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Learning sign language is something basically everyone I have ever met says they want to do. Learning a few signs is fun and memorable. Some people I bump into remind me of the signs that I taught them yonks ago. You know, the cute ones like turtle or snail. There is something about the visual language that people just love.
When it comes to the crunch though, becoming proficient at sign language is hard work and takes plenty of practice. There’s a lot more to it than learning that sign for bulls%*t that everybody seems to already know. Figuring out which hand the horns are .. is just the beginning.
Hats off to the many who do make the grade to level one or two; but time without using sign language will consign that knowledge to the dark and dusty corners of the mind. Some are now barely only able to name a snail or a turtle. They’re only just able to explain that they arrived by car, it took 5 minutes and it was, err, um … what’s the sign for sunny? It gets awkward after that.
But it doesn’t have to be like that. The best way to keep using sign language is to go along to your local deaf club where the deaf community will happily chat and facilitate your development. Visiting your local deaf club is an excellent way to study or practice sign language long after the certificate is hung on the toilet wall.
Or maybe, actually, it isn’t.
When I was a kid, I visited deaf clubs almost every week. We went to March, Peterborough, Cambridge and Spalding. My parent’s quadrangle of quality, err, quonversation. I even went to Slough deaf club for an indoor games tournament and to Guildford on the way back from a day trip to France. I still go to Peterborough deaf club when I can. Janet and Simon, who help run it, are good people.
Contrary to my experience though, some hearing or oral deaf people have said to me that they haven’t found deaf clubs to be such a pleasant place to visit. They claimed that they were ignored or felt excluded. ‘Really?’ I said. I wondered if it could be true, so I gave it a little thought.
For many people who use BSL, deaf club is the only time in the week or month to have a decent conversation with friends. No barriers to communication exist there. It’s a signer’s sanctuary. While hearing neighbours can chat across the fence or in the street whenever they want, some deaf brethren have to wait days or weeks until deaf club opens to do the same. Days or weeks to experience that simple pleasure; the joy of flowing conversation.
Should deaf people have to sacrifice that precious time in order to once again take it v e r y s l o w l y with the latest sign language student? ‘Oh, you arrived by car … and it took 5 minutes … Well done!’
But what if the BSL learner is also deaf? What about people who were born deaf and didn’t learn sign language as they grew up? Or people who are deaf now but were hearing before. Does that change things? After all, where is the ‘I Used To Be Hearing But Now I’m Deaf Club’ in Slough or Guildford? How are more people going to master sign language unless the people who use it, make the newbies feel at home?
So the question for you, the reader, is this: Should learners respect the very reason that deaf club is there and take no offence if deaf people aren’t queuing up to c h a t? Or should deaf clubs do more to welcome sign language learners, hearing or deaf, with open arms? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Andy Palmer is the hearing father of a Deaf son, and is also a child of Deaf parents. He is Managing Director of the Cambridgeshire Deaf Association, runs Peterborough United’s deaf football teams and is Chairman of the Peterborough and District Deaf Children’s Society and teaches sign language in primary schools. Contact him on twitter @LC_AndyP
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Tanya
January 16, 2016
I truly can see both sides of this question:
I can see why, when people spend all week with communication as a barrier with hearing people everywhere and many Deaf people expected to communicate on a hearing persons terms with little or no appreciation, that Deaf club becomes a sanctuary. I can’t even imagine what it is like to not be able to talk freely whenever I want but I must admit I feel very isolated whenever I go to a Deaf club event such as a coffee morning (in a way it does mean that I really get a taste of what everyday life is like for many people).
However: I studied stage one and two in the late 1990’s, I then didn’t study again until doing nvq3 in 2013, I then did my level 4 in 2014 but I am again stuck. I do not have enough experience to go for my level 6 but I’m constantly prevented from using my knowledge in many ways as I’m “not an interpreter”…I can’t use it at work (I work in the mental health field) and although I’m developing a dementia friends information session for the Deaf community, I’m unable to produce it myself as my knowledge isn’t considered important enough to outweigh my lack of skill level. I am not able to attend lots of events to gain this experience; I have a husband who works long shifts and young children who I have tried taking with me, but they simply get bored if there are no other children there. I need somewhere with easy access that allows me to bring my hearing children so I can gain that experience. My reception is particularly poor, but I find that if I try and rush my production, I get my words mixed up; I’ve therefore decided slow and correct is better than fast and jumbled, but I understand that this can be annoying for people who are fluent.
I don’t want to be an interpreter, I want to engage with Deaf people in everyday life, but there appears to be little support outside of a classroom to enable me to do this.
I guess a good balance would be a social club available where everyone is welcome and then a club where only fluent signers attend.
S e c
January 16, 2016
I have severe hearing loss and completed my level 6 some years ago and regularly go to Deaf club, ours is the best I’ve ever been to in terms of welcome. But there is a distinct divide. I’m somewhat stuck in the middle, to the Deaf I’m hearing and to the hearing im deaf. .. so i sit with the students as I feel a certain responsibility to encourage them and make them sign in a non classroom based environment. And to broaden their vocab away from the arriving by car situation! Most of the Deaf at club will happily say hi but there isn’t really any interaction between learners and users. I set up a Facebook group to try and combat this we meet in pubs and quizzes (great for them to practice their interpreting!) We went to intetpreted rocky horror yestrrday:) It’s good. Interestingly at least one of our local Bsl teachers actively discourages his students attending club as he worries it’ll do more damage to confidence signing than help…We also have a hearing loss club but I’ve been told it’s older people and no body signs.
I can understand the frustrations from both sides.
Tris Chandler
January 16, 2016
I’m hearing but I have some Deaf Culture experience from family and I go to Deaf socials to make more friends and practice a new language.
In order to avoid making it all about me and my learning I politely wait to join in conversations, and let people catch up. The Deaf people in my area tend to welcome us hearies because they want more people they can talk to. 🙂