they/them, hearing, Interpreting major. Online resources: https://sites.google.com/view/thesign-resource If you wanna learn ASL, try and find in-person classes with a culturally Deaf teacher and make sure you learn about Deaf culture as well! [Profile Pic ID: The sign for Art in American Sign Language. End ID]
well i canât just learn sign language itâs not that easyâ my dude do you think itâs easy to learn english when your first language isnât english and you literally canât hear or can barely hear it?? be serious. deaf and hard of hearing people have been forced for centuries to learn spoken and written languages just to survive in a hearing world that refuses to meet us halfway. meanwhile hearing people act like learning the alphabet and some basic signs is the same as climbing mount everest.
i learned french â norwegian â english â russian â english again (after my hearing got worse) â and now iâm learning asl. and let me tell you, learning any language when you canât rely on your hearing is exhausting. youâre relying on subtitles, lip reading, interpretersâbasically anything that might help you keep up in conversations youâre already shut out of. and lip reading? itâs not a superpower, itâs educated guesswork. a ton of words look the same on the lips. sometimes youâre basically reading context clues from vibes alone.
and the whole âjust talk louderâ crowd doesnât get itâtalking to people is draining. every conversation is a mental marathon. youâre tracking faces, piecing together fragments, filling in blanks, and trying not to get mocked when you miss something. people act like the only communication method worth learning is spoken language, yet the second they have to put in even a fraction of the work weâve been doing our whole lives, they tap out.
newsflash: learning sign language isnât impossible. itâs not even the hardest thing youâll ever do. you just donât want to. youâre comfortable in a world that caters to you, so you think effort is optional. but if we can bend over backwards to learn the language of a world that shuts us out, you can take the time to learn the language that lets us in.
if you can memorize tiktok dances, song lyrics, and your starbucks order, you can memorize the asl alphabet and some basic conversational signs. itâs not about âbeing nice,â itâs about respect. so either learn sign language or accept that youâre choosing to be part of the problem.
I think it's best to learn in person and from a deaf teacher, so I'd recommend looking up Deaf Center [your city] first, but here is a compilation of resources with various online ASL lessons and info about Deaf culture
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"In recent years, there has been a rush on the internet to supply image descriptions and to call out those who donât. This may be an example of community accountability at work, but itâs striking to observe that those doing the most fierce calling out or correcting are sighted people. Such efforts are largely self-defeating. I cannot count the times Iâve stopped reading a video transcript because it started with a dense word picture. Even if a description is short and well done, I often wish there were no description at all. Get to the point, already! How ironic that striving after access can actually create a barrier. When I pointed this out during one of my seminars, a participant made us all laugh by doing a parody: âMary is wearing a green, blue, and red striped shirt; every fourth stripe also has a purple dot the size of a pea in it, and there are forty-seven stripesââ
âYouâre killing me,â I said. âI canât take any more of that!â
Now serious, she said it was clear to her that none of that stuff about Maryâs clothes mattered, at least if her clothes werenât the point. What mattered most about the image was that Mary was holding her diploma and smiling. âBut,â she wondered, âdo I say, Mary has a huge smile on her face as she shows her diploma or Mary has an exuberant smile or showing her teeth in a smile and her eyes are crinkled at the edges?â
Itâs simple. Mary has a huge smile on her face is the best one. Itâs the donât-second-guess-yourself option."
--Against Access, by John Lee Clark, a DeafBlind educator
I think this also includes the important idea of imagining the other. Sighted people (like myself) often consider visuals the *most important* part of an experience. This isn't and can't be the case for a blind person. If you don't have sight, then the particulars about the color/expression/etc. aren't necessarily going to be important to you.
Smiling matters because it's an indicator of emotion. The quality of the teeth only matter if it's relevant to the joke. Striped shirt only matters if the text describes it as polka dots and that's the point.
Describe the parts of the image that give context, because a person whose primary mode of interpreting the world is not sight will most likely not want extraneous visual information.
As one of the blind bitches, my best advice for alt text is to lead with the main context in a single sentence summary and get more specific later if it's relevant. Alt text is read in the order it's written: if a summary is short and simple, I can know if it's something I care about listening to the whole of.
"A photo of an orange cat stretched out in the sun on a window ledge", for example, gives me the subject matter immediately - it's a photo of a cat - and the detail descends from there. Anything else in the image is coincidence or unnecessary; the photo was taken of the cat, and anything else in the frame is unimportant. The reason why the image exists should be in the first two lines - and comedic timing still works in alt text form! "A photo of an orange cat stretched out in the sun on a window ledge. A second cat is falling off a cat tree in the background." still gives that moment of realization that a build up to a joke usually would.
