AC, ASL & Eyeth Day

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here.  Life has been crazy… but, good.    AC is finishing up 6th grade, his first year of middle school.  He’s done remarkably well.  We had his 504 plan meeting last week, and basically will just repeat it for next year.  The main thing it entails really is the use of the FM system, and some basic consideration.  Right now, it seems that is meeting his needs.  AC actually won 2 awards last week at the awards ceremony – one for being on high honor roll with distinction all year, AND the other was a math award.  We’re very proud of him. 

Next year, he will be in 7th grade, and take ASL (American Sign Language) as his foreign language.  He’s looking forward to that.  I just finished up a little beginner ASL class for staff where I work.  I learned a lot, but feel like I have so much to learn.  ASL, and the Deaf culture in general, are very interesting.  I hope that AC will enjoy learning more about it next year too.  He’s already learned a little with me, and it already is fun and also handy.  Like, when he didn’t have his hearing aids in, I could sign some basic ASL (like, “Go to Bed!” or “Did you finish your homework??”) to him without him saying, “what?” 1o times…. of course, then he said, “I don’t KNOW ASL yet!”. 

The more I learn about Deaf culture, the more I realize that AC doesn’t fit into the Deaf world at all.  With his mild/moderate hearing loss – he is currently, and always has been, completely immursed in the  “Hearing World”.  Still, he isn’t QUITE like all his non HOH peers & family, and he is a bit “caught in between worlds”.  (I still like this article about this: “A Dual Identity Critical for Students“).   It will be good for him to learn about both worlds – and then, maybe someday, he can feel like he has the best of both worlds.  His learning ASL is vital for him to do that.  I wish we would have started earlier with it.  Better late than never, I guess, right?

For my ASL class, we read a book, called “A Journey Into the Deaf-World“.  Very interesting.   It certainly gives one better understanding of the history of Deaf culture and ASL in general.  You can find the book here if you’re interested: http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Into-Deaf-World-Harlan-Lane/dp/0915035634

I also  had to write a little paper for the ASL.  The assignment was to attend a Deaf culture event, and write a brief reflective paper about it. I attended an event called “Eyeth Day”, and if anyone’s interested – here it is:

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I attended “Eyeth Day” at the University where I work, with a few classmates from our ASL level 2 class.   This event was held right on campus and was basically a simulation of a Deaf town on “planet Eyeth”, with various businesses, etc.  Students attending river campus that are taking ASL had to complete certain tasks at each station as they played the role of the customer visiting the town.  Luckily, the actors took it easy on myself and our group, since our ASL skills were not nearly as advanced as most of those students. 

Before this event, I had never heard of “Eyeth”.  The whole concept was actually quite intriguing.  The idea is that “Earth” is related to the word “ear”, reflecting the predominantly hearing world we live in.  Whereas “Eyeth” is related to the word “eye” and portrays a pretend planet where communication and life is based on a visual world.  On Eyeth, Deaf culture and sign language are the norm, and people who can hear and use spoken language are the minority.  While only pretend, when I participated in this simulation it was easy to feel as if I was, indeed, part of the minority.

The first thing I noticed when arriving to this event was the lack of noise.  Specifically, the lack of the sound of people talking.  Usually, when I go to an event of this size and with that many people in attendance, I can hear the noise long before I reach the actual room of the event.  However, this was not the case.  This was a huge open room, with people and stations everywhere, and the only sounds were of footsteps and a cough here or there.  This is so different than hearing dozens of people talking at the same time.  I found the quiet a bit un-nerving.  It made me apprehensive to talk myself.  I felt like if I did talk the whole room would hear what I said, and also that I would stand out as doing something “wrong”.  Here,  ASL was “right”, and speaking was “wrong”. 

Since my ASL skills are only at the beginner level it was difficult to follow the ASL conversations going on everywhere around me.  It was also a bit intimidating to step up to one of the simulation stations knowing that there would definitely be some confusion involved.  I quickly realized just how little ASL I knew, and how hard it was to grasp what little I did know when it seemed like everyone’s hands were moving faster than the speed of light.  I tried to gather as many clues as possible by watching what others were doing, body language, and facial expressions.  These things helped, but, could not take the place of understanding the signs themselves.  I imagine this might be similar to a deaf person trying to read lips of a speaking person or follow a conversation when there is not ASL involved. 

My classmates and myself began our journey through Eyeth, starting with the Travel Agent where we saw a familiar face playing the part of the ticket agent.  It was Lori, our teacher, who helped set the tone in a fun way and ease or tension.  Eventually we made our way through most all of the booths, including a doctor office, a paint store, a real estate office, and a French Sign Language (or LSF, langue des signes française) class.  We messed up a lot, misunderstood a lot, laughed a lot, and ultimately, I think, learned a lot.

 I noticed that the Deaf people that were acting at the different booths were quick to figure out what people’s level of ASL understanding was.  The more we knew or seemed to understand, the more complicated things they asked.  For us mere beginners, they asked easier questions and helped us through a bit more.  It made me wonder if many hearing people are nearly as intuitive, and I am guessing not.  I imagine Deaf people are just naturally more able to pick up on signals and read people’s body language, etc.  I was impressed.

All in all, I felt that participating in this event was a positive experience.  I do think it gave me a glimpse of how Deaf people must feel as they navigate through the hearing world.  It’s easy to get an idea of how common tasks and everyday necessary encounters can become frustrating and challenging.  I could also get a little better understanding of how it would be easy to feel alienated, misunderstood, or judged.  I realized that this was similar to how I felt as a teenager, when I visited France.  I knew very little French and felt very much like the outsider and had trouble communicating.  At least at the Eyeth Day event, nobody hissed at me like they did on the streets of France because I was an American.  Actually, everyone on Eyeth was very encouraging, engaging, and a good time was had by all.  I would recommend anyone, learning ASL or not, attend an Eyeth day event like this if possible. 

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