One must also allow the possibility that some people are just (webcam)/camera-shy. :-)

Or–enjoying the pleasure of posting with anonymity!

And they call us elitists?

*laugh my way out*

Where did you get the “elitists” from?

Wrong place. Forget it. Was supposed for other comment thread. *shrug*

The reason why I cannot learn ASL is because I work full-time in a hearing environment, and do not have the time needed to learn a new language. I am always open to learning it when the time is available to do so, but right now, I cannot do that.

And even if I learn ASL, I may not be fluent enough in it, and I know deaf people who’ve tried to learn ASL have been attacked for their lack of fluency or their awkwardness in using ASL by Deaf people. It’s a case of damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Noelle, I think it’s a shame that those who tried to learn ASL were attacked for it.

I think things may be slowly changing though. Witness BrownEyedGirl… She was an oral vlogger who used her vlogs to practice her ASL, and she watched vlogs to learn it. She got nothing but encouragement and positive feedback, I believe.

Now, that changes things! You said you are willing to learn ASL when you can. BTW, I’m going to Gally this coming spring. Hypothetically, if I meet you and you are learning ASL, I will be on your side if any ASL signer mock your lack of fluency. I do NOT like anyone putting anyone else for their lack of fluency, period.

Noelle, my apologies. But any deaf person who read here and is not like Noelle in being willing ot learn ASL at one point of their life, my concern remains the same.

I support the rights of anyone that wants to participate in the debate here involving deaf issues. I’m not going to limit my support to people who ‘wants’ to learn ASL or use ASL, because I’d miss out on evaluating others’ viewpoints.

You were ready to dismiss my input before you found out that I support ASL, which I have stated many times here on this blog. There are many oral deaf people that support ASL as a language, but do not sign in ASL or prefer to use other communication modes. Who’s to say their input is any less valid because of that? We are all deaf, are we not? Do we not know discrimination, the obstacles that we face, and what we deal with every day? We all have stories, and they all should be heard and respected.

I don’t like Deaf people who go, “Oh, you hearing wannabe! You not deaf!” just because I speak orally and have a CI. That’s dumb. I am still deaf at the end of the day.

Noelle, I don’t buy your excuses for not being able to learn ASL.

You say your job prevents you from learning ASL. B*llsh*t!!!

Your job doesn’t care what you do in evenings and weekends, does it?

What do you do in evenings and weekends? If you have time to attend DPHH events and other events, then you most certainly have time to take a class in ASL.

No more excuses, Noelle.

When I was in high school and I took on acting roles in plays, the director used to half-jokingly tell us, “You must attend all rehearsals and all performances. The only excuse I’d accept is if you were dead.”

And you know what? I’m going to say the same thing to you.

“The only excuse I’d accept from you for not going to ASL class in evenings or weekends is if you have no hands or you’re dead!”

:-)

I work ten to thirteen hours a day during the week. During the weekends, I am working on my applications to graduate school. That’s why I don’t have the time now. When I’m in graduate school, I’ll be able to take in an ASL class, and am planning to do so.

Since you’re vlogging about it then please realize that I am not yet fluent in ASL. I have taken two years and I still sign like a slowly. I am late-deafened. It takes about seven years to become fluent. Sometimes I understand vlogs, sometimes I don’t. One thing that throws me is the limited movement in a vlog. In real life you’ve got full sway of movement. If I don’t understand, a person realizes by the confusion on my face and they repeat or sign more slowly or add more description. I find vlogs really hard because I can’t stop and ask the vlogger for clarification. Secondly, there are regional differences in signs I haven’t been exposed to and thirdly I don’t know slang. I’ve learned the proper way to sign things, then I see how people really sign, and most native signers sign much faster when they’re talking. I don’t know anything about Noelle, but it really isn’t that easy to take ASL just anywhere if you are late-deafened. Many programs are not geared toward the deaf. They’re for people interested in becoming interpreters and there’s a lot of talking. I tried taking ASL before and didn’t learn much because I couldn’t hear the teachers. The classes I’ve been taking the past couple years were taught be deaf teachers who don’t allow talking in class– except when they want us to interpret back. This is so much better for me. I can learn better without hearing. It’s also really necessary to have people to practice with. I’m lucky to live outside of the Seattle metro area so I can go to deaf chats and meet ups and such. Some people don’t have anything like that nearby.