(Defining if it's a real thing or an illustration or a movie scene or whatever is also pretty important for context - "an illustration of a dead dove" is pretty different from "a photograph of a dead dove".)
"A sunny room with a large window and a park outside with children playing in it. There is a wide, sunny windowsill with plants on it and a cat lying next to them, looking outside" describes the same hypothetical image, but the order of it changes the importance; while it would work to establish a scene in fiction (well, clumsily worded fiction, at least) it's missing the point as alt text - the cat's the reason the photo was taken, but everything else gets described first!
I'm no expert, nor do I intend to speak for Everyone With Vision Loss Ever, but as endemiccharm said, unless the details are relevant to why the image exists, they're probably not necessary to mention! Get Shorter.
When answering questions about deaf and hard of hearing characters, I have noticed they are overwhelmingly about:
A character who is deaf in one ear or hard of hearing because of an accident
A character who was born deaf and knows sign language, but seems to have 0 connection to the broader Deaf community
This is not the experience of most d/Deaf people! So, here's your primer to Deaf community and culture, and writing a Deaf character, because they are sorely underrepresented.
(Disclaimer: this post was written using viewpoints I, a singular Deaf person in the United States, have encountered. I tried to make this as general as possible to encompass many Deaf views, but it is possible that I have misconstrued something. Do not take this guide as the be-all and end-all of your knowledge on Deaf culture. Keep reading and researching the Deaf community, and explore viewpoints from many different Deaf people of all backgrounds.)
Why do you write Deaf with capital D?
[Large Text: Why do you write Deaf with capital D?]
The term "deaf" with the lowercase d means not being able to hear. The term "Deaf" with an uppercase D refers to the cultural identity formed by deaf people. This identity is difficult to explain but it includes knowing sign language and engaging with other Deaf people.
There are varying opinions within the Deaf community on who is allowed to call themselves culturally Deaf. Some Deaf believe that only those who were born into the Deaf community (whose family is Deaf, who attended a Deaf school, and/or who have sign language as a first language) are allowed to consider themselves culturally Deaf. On the 'flip' side, some Deaf believe that anyone with hearing loss can claim the label. And of course, you can find someone Deaf with any opinion in between.
This is all intracommunity nuance. If your character is born deaf and learns sign language at a young age or as a first language, they are likely culturally Deaf.
Sign Language Use
[Large Text: Sign Language Use]
Sign languages are the language of Deaf communities. (Note that there are many sign languages in different regions, and they are not related in the same way spoken languages are!)
Most sign languages did not originate alongside spoken language, either, so they usually have different grammar than the spoken language in a region. This means that someone whose first language is sign may have difficulty learning even the written version of the spoken language due to the different grammar and translation. For native signers, the spoken language of their area is their second language.
Sign languages are fully developed languages, with grammar and structure. Sign language is not "less" than spoken language, and encouraging sign language does not discourage speech. (Even if it did, that's not a bad thing! Sign languages are still a valid and rich communication form!) Sign languages have slang and expressions/idioms too.
Sign languages typically have a "manual alphabet" otherwise known as "fingerspelling". This is a way to represent words that don't have a sign. Fluent signers very rarely fingerspell; normally fingerspelling is for proper nouns which don't have a name sign.
Name signs are the last big point I want to cover about sign language. A name sign is a way to refer to someone so you don't have to spell their name every time. It's usually related to someone's attributes, like dimples or a specific way of moving. Sign names can only be given by Deaf people who are fluent in sign language.
Deaf Education
[Large Text: Deaf Education]
For a long time, deaf people were considered unable to learn, just because they couldn't hear. And since 1880, for about 100 years and even still today, the prevailing tradition in deaf education was/is oralism--a teaching method based on speech that rejects sign language.
Historically speaking, if deaf children were to receive an education, they would be sent to a Deaf residential school. These still exist, although there are also many Deaf schools that are typical day schools, just for d/Deaf/hoh students.
Deaf children may also attend "mainstream" schools; they might have sign language interpreters and other accessibility accommodations, or they may be forced to rely on lipreading and context, or placed in special education where their needs often still are not met.
Oralism still has lasting effects today. Deaf people have received, and still do receive, worse education than hearing people.
