What
is your name in deaf language? am sure you have no idea how to sign your name for the deaf to understand. Giving birth to a normal child and precisely a
child who has functioning ears is always a silent prayer for every parent. Today
I want to Zero down to the deaf people. I want to inform you on how to do a
conversation with the deaf. By the end of my presentation you will identify
some guidelines to follow when communicating with a deaf person.
A
deaf person is one who cannot hear nor talk. Deaf individuals communicate visually and physically rather than audibly.
There are many causes of deafness. Some people are born deaf due to a
hereditary condition, or had congenital problems. Others may become deaf as a
result of injury, illness or exposure to excessive noise.
There are varying degrees of
deafness: 1)hard of hearing,
2) "profoundly" deaf, and 3) completely deaf. You can often recognize
the hard of hearing by their hearing aids. Deaf or profoundly deaf people may
wear no hearing aid at all. Some will be able to lip read and understand you
nearly perfectly, however, many will communicate with sign language rather than with words. In an environment that takes little
or no account of deafness a deaf person can feel isolated, confused and
frustrated. Therefore, for the sake of the deaf community I will give
you three guidelines that will help you understand what you need to do so as to
communicate with the deaf
1.Get the other person's attention before attempting to talk
or communicate. Making eye
contact is a good way to do this. If needed, you can use a small wave or light
touch to get the person's attention. Generally it is not considered rude in
deaf communities to lightly touch people you do not know to get their attention.
The shoulder is a good place to touch someone you don't know well; use a couple
of short taps
2. Speak your
greeting in a normal voice and tone. Whispering or shouting will distort
your lip movements, making it difficult for a deaf person to follow your words.
Similarly, if you exaggerate your mouth movements you will be harder to
understand than if you speak normally. Increasing the volume only helps if the
person is hard of hearing, and it has the negative effect of drawing attention
from other people around you, making the person you are addressing feel
self-conscious.
3.Learn sign language. For
full communication with deaf people, learn sign language. Sign languages
are natural languages, with their own grammar and syntax. Most countries have
their own national sign languages. They are quite distinct to spoken languages
and generally do not follow the same geographic distribution (for example,
British Sign Language is very different from American Sign Language). Many
colleges, universities and local deaf organizations offer classes for all
levels of learners. In Nairobi the Kenya Institute of Education has endeavored
to develop a curriculum for the sign language students. One complete VCD costs
500 KES (approx $ 10) and with the CD one can learn how to communicate in sign
language. I realized how
difficult it is to use sign language without prior training during a baseball
game when we could not communicate with the students of Karen School for the
Deaf, despite their interest to learn baseball; they stormed out of the playground
never to return because we could not understand each other. The deaf people have their culture, and they can not join into our culture due to their
disability, but we can learn their way of life for a more comprehensive society
I wish to leave
you with some advice: Never assume that a deaf person is also
mentally disabled. An unwritten rule in the deaf culture is "if you can
see it, you can comment on it." So do not take a deaf person's bluntness
personally - they do not mean to offend. It is simply acceptable in their
culture to make comments like "you are bigger than last time I saw
you" or other comments that would be considered rude in spoken conversation. We admire
them enormously when they overcome their disabilities to bring honour and
respect to our country. We marvel at
their strength, grace and courage. Unfortunately we then cut off the supports
that mean the difference between life and death for them. Who knows if one day
you wouldn’t fall in love with a deaf, how will you express the feeling of I
love you!
