Hey I just saw a post you made where you said you were deaf. Are you fully deaf, or hard of hearing? Do you know any sign language? When my Junior year starts in a few weeks, I'll be taking ASL as an Elective, and I'm excited to learn! I actually do the morning announcements for my school and we have a woman sign what I say, and she's really cool and, she's gonna teach the class.
I’m deaf-deaf. Though what you think of as deaf might be incorrect. Few deaf people hear absolutely no sound at all. I can hear some things, but not most things. And the things I can hear can’t be heard clearly. I am somewhat fluent in basic ASL, though most of the people I know and interact with do not know it, so I am very rusty. That’s a thing that a lot of hearing people don’t realize: when you are deaf or hoh (whether born that way or developed later in life), very few people are willing to learn a whole knew language for you. Mostly they expect you to compensate and communicate their way.So always ask a deaf/hoh person their preferred method of communication. Lots of deaf people don’t even know sign language because their family insisted on mainstreaming them. Or they might have learned ASL only later on and don’t feel as confident in it as a primary language. Lipreading and speaking and writing/typing are very common ways the deaf communicate other than sign language for example. This is why it’s important to just be sure to ask when you meet a deaf person how they prefer to communicate. :)It’s super cool you want to learn ASL though. I’m 100% here for more people learning the language, hearing or otherwise. If more people knew ASL it’d be a lot easier for parents to see the value in teaching it to their children who are deaf rather than expecting them to lipread and speak (not that there’s anything wrong with lipreading and speaking if it’s the deaf person’s decision rather than something being forced upon them with no other option). And it may encourage their parents to learn it too, if it was something spoken more commonly.You may want to look into a future career as an interpreter if you find that you enjoy ASL and the community at large. You can interpret in lots of settings, there’s a big need for ASL fluent people in medical and social work fields, for example! Good luck.