One common problem is language deprivation. Many deaf children grow up without access to sign language. About 90% of deaf people are born to hearing parents; even if hearing parents do send their deaf kids to a Deaf school, they may not learn sign language themselves, so the child must rely on what they can gather of spoken language at home. Sign language is even discouraged by some audiologists and speech professionals, because it "might interfere with speech". But by depriving deaf children of sign language, more often than not, they are being deprived of all language.
People who are born deaf do not learn spoken language naturally, even when provided with aids like hearing aids and cochlear implants. Many deaf kids who learn speech learn it through extensive speech therapy, and often have a "deaf accent" from copying mouth shapes but not being able to hear or process what sounds they are making, which may also include having an atypically pitched voice (e.g., very high-pitched). Lip-reading is inaccurate and the best lip-readers can only follow about 30% of a conversation, and that's by intently watching with no breaks.
It is possible to learn a language at any age. But it is easiest to pick up a new language when one is young. Children who do not learn a first language by around age 5--the age at which they would start school--have more difficulty learning any language, and may have frequent outbursts or trouble expressing emotions as a result of communication difficulties.
Another problem, especially within the Deaf community, is literacy. Spoken languages are often unrelated to the signed language of the same region. Learning to read and write, as a Deaf child, is like learning a whole new separate language, with different grammar and structure than their native language. This is why captions are not a perfect accessibility tool--it is, for many Deaf people, being offered an alternative in their second language, if they have learned to read and write at all.
Deaf Culture Norms
[Large Text: Deaf Culture Norms]
To hearing people, Deaf conversation can seem very blunt and to the point. This isn't to say Deaf people are inexpressive--quite the opposite: sign languages often use facial expressions as part of the grammar, and there is a lot of expression that can be incorporated into a sign--but there isn't a lot of "talking around" things. You can see part of this culture in name signs, which are usually based off a trait of the person. It's not offensive--it's just how they're recognized!
Another conception is of Deaf people being over expressive, but again, that is just part of sign language grammar. Face and body movements take the place of tone of voice, as well as other grammatical clarifications.
Deaf people talk a lot! It's very hard to end a conversation, because there will always be something else to say or a new person to meet. Hugging and other physical touch are really common greetings.
Tapping people on the shoulder to get their attention is fine. Other ways include flicking the lights or rattling a surface (for vibrations). Eye contact while signing is also important to make known that you are listening. Groups of Deaf people will sit in a circle so everyone can see everyone else. It's rude to talk in a Deaf space. If you are lost in the conversation, you'd ask if you can write or type instead.
Deaf Space also refers to design concepts that are more accessible to deaf people. This includes good lighting, minimal signing-height visual obstacles (e.g., low waist-height shelves), visual indicators instead of bells, open spaces so people can sit in a circle to talk, and automatic doors and wide hallways/passages so it is easier to continue a conversation while walking.
It's also very rude to comment on a Deaf person's voice. Do not mention you're surprised they can speak. Do not call their accent "cute" or "weird" or anything like that. Do not ask them to speak. Do not say their voice sounds really good ("for a deaf person") or that you wouldn't be able to tell they are deaf.
Deaf Views on Deafness
[Large Text: Deaf Views on Deafness]
The Deaf community is incredibly proud of their Deafness. You'll often hear the phrases "hearing loss = deaf gain" or "failing a hearing test" as "passing the deaf test". Continuing the Deaf community and culture is highly valued, and learning sign language is encouraged for everyone.
Many people in the Deaf community dislike cochlear implants as their success is incredibly variable and they require invasive surgery and therapies from a young age. Another big argument against CI is that they are often presented as the only or the first option to hearing parents, who misunderstand CI as a "cure" and then do not give their child access to sign language.
Deaf people also reject any sort of cure for deafness, especially genetic therapies. Many Deaf people do not think of their Deafness as a disability.
(Deaf people will often point out the advantages of Deaf culture and sign language, such as being able to talk over long distances, through windows, and even underwater.)
Most hard of hearing and some deaf people have hearing aids, although it is really an individual choice whether or not to wear them. Many d/Deaf/hoh people are overwhelmed and startled very easily by noise (since they're not used to that much auditory input) and get tinnitus from auditory overstimulation. They may also struggle with auditory processing--locating sounds, interpreting sounds, recognizing and interpreting speech, and other issues.
