the Deaf community has overcome modern obstacles. The laws of the land The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has been a milestone, not only for Deaf people but also for all Americans. Here is some basic information about the ADA. This is not intended to be legal advice but general information. To learn more about the ADA, visit the ADA Home Page. Title I: Employment. If 15 employees are deaf or disabled, the workplace must be modified to be accessible. For example, TTYs, ramps, and/or railings could be installed. Title II: Public Services. Programs, activities, and transportation can't discriminate against disabled people. Buses, taxis, and other public means of transportation need to accommodate the disabled population. Programs such as job training, educational classes, and other assistance to gainful employment must also be provided. Title III: Public Accommodations. All new construction of establishments such as hotels, grocery stores, retail stores, and restaurants are mandated to add physical assistance, such as ramps and railings. Title IV: Telecommunications. Telecommunication agencies that provide phone services must provide a relay service for TTY users. Title V: Miscellaneous. Prohibits any threats to disabled people or to persons assisting the disabled. Getting classified as an "official" language Although the Deaf population in America has had much progress through laws promoting civil equality and educational advancement of Deaf people, the road to total equality is still a long one. Not all states in America recognize ASL as an actual language. The dispute over whether ASL is an actual language has been ongoing. Those who think that it should be considered a language often cite the following reasons: It syntactically contains properties like other languages, such as nouns, verbs, and adjectives. It maintains grammar rules that must be followed. Presently, approximately 20 states support this argument and recognize ASL as a foreign language. In addition, numerous colleges and universities offer credits for ASL as a foreign language. On the other hand, many people don't buy the argument that ASL is a real language. Their argument goes like this: All countries, including the United States, use their own indigenous sign language. Therefore, if you were from Spain and traveled to Peru, your Spanish Sign Language wouldn't be compatible with Peruvian Sign Language, even though the hearing communities from both countries could speak Spanish and understand each other. At best, some countries, such as the United States, have had a profound impact educationally on other countries. Many foreign Deaf people come to the United States for schooling, and they take home many ASL signs. Standardizing a Sign language internationally has not happened with any one national Sign language. However, there is a Sign language system called International Sign Language (ISL); it was previously called Gesturo. It's used at international Deaf events and conferences. It uses various signs from several national sign languages and was first used in the 1970s at the World Federation of the Deaf in Finland. To get more information about ISL, visit Gallaudet University. Living and working as part of the silent minority In a real sense, Deaf people living in America are a silent minority. The majority is made up of those who can hear. For Deaf people, living in a world where one's language is known by few and understood by even fewer influences how Deaf people view themselves. (To categorize how Deaf people view themselves is too big a label to put on people who are individuals with various educational, economic, social, and deafness levels. Some people are more adaptable than others — in both the hearing and Deaf worlds.) It also influences their feelings about how to exist as a people. This experience is often compared to living in a foreign country. Think about it: How would you feel if you were living in a foreign land where the language, customs, and culture weren't native to you? You'd probably go through each day with reluctance and uncertainty. You'd want to say what's appropriate, not something that would be viewed as ignorant. You'd feel frustrated when you wanted to state your opinion but couldn't make yourself understood. You'd feel isolated when everyone was laughing at a joke, and you didn't understand the punch line. Deaf people often feel this way when they're surrounded by hearing people. When speakers of a minority group come together, apart from the majority, they feel a certain sense of freedom to be able to speak — or sign — as fast as they want, and to converse, using idioms in their native language.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Half the fun of going to movies, plays, and museums lies in setting up a date and anticipating the treat. This article helps you make your plans by showing you how to sign not only what time you want to go but also which day or even which week. Here are the days of the week. MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY Use the first letter in the manual alphabet to sign the weekdays and Saturday, but use T-H for Thursday. Sunday is signed in a circular motion. If you want to make plans for the weekend, you need to know how to sign weekend. Here's that sign and more. DAY WEEK WEEKEND MONTH YEAR TODAY TOMORROW YESTERDAY LAST YEAR NEXT WEEK