I vlogged about it recently. Feel free to check it out :).

I do not know ASL therefore I cannot provide an ASL vlog translation of my written English. I welcome the efforts of anyone else to put my comments into ASL vlogs.

Noelle is hardly in the wrong here. By seeking to point that she does not know ASL, and that with the video showing ASL responses that she will not be able to understand, she is merely pointing to a fact.

It is disappointing that others would seek to attack on the basis that Noelle does not know ASL, and does not currently actively seek to know ASL. Instead of understanding the difficulty and trying to bridge it by proferring a potential solution to the dilemma, the questions of why doesn’t Noelle know ASL or seek to know ASL has been posed. It should hardly be pointed out the questions were asked in a negative manner. Few posed a solution themselves that was constructive and helpful in response.

Noelle described the dilemma and offered a reasonable solution (accomodating transcript with ASL or vice versa) and instead was attacked by the likes of Oscar and Michelle. It should be noted that this forum has also provided assistance to a hearing audience seeking to understand the major issues of deaf life, which is not neccessarily American but deaf (which is broad in definition whether you like it or not. You can define it in a narrow-basis, but you do not hold sway over public opinion or knowledge).

Despite the fact that Gallaudet University and that the members who contribute most to this website live in Washington D.C, a city that holds diverse cultures and ethnicity, the forum remains provincial with its American and ASL outlook.

I personally commend the spirit of the webcam addition, a boon to ASL people and a recognition of their potential contribution to the board. However, there are two considerations - a description attached would ensure understanding for a broader audience (If you know ASL, chances are that you also know how to write english) and two, in reverse, webcam comments could be offered by a volunteer for each comment. It should be noted that privacy is a must for the majority of the people on the internet and having their face in a webcam would be contrary to their wishes, yet they may wish to contribute in an ASL manner while maintaing their privacy. The addition of ASL-signing staff for each comment for this forum would remedy that dilemma. It is an expensive solution however. In any case, I commend the spirit of the webcam addition and Noelle for pointing out the dilemma.

DCBoots: I wasn’t attacking Noelle.

I’ve seen Noelle’s many posts in various articles here in deafdc.com and she has repeatedly said that she *refuses* to learn ASL. Now, under this article, she claims she doesn’t have time to learn ASL. She also offered a total of three excuses: 1) she works in hearing world; 2) she doesn’t have time; and 3) even if she learned ASL, she’d be criticized.

That’s why I challenged her. As everyone knows, if you TRULY want to learn something, you MAKE the time.

We all know that many deaf/Deaf people work in hearing world, and they still use ASL. That’s not a barrier.

We all know that even if you get criticized, you don’t let that stop you from attaining your goals or to do what you really want to do.

That’s all it was.

I hope that Noelle is sincere about wanting to learn ASL at a later date, but the three excuses she offered does make me wonder about her sincerity.

Michele, we cannot force Noelle to learn ASL, and berating her for not knowing it isn’t exactly encouragement.

So, back off. It’s Noelle’s business, and nobody’s else.

And besides, not all who come here comment. I am positive there are hundreds of hearing lurkers who do not know ASL. By providing English transcripts, those lurkers will be educated as well by seeing us Deaf being bilingual and being able to have discourse in two languages .. which is pretty damn impressive considering that nobody else does that.

Noelle:

The least you could have done is pay someone to do translation of your English if you are sincere about giving access to those deaf people who can’t read and write other than ASL’ers who enjoy vlogs. While I do not expect you to have money for it, your opportunity is to interact with ASL members of the Deaf community and befriend with some. Perhaps, one of them will do you a favor as a friend while you work on developing skills in ASL. As one said immersion is the best way to acquire a language. You do have a choice and it is up to you.

Since when do ASL’ers have no life and can do this voluntarily? This is offensive because that is what hearing people and interpreters have done to deaf people for YEARS. They get off being promoted and paid well in their current job all because of the sacrifices deaf people give while majority of deaf people continue not to have a job they deserve.

I do not condone anyone preaching ASL vloggers to include English transcript when many of them bloggers have not done an ASL vlog. It goes BOTH ways or forget about it. Zero tolerance for double standard in our community.

What about a website like projectreadon.org? They caption videos per requests, and they don’t charge those who ask for the videos to be captioned.

I think a ASL version of this would be great.