The Deaf community doesn't have any general complaints about hearing aids, just many prefer not to wear them. Do know that they are an imperfect aid; they just amplify sound, which doesn't improve processing or understanding, and it doesn't make people hearing. Not everyone even benefits from hearing aids--their specific hearing levels may make hearing aids a bad choice of aid.
A big point you'll hear in Deaf spaces is Deaf Can (and Deaf Power). Hearing people have historically treated deafness as a sign of incapability, but Deaf people can do everything hearing people can--except hear.
Myth Busting
[Large Text: Myth Busting]
Myth #1: All Deaf people are completely deaf. This is very far from the truth! Most deaf people have some degree of residual hearing, although this may require very loud sounds and/or at very specific pitches. Plus, there are many culturally Deaf people who are not deaf/hoh at all--CODAs, hearing children born to Deaf parents, are part of the Deaf community.
Myth #2: (Non-speaking) Deaf people do not make noise. Also very far from the truth! First off, Deaf people laugh. Many Deaf people also vocalize without knowing or intending, especially when excited. We can get very loud!
Myth #3: (Speaking) Deaf people talk loudly. While this can be true, often d/Deaf people talk more quietly than expected. This is because with severe to profound levels of deafness, no speaking volume is really going to be audible, so they will often rely on feeling vibrations in their throat to know if they're making noise. Vibrations are detectable at lower volumes than hearing people like to listen to.
Myth #4: Deaf people can't drive. I actually have no idea where this one came from but it's false. Deaf people can absolutely drive, and tend to have a lower rate of accidents and violations than hearing drivers. There is a common trend of treating d/Deaf people like they can't do things unrelated to hearing, but deafness on its own only affects hearing.
Deaf Struggles in the Hearing World
[Large Text: Deaf Struggles in the Hearing World]
A huge problem is just basic accessibility. Many places do not have captions or visual indicators, or rely on hearing (like drive-throughs). Movie open caption screenings are often at awkward times, and caption glasses are hard to find or access and awkward to wear.
Deaf people are also at increased risk of police violence. Police often treat signing as aggression, rather than attempts to communicate. When they yell, talk quickly, or shine a flashlight in Deaf people's faces, it's even harder to understand what is going on. Deaf people are also not often provided with a qualified interpreter and may not understand what is going on or why they were arrested.
Deaf people, specifically those who are mainly kept in the hearing world, have higher rates of drug use and addiction.
Hearing people also treat Deaf people as incapable or lesser. Gallaudet University had only hearing presidents until 1988 after the Deaf President Now protests; then-chair of the board at GU said in a statement that received heavy backlash from the students, "deaf people cannot function in the hearing world".
When writing your Deaf character:
[Large Text: When writing your Deaf Character:]
Were they born to hearing parents or to Deaf parents? (90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents.) Is anyone else in the family d/Deaf?
At what age was their deafness noticed? (It can be at birth, or it can take several years, even for children born deaf.) Is their hearing loss progressive? Is their hearing loss significantly different in each ear?
Were they eligible for cochlear implants? Did they get CI? Did they get hearing aids? (Consider cost as a factor: CI requires the surgery as well as intensive speech therapy; hearing aids are also expensive and can need replacement and refitting.) How well do the aids work for them? Do they have them in one or both ears?
What advice did their family receive from audiologists and speech therapists about sign language and communication, and did their family listen? Did they learn sign language? At what age? Did their parents and family learn sign language? Are they language-deprived? Did they go through speech therapy? What is their speech like? Do they like using their voice?
Did or do they attend Deaf school? Is it residential or day school? If it's residential, did they understand what was happening when they were dropped off? Does the school use sign language or rely on oralism? (Consider time period; most schools now use sign language, but from 1880-about 1980 the predominant method was oralism.)
If they don't attend a Deaf school, what accommodations are they receiving in mainstream setting? Are they in special education? Are they in a Deaf program at a mainstream school? Do they have an interpreter? How much do they understand what is going on in class?
How involved are they in Deaf community and culture? Are their friends and family involved and supportive of the Deaf community? Do they treat deafness like something to cure? Do their friends and family frequently ignore or "forget" that they are deaf?
In general, consider their scenario, what ableism they've faced, and what their Deaf identity is.
Happy writing, and please continue to send in your questions!
Hi! As a hard of hearing person (APD), this post is not only interesting, but also eye-opening. I'm unfortunately not in contact with the Deaf community very much, and I learned a lot by reading this post.