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Did you know that counting in Sign can be done in 27 different ways? That's a pretty cool piece of trivia, but for this article, you just concentrate on two of those ways — using cardinal and ordinal numbers. If you'd like to check out some other ways to count, Gallaudet University and the National Technical Institute of the Deaf are great resources. Cardinal (counting) and ordinal (ordering) numbers will get you through everyday situations, such as counting the millions you won on the lottery, giving your address and phone number to the movie star who wants to get to know you better, telling your mom that you won the first Pulitzer prize for hip-hop poetry, and telling Cinderella that it's midnight. When you want to specify that there's more than one item — plural — you sign the item first, followed by the quantity. Unlike English, you don't have to change the item to a plural by adding "s." A good way to remember this is to keep in mind that you need to show what the item is before you can tell someone how many. For example: English: two books Sign: BOOK TWO English: four cars Sign: CAR FOUR Getting from one to ten with cardinal numbers Being able to give numerical information in ASL opens many doors. You can give someone your phone number, make an appointment, and warn a potential guest that you have 12, yes 12, cats. When you're indicating quantity and counting things, sign the numbers 1 through 5 and 11 through 15 with your palm facing you, and the numbers 6 through 10 and 16 through 19 with your palm facing the person to whom you're signing. Just as in English, there are exceptions to every rule, especially the one about which way your palm faces. To tell time in Sign, let your dominant (active) index finger touch your other wrist — where you would wear a watch. Then use your dominant hand to sign the appropriate hour (number) with your palm facing the person you're signing to; the same goes for addresses and phone numbers. For quantity, though, the numbers 1 through 5 have your palm facing you; 6 through 10 have your palm facing the addressee. Here are the numbers 1 through 19. ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT NINE TEN ELEVEN TWELVE THIRTEEN FOURTEEN FIFTEEN SIXTEEN SEVENTEEN EIGHTEEN NINETEEN To sign decade numbers — 30, 40, 50, and so on — you sign the first number (3, 4, 5) followed by the Sign for the number 0. You sign "hundreds," such as 600, 700, 800, and so on, by first signing the number (6, 7, 8), then the Sign for "hundred," as the following examples show: THIRTY FORTY FIFTY SIX HUNDRED SEVEN HUNDRED EIGHT HUNDRED Ordering ordinal numbers Ordinal numbers show orderly placement: first cup of coffee, second chapter, and third base, for example. To indicate an ordinal number in ASL, twist your wrist inward while signing the respective number. FIRST SECOND THIRD

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

The first teletype machine was invented in 1964 by a Deaf physicist named Robert Weitbrecht. With this invention, Weitbrecht opened up the world of tele-conversation to the Deaf. When people refer to teletype machines, they may refer to them as TTYs (TeleTYpe) or as TDDs (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf). The term TDD came after TTY. Both terms are acceptable, but Deaf people themselves are more apt to use TTY over TDD; they view TDD as a term created by hearing people. The TTY is a combination of a teletype machine and a telephone. The keyboard of the TTY sends a series of beeps with each letter. These letters are printed across a screen above the keyboard. Some TTYs, but not all, come equipped with text paper that automatically records your conversation. To use the TTY, place the handle of the phone on the “cups” of the TTY — the earpiece of the receiver always goes on the cup to the right. Dial the phone number of your intended party and wait for it to ring. The light on the TTY machine will flash when the phone is ringing. The party at the other end will start typing as soon as they put their receiver on their TTY cups. TTYs can be purchased through phone companies or through businesses that specialize in telecommunications. Many Deaf people receive TTYs from the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. This agency will purchase TTYs for the deaf consumer to do “whatever services are necessary and appropriate to succeed in employment.” Deaf people are provided TTYs at no cost by some states. Certain abbreviations are used when conversing on the TTY. This table lists some standard TTY terms. Common TTY Terms Abbreviation Meaning Abbreviation Meaning ok okay crs (any state) relay service msg/e message asst. assist ur your thx thanks shd should ltrs letters biz business btw by the way oic oh, I see pls please u you r are nbr number misc miscellaneous tmw tomorrow cn can cul see you later sk sk hanging up ga go ahead (signals it’s the other person’s turn to talk) Here are a few tips on TTY usage: Don’t interrupt a person while he or she is typing; allow him or her to give you a “go ahead” (GA). Interrupting someone during a typical phone conversation may be rude, but doing so doesn’t cause the phone to malfunction. On the TTY, though, taking turns is necessary because the TTY has sound activation tones (beeps) that are converted to letters that are punched from the keyboard. If two people try talking at the same time, the sentences won’t appear coherently. If you make an error, just type “XXX” next to the sentence that you want to erase. If you make a small typo of just a letter or word, though, use the delete or backspace key.