For their appearance on the UK television show Strictly Come Dancing, Deaf TV star Rose Ayling-Ellis and her professional dance partner Giovanni Pernice won the Must-See Moment BAFTA, an award category that’s voted for by members of the viewing public. During their ballroom dance to the band Clean Bandit’s song “Symphony,” the music was switched […]
Kamala Harris receives an American Sign Language sign name after she got elected as president Joe Biden’s vice president. American Sign Language and Deaf Culture – The Significance of Name Sign Deaf culture consists of many valued traditional aspects that are significant to the Deaf community, and one of them is the “name sign.” A […]
Learn American Sign Language From AI How cool would it be if artificial intelligence (AI) could learn American Sign Language? Is it even possible? Well, a student in India named Priyanjali Gupta developed an AI model that turned sign language into English. Gupta was a third-year engineer from India’s Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT). […]
It is exciting to learn American Sign Language and now you are ready to use it in the real-world, but you do not know where to go or how to meet people. Do not worry, this article will help guide you towards the right direction of stepping foot in the Deaf community. Firstly, you can […]
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is one of the biggest events where people go to enjoy music and good vibes. It is from Friday, April 15 and ends on Sunday, April 24. There are hearing interpreters, but there are also Certified Deaf Interpreters (CDI). A CDI named Branton Stewart attends Coachella to perform and […]
Have you ever been fascinated when people say, “Do you speak sign language?” Sign language isn’t a spoken language, so it does not really make sense to say “speak” as oppose to “know”. American Sign Language is a developed language that is made of hand movements, body language, gestures, and facial expressions. Many foreign languages […]
Cued speech is not American Sign Language. Cued speech and ASL are two totally different forms of communication. People who communicate in ASL usually turn off the voice. Also, ASL has its own grammar, sentence structure, idioms, phrases and jokes. ASL is more widely used in the Deaf Community. There are often ASL/Deaf events where […]
I have mentioned several key aspects of the Deaf culture in the articles, “Did You Know the Facts About American Sign Language, Deaf Culture, and Deaf Community?” and “Deaf Culture vs. Hearing Culture“. In the first article, “Did You Know the Facts About American Sign Language, Deaf Culture, and Deaf Community?“, the key points I […]
Life for the hearing child with Deaf adults and deaf child with hearing parents are similar, but there are a lot of cultural differences. CODA stands for Child of Deaf Adults, which means the child is hearing with Deaf parents. There are no terms to describe a deaf child with hearing parents. Below I will […]
American Sign Language is its own language that is used by the Deaf community. American Sign Language has its own history of where it derived from and the Deaf community has it own culture. Here are some facts that make American Sign Language (ASL) unique as its own language: ASL is not universal as it […]
Did you know American Sign Language is not universal? In the article, “Is American Sign Language Universal”, it talked about whether or not American Sign Language is universal, in other words, ASL is used in all countries all over the world. The answer is no. American Sign Language is only unique to the US whereas […]
Many people are inspired by American Sign Language (ASL) from signing in movies, in public, or by a d/Deaf/Hoh friend or d/Deaf/Hoh family member. This inspiration pushes them to want to learn ASL and for some people to choose ASL interpreter as their career choice. Becoming an American Sign Language Interpreter is a popular career […]
Holidays are times of the year where families and friends gather to celebrate a warm and cheerful time together. Family members who live in other states will fly to meet, or friends will come together to celebrate the Holiday. Some parties are small and intimate, which usually consist of family, relatives, and partners whereas other […]
Deaf-owned businesses and American Sign Language (ASL) are spreading and becoming widely popular. There are many Deaf-owned business all over the country. Here are some Deaf business that you maybe probably heard of, but if not, you should definitely check them out! Apparel By Mara – An iconic ILU designs on soft t-shirts, magnets, […]
What does it mean to be an Ally? An Ally, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is defined as to join (yourself) with another person or group to get or give support. So, what does it mean to be a Deaf Ally? A Deaf ally is a person usually who is hearing, joins the Deaf community […]
by Madisen Fritz | 24 September 2021 Ordering a simple cup of coffee or specialty java drink is, for most Americans, is a normal part of their mundane morning routine, but for D/deaf customers ordering a cup of coffee can be a big hassle if the barista doesn’t know sign language. Miscommunications happen frequently, which […]
by Ksenia Muhutdinova | 6 October 2021 Deaf culture is the culture made up of Deaf people that’s based on sign language and values, as well traditions and behavior norms that are specific to the Deaf community. It is the heart of the Deaf community. The Deaf community is made up of culturally Deaf people […]
It is known that Deaf/hard of hearing people have one less sense and encounter many hardships and challenges, but there are a lot of positive elements. It is true that hard of hearing people often struggle when conversing in loud environments, talking with people that have heavy accents, or especially interacting with masks on – […]
There are two different major types of schooling for Deaf people. Deaf schools also known as Deaf institutes are specially for Deaf students only. This means the communication and teaching are in American Sign Language (ASL) and all the students are Deaf. Mainstream schools means that deaf kids are put in classrooms with other hearing […]
Deaf people are able to function just like normal hearing people. Hearing people graduate from universities with a Bachelor’s degree and some further their education to getting a Masters or pHD. Well, Deaf people can do the same. In fact, there are a lot of well-known Deaf people who obtain successful careers such as doctors, […]
The definition of homonyms in spoken English mean two or more words having the same spelling or pronunciation meanings or origins, but they all have completely different meanings. Instead of “homonyms” in American Sign Language (ASL) there is a concept where a single sign has multiple meanings. In order to understand the actual meaning of […]
There are major differences between the Deaf culture and hearing culture that people may not realize and it is crucial to keep in mind when interacting with Deaf people. One of the biggest differences is Deaf people are very direct with each other and “beating around the bush” does not exist in the Deaf community. […]
People have different accents depending on where they’re from. Even within the same country, people’s accents differ based on the region. For example, in the US, people from New York will have a New York accent versus people from the South will have a Southern accent. Similarly to accents in spoken languages, there are accents, […]
One of the most popular entertaining activities in the Deaf community is storytelling and expressive poetry. Since American Sign Language (ASL) is very visual, storytelling contains a lot of exaggerated expressions, gestures, and body movement which are the most commonly used to tell a story or a poem. There are many benefits when it comes […]
Many people ask, “Is American Sign Language (ASL) universal?” Well, the answer is no, it is not universal. American Sign Language is unique and is commonly used within the United States and Canada. Canada actually has two official sign languages known as American Sign Language and Quebec Sign Language (LSQ). However, people from outside […]
Deaf culture consists of many valued traditional aspects that are significant to the Deaf community, and one of them is name sign. Name sign is a sign that is exclusively given to the person and it is usually created based on the person’s characteristics, personality, hobbies, etc, which uniquely and distinctively identify a person. When […]
One needs to understand why it is important when it comes to identification of deaf people. In Deaf culture, “D”, “d”, and “d/Deaf” are extremely significant. “Deaf” with a capital ‘D’, “deaf” with a small ‘d’, and “d/Deaf” with both capital and small ‘d’ all have their unique meanings and how they are applied to […]
Learning about Deaf Culture is perhaps the most important part of learning ASL. Deaf Culture was first truly recognized in 1965. The idea that Deaf people had a culture of their own was first written in the Dictionary of American Sign Language by William Stokoe, Carl Croneberg, and Dorothy Casterline. This was a huge step […]