I'm sorry to learn that d/Deaf/hoh people haven't had their needs met in special education- a lot of people seem to have negative experiences regarding this, no matter the diagnosis. I hope this gets better in the future, and I'll strive to make a change where I can!
I love signing, but also, I have experience with disability from both sides (chronic pain and working in assisted living). To me, serving a community you identify with just hits different. I know many Deaf people don't identify as disabled and I've never really been deaf, but I think there are a lot of parallels between my experiences facing inaccessibility as well as the pride and assumptions that come with being trans and the experience of many Deaf people I've met.
I'm also immersed in the Deaf community. Like I said earlier, it's important to me to be a part of the community I serve, but that's not the reason I interact with the Deaf community. I genuinely prefer socializing in ASL. People used to think I was an introvert, but now I go to social events at least weekly and often multiple times a week because I go to every Deaf event open to hearing people. So really it's more because I'm a hearing person in the community that I want to be an interpreter than the other way around.
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You'd be surprised how often I'm told there is no interpreter at an event, there are no captions at an event, and they act like I'm asking for something absurd.
This isn't a performative dance routine interpreting what is going on.
But hey, deafies, we're woke now because we require interpreters.
This is all absolutely true. Also, to add, many deaf people receive a much worse education because the schools are unwilling/unable to invest in proper education for deaf people. So there are deaf people out there who struggle to read English because the structure of English is completely different than the structure of Sign Languages.
Also, Sign Language is NOT international. Signing in London is different that Ireland, or Paris, Toronto, Mexico, New Zealand, India-- some of the signing may be similar or even related but they are all different languages. So if you see several interpreters at an event or a news broadcast or en EU summit, and they are doing different signs, this is why.
And for the idiots who still don't comprehend that for many people English is a second language, even signers who were born in an English speaking country-- and still argue 'you get captions what's the problem' - Have you ever watched the auto-craptions on the news or a live event, or even a film on Amazon that they couldn't bother to get a human to properly provide subs? Yeah. A good percentage of the time, it's just word salad that means absolutely nothing. You're likely to just get a pile of words that may or may not have to do with anything going on in what you are trying to watch.
Some time, put on the news with no captions or sound. Put on a film or show you have never seen before, and try to lipread what is being said. Try to figure out what the plot or context is from just the actor's faces. Just try to engage when the only queues you have are facial expressions and movement on the screen-- if you can even see them talk at all, a lot of films and shows are shot over a shoulder with the back of someone's head.
Wear ear-plugs when you are out having a coffee with a friend and try to figure out what your friend is even saying. No music, no nothing-- just earplugs and trying to figure it out.
Do all of this for a week and then tell me that craptions are enough. Then tell me we don't need interpreters. After two days, you're going to be angry and frustrated because you don't know what the fuck is going on.
Interpreters do more than just tell you the exact words. They INTERPRET English language and put it into sign. They aren't just randomly throwing around their hands and looking silly. And they do it on the fly, live, as something is going. A good majority of the times, Interpreters have no idea what is going to be said. In those moments they are hearing something in English (or French, Spanish, what have you), figuring out what the best way to sign these words back to a sign-user base, and they have to do it all in seconds. It's a LOT of work.
So if you are at an event or you see two or even more signers who keep switching off after half an hour or an hour, know that the money is NOT being wasted having multiple interpreters there. They are not being lazy. They are doing a whole helluva lot, and their brains and hands and faces occasionally need a break.
So if you are hiring interpreters for an event, don't be surprised if they say you'll need to pay more to have several interpreters there. The interpreters are incredibly skilled, and they work bloody hard. If they tell you they need more than one, don't have a fit at them and try to talk them into just having one interpreter, thinking you can pay less. Understand that they work their arses off, and it's a very intense job that requires a lot of brain power and body power. So please, PLEASE be kind to interpreters.
And for chrissake, STOP DOING THIS. STOP DOING THIS. STOP FUCKING DOING THIS.
Seconding all of this, but also to get more specific on the first point:
ASL (American Sign Language) is not only different from BSL (British Sign Language), they're not even in the same language family. Similarly, LSM (Mexican Sign Language) is different from LSE (Spanish Sign Language), and there are other regional sign languages in Spanish speaking South America.
My (hearing) kid is studying ASL and when there was a Deaf contestant on British Bake Off he said that he really didn't recognize the BSL signing. But we traveled to Peru last summer and saw some people signing at a restaurant, and he said he recognized a few signs of LSP, even as he could tell it was a different language.
