Listening With Our Eyes
I look forward to this time every year. My sister is hosting our annual family reunion - my dad's siblings and their families. Dad's been gone for six years now, but the yearly reunion never missed a beat. I love traditions.
My dad's sister and her husband are deaf. They raised six children together - all hearing. My aunt was the first deaf licenced beautician in the state of Michigan. I'm very proud of her, and she has always been very kind and loving to me. Every reunion I psyche myself up for communication with my aunt and uncle. They always graciously help me to communicate with them, and I always am very conscious of the gaps in communication they experience with us. Every reunion I gain an element of confidence in communicating with them. I always learn from them.
A few years ago I began bringing an American Sign Language book to the reunions. It became very popular for a few years but then turned up missing. So today I went to a local book store to find another for us this weekend. I wasn't sure at first where to start looking. I looked at all the signs, but none were labeled language. I finally found two rows of languages in the reference section. I started with the a's for ASL, but no luck. So I looked through the s's for sign language, but it went from Russian to Spanish. Running out of brain cells and time I asked for help. I was led to a very obscure, unmarked shelf separate from the language section that had two rows of ASL books. I was glad to find them, but stunned that they were not only not in the section with the other languages, but also that they were unmarked.
This evening I began looking for resources for interviewing family members at reunions. I've been intending for years to capture biographies from our family members, and by golly we're going to give it a shot this year! I found a site that has instructions for interviewing family members. They recommend using a tape recorder to capture their story. It got me thinking about all we take for granted. All that our traditions fail to accommodate.
I have an aunt and uncle who tell the most amazing stories with their hands. They may only be talking about going to the store for celery and cheese, but the way they say it is art and music and drama. I understand less than a quarter of what they say, but I can watch them talk for hours. When they talk to their kids it's even better because they have to stay engaged visually with each other in order to communicate. Of course, when they get mad at each other they turn their backs, but when they talk to eachother it's like watching a play. It's beautiful.
I stole the title of this post from the book I bought from the obscure shelf. We'll give it a good work out this reunion. After it's over, maybe I'll remember a little how to talk with my hands.
My dad's sister and her husband are deaf. They raised six children together - all hearing. My aunt was the first deaf licenced beautician in the state of Michigan. I'm very proud of her, and she has always been very kind and loving to me. Every reunion I psyche myself up for communication with my aunt and uncle. They always graciously help me to communicate with them, and I always am very conscious of the gaps in communication they experience with us. Every reunion I gain an element of confidence in communicating with them. I always learn from them.
A few years ago I began bringing an American Sign Language book to the reunions. It became very popular for a few years but then turned up missing. So today I went to a local book store to find another for us this weekend. I wasn't sure at first where to start looking. I looked at all the signs, but none were labeled language. I finally found two rows of languages in the reference section. I started with the a's for ASL, but no luck. So I looked through the s's for sign language, but it went from Russian to Spanish. Running out of brain cells and time I asked for help. I was led to a very obscure, unmarked shelf separate from the language section that had two rows of ASL books. I was glad to find them, but stunned that they were not only not in the section with the other languages, but also that they were unmarked.
This evening I began looking for resources for interviewing family members at reunions. I've been intending for years to capture biographies from our family members, and by golly we're going to give it a shot this year! I found a site that has instructions for interviewing family members. They recommend using a tape recorder to capture their story. It got me thinking about all we take for granted. All that our traditions fail to accommodate.
I have an aunt and uncle who tell the most amazing stories with their hands. They may only be talking about going to the store for celery and cheese, but the way they say it is art and music and drama. I understand less than a quarter of what they say, but I can watch them talk for hours. When they talk to their kids it's even better because they have to stay engaged visually with each other in order to communicate. Of course, when they get mad at each other they turn their backs, but when they talk to eachother it's like watching a play. It's beautiful.
I stole the title of this post from the book I bought from the obscure shelf. We'll give it a good work out this reunion. After it's over, maybe I'll remember a little how to talk with my hands.
1 Comments:
I think American Sign Langauge is perhaps one of the most beautiful, and sorely neglected, languages I've ever "heard".
On my blog, you'll see a link for a "Signing Time", which is something we used to teach my little niece some very basic ASL, so she could communicate with her hands before she was able to form words with her mouth. It was immeasurably helpful in avoiding the frustration that arises from a child's inability to communicate what they want.
As we were using the videos to learn some of the basic signs, such as "sleep", "drink", "eat", etc...I fell in love with the language, and I'm starting ASL classes this fall.
I think ASL is a beautiful language, and I'm very eager to start learning it!
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