When you start to understand how much signed languages are full and complete languages with specific grammar and structure, you realize why captioning is not an equivalent to interpretation.
"Why would deaf people need interpretation in a language that's their first language? Can't they just read a fast moving faux-phonetic transcript of a speech made in their second language."
I need your help. YES YOUR HELP! Im person with hearing aids and i wanted to make myself a pin to my bag so people know who they are talkin to (its hard to notice my hearing aids because of my hair) but i was browsing Pinterest and THERES NOTHING INTERESTING. WHERES THE SWAG, WHERES THE FIRE. So if yall have some designs/photoshop then HAND IT OVER SO I CAN HAVE COOL BAG PLS
"Hellen Keller is not real" is a right wing propaganda. It's literally something that was pushed by eugenistic tiktokers two years ago at least because they don't believe disabled people like Hellen Keller can do anything for themselves.
do you know of any ways to make group voice calls more accessible? i so badly want to participate in Discord vcs with my friends more often, but i get hearing fatigue almost instantly and struggle to keep track of multiple voices at once, especially when thereâs a movie/game going on in the background. (i have mild to moderate hearing loss + auditory processing issues.)
thanks in advance!
Hi!
I don't use Discord or group voice calls so I don't have much advice unfortunately. You could talk to the group or start with one friend to figure out how to make things less chaotic. Maybe ask to have games muted? Truckers talking to each other on the radio will start with their handle to identify themselves. Maybe emulating that will make it easier to know who's talking in a way that's fun.
(Im afraid to talk to people online so im using anon HOWEVER)
If you want to find some places to meet Deaf/HoH people you gotta go to Facebook groups! I found this local group to me that meet like once or twice a month who were willing to allow someone who's learning in and I've been going since. Anyways I highly recommended checking local Facebook stuff. There's also some state led websites that people put their events on but you know how that is. I've been learning ASL for about a year now and the thing that made me grow the most is being in the middle of like 30 people signing. Scary but fun! Good luck finding people to chat with đ
Hi! Thank you so much for your advice. I don't use Facebook but any help is always appreciated.
I have been looking around for months, but it seems my town lacks many things like that. đŽâđ¨
I may just get Facebook just to join a group but who knows.
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Everyone needs to learn sign language pls. Like whatever version is used in your country I encourage you to learn.
Not only will you be learning another language, but you'll be able to talk to other signers, D(d)eaf or not, and two people can communicate in loud places without needing to hear the other.
I'm hard of hearing and have such a difficult time with trying to hear others. I stopped wearing hearing aids because I got annoyed that even after about 18 years I still had a hard time distinguishing what hearies were saying.
I'm learning my country's sign language (ASL) but don't have any experienced signers to practice with. I really hope more people learn these languages (and the history of said languages).
And sign is also helpful with neurodivergent people and babies aswell!
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so I'm deaf, and I get new hearing aids every 4-5 years. every time I do this, the sound is different, and I have to take some time to relearn sounds. my most recent pair is a very different brand from what I've previously had, meaning that the sound is very different as well. this, of course, means extra word to relearn sounds. this is absolutely exhausting.
I just find it strange that, while I am relearning a sense, I can't realistically take time off of school. I still have so many assignments and stuff that I have to do, all while feeling like a toddler that's been up too long.
basically, I should be allowed to have a break when I get new hearing aids without having to do 12 billion catch up assignments afterwards
What kind of technology do you think would help d/Deaf / HoH people in the future? Should there be more research into improving hearing aids, or making real-time captioning glasses, or maybe AI that can translate sign language instead of a human interpreter? What would be super useful if it existed?
Hello,
hearing loss is very varied, as are the types of communication people use. As such, I wouldn't focus on one single technology, since it wouldn't fit all deaf people.
Hearing aids can't be much improved, imo - they work on making sounds louder for existing hearing. They can be fine tuned, but they are more akin to glasses. The biggest issue with hearing aids isn't technology, but their price - they often aren't covered by insurance and as such, remain inaccessible for lot of people. There is also a significant stigma about their usage, esp for people who lose hearing later in life and discomfort with using them. I think that should be the priority.
Cochlear implants are a hearing device which can still be improved and does keep improving every year. Ideal end goal would be hearing identical to natural hearing and smaller size of implant. Current implants do work well, but sounds from them are different compared to "ordinary" hearing (more robotized, less fine) and they are still fairly big. Of course, you can't make them too small, otherwise you wouldn't be able to operate them. And same as hearing aids, price remains a problem - not just price of surgery and implant itself, but of batteries and upkeep.
I would honestly love real time caption glasses! They do exist in some way nowadays, but not in any practical form. One of the biggest issues is that automatic caption is still pretty... hit or miss. Especially in louder environments, extra especially if your language isn't English. I do think its a neat technology that could be useful, but we are far from its ideal existence. (not to mention, problems with privacy, connection to internet, how to power them, price, etc etc.)
There already has been some attempts into artificial interpreter, but nothing really workable. Big issue is that you need both technology that produces very fine tuned movement of all top parts of body (including face expressions) and is able to capture movement and recognize movement. Another issue is that you would need to have a workable library of all signs in a specific sign language. ASL is probably the closest to it, but it would need to be likely captured for that technology specifically and that's insane amounts of work. Unlike with written English, you can't just scrape internet for signs - they are in various video forms, differ slightly, lot of signs aren't on internet at all... To have AI interpreter, you first need to have a great, indexed sign language dictionary and that doesn't really exist at the moment.
(there are various online dictionaries but their quality... is in my opinion not up to par for this)
The biggest problem often isn't technical limit of technology itself, but the amount of time and money it would need for these technologies to exist. That's why cochlear implants get most "updates", bcs its funded by big medical companies and it brings lot of money.
In ideal world, I would love to have all of these technologies. If you focus on just one, you risk leaving part of community in the lurch. Not all deaf/hoh people use sign language. Not all deaf/hoh people want or can use hearing aids or cochlear implants. Not all deaf/hoh people are good readers (either due language issues or additional disabilities).
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Since Trump took office all videos with American Sign Language interpreters have been removed from the White House website and YouTube channels. What could be the point of this beyond pure cruelty?
Something I get mildly annoyed about in writing (mostly in fanfics, since I havenât encountered a published book with this), is when sign language is depicted identical to speaking. Like, commas, contractions, stuttering, etc.
When I was taught ASL in high school, we were told there was a way to write down sign, but itâs not like how youâd write a spoken English sentence. Words are typically in all caps, lack any -ing/-ed, and have a different grammatical structure.
For example: âI went to school todayâ would be made into something like âTODAY SCHOOL I GO TOâ
Obviously, Iâm not someone whoâs remotely fluent in ASL, and high school classes do not give me the right to winge and criticize on behalf of those who do speak it. I just found it odd that Iâve never seen Glossing used at all in writing, and it bugged me that signs were used essentially like spoken dialogue (how does one stutter in sign language?), when thereâs a uniqueness to the language that gets erased in the process.
Common mistake! What you are describing is not ASL written down!
It's what we call a gloss, aka a sort of brief notation system based on the literal meaning of a word/ phrase. You can't write in ASL per se (any writing system that has been invented for it has failed and been completely rejected by native speakers). What you describe it's a system used to break down/analyze sentences by their exact literal meaning, and it's used specifically for transcribing one language using another one. It respects the language's order of words and grammar aspects/ items (that's why you see the "lacking"" -ing/-ed), and is used for any language, not just sign languages
Something like: "Ella tiene el libro verde" can be glossed as "she hasPRO3 the book green" respecting Spanish word order, for example. Sign languages are normally glossed in capital letters to show certain stuff specific to them, the same way I can write PRO3 to mark the thrid person form ("tiene") of the verb "tener" for spanish. But you really don't have to
Sign languages are depicted as identical to orally speaking, because they are at the same level of speech. Plus, if you are writing in English, then you should use English way of writing. Writing something like:
"I'm going to be late" she signed
is exactly the same thing as if you have written
"I'm going to be late" she said in french
You are writing in English, but letting people know the character is speaking another language.
Plus, you can definitely slutter and choke words in a sign language! It just doesn't look the same way because of the visual modality!
Yes this. Because ASL is a full language, but not the one being used to tell the story, only the meaning rather than the form is kept.
However, I think Sara Novik's way of showing ASL dialogue in True Biz is cool and represents how space is used in ASL. I don't have the book so I can't post a picture but I wrote about it for a paper.
[Image ID: Screenshot of an essay. the paragraphs each have their own column. The first on the left, the second on the right, and the third in the middle.
The POV characters
dialogue was in one area
of the page,
And the other characters
dialogue was in a different area.
If there were multiple
characters in a conversation they would get their own space as they entered the conversation.
