I don’t agree with everything you’ve written here. A lot of it is good /advice/ but not necessarily sensitive to the wide, WIDE areas of d/Deaf culture.
I also am not a fan of you speaking for d/D/HOH, as you do say you have only been studying the language and doing “independent research.” I’m not sure what that means but you must be aware of the issues we have with hearing people speaking over us.
I do consider myself deaf, I have severe bilateral hearing loss and have been wearing hearing aids for over 10 years. I have also had to teach myself ASL and have other d/D/HOH friends.
I’m gonna respond to each point individually here and do my best to expand upon what I like and didn’t.
1. There are multiple ways to write signed language, and the biggest thing is that writers should pick a method and be consistent. I personally don’t like reading “translated” ASL in dialogue written in quotation marks.
||| “I don’t know what you’re trying to say,” signed Mark doesn’t quite do it for me, because logically I know that the better phrasing would be: Mark signed, “I don’t understand. ”
I feel that this causes a lot of the artistry and familiarity of ASL to be lost in translation. There’s also the issue where many authors will try to write a signing character as though their dialogue would match completely with a hearing person’s dialogue. For example, a fluent signer would never directly give an impassioned speech full of flowery language and metaphors. ASL is descriptive in its vagueness and bodily expression, not its use of idioms. Just translating the SL would likely fall flat if you are trying to create something dramatic. Instead a writer should focus on body language and HOW the signer is communicating. Most importantly to me is that ASL is fundamentally not a written language. So reading it and hearing it in my mind is incongruous. THAT SAID, it is still a very appropriate way to allow your character to communicate. If someone can Gloss correctly and appropriately, I would actually prefer to read THAT but learning gloss is very difficult and I don’t expect authors to be proficient, and gloss can differ between signed languages. I also don’t see an issue with the character signing and only being replied back to, especially if the POV character is non-fluent. For Example:
||| Tim made a series, of fast, complicated gestures with his eyebrows raised. “No I don’t think that would be an option her, Rosie prefers things quiet,” Sasha responded out loud, with her own fingers carefully shaping out letters and patterns. Another flurry of hand movements in response from Tim, Jon caught the words “cook,” “home” and “important” but that didn’t give him any further insight. “Oh, like what we did when we were kids?”
Here I understand that the conversation is happening, one character is signing, one character is using SimCom and the third, Jon, is only aware of one half the conversation, without any SL having to be translated at all.
2. Your example here is correct, but there is more than just facial expressions that are important. In ASL there are five parameters of communicating that are used in every phrasing and each contributes a different meaning. The facets are handshape, palm orientation, movement, location and non-manual. There is an argument that non manual gives the most MEANING to communication — so yes just watching a pair of hand sign is about 50% meaningless. But I want to give writers other options here. You can sign with exaggerated motions, tiny motions, quickly or slowly, with pauses and fidgets and emotion.
3. In regards to lip reading I have nothing to add except that while almost none of us are fluent lip readers, IF a hearing and speaking person covers their mouth or are not facing me (or the d/D/Hoh person) I have now lost at least 50% of what you are trying to communicate
4. There is slightly more nuance to the d/D/HOH conversation. For example, I consider myself deaf. I have severe hearing loss and wear hearing aids and have for over 10 years. However I grew up in a household that didn’t sign (even though half of my family wears HAs). I learned to speak as a hearing child and attended mainstream schooling. I didn’t learn ASL until college, and I don’t have a large Deaf community that I have been able to insert myself into. Capital D Deaf indicates CULTURE. Those that do not consider themselves even deaf, or remain fully immersed in the hearing world are often referred to as Hard of Hearing. The phrase “hearing impaired” is generally considered insulting along similar lines as “person with autism”
5. All correct here. I will only add that similar to how there are Romance languages and Germanic based language families some SLs are more or less similar. ASL is very close to French SL because they were introduced by the same school.
6. Id like to add some minor nuance here. Similarly to how hearing people can walk into a conversation and also be confused, multiple signers will have to rely on context clues to join the conversation. The interesting thing about ASL I’ve always found is that the language is extremely referential. Rather than continuously naming a person or using the same phrasing ASL will simple designate a “space” and refer back to that space during the conversation. For example if I wanted to talk about two different people I might place “Mary” on my right side and sign things related in that space, and refer to conversations with “frank” by signing on the left side of my body.
7. This is another area that needs expansion. It’s not so much that the language itself is blunt. It does of course lack a lot of flowery descriptors and synonyms are rare so there’s not a TON of niceties built into the language. HOWEVER Deaf culture is EXTREMELY blunt. This is generally because most Deaf people rely nearly 100% on sight in conversations, therefore if something is visually obvious it can, and should, be referred to. If discussing weight, a hearing person might say something like “you look…healthy.” a Deaf person might sign LOOK FAT, YOU. Because weight gain is visually obvious. A Deaf conversation might also be brutally honest in terms of someone not liking your new haircut.
8. Not all deaf people use sign language, not all American sign is ASL, some only use Signed English. Some Deaf people were forcibly mainstreamed and not ALLOWED to sign. Not only is there a lot of personal choice involved in whether someone signs or not but there is SO MUCH discrimination in whether some one CAN sign. There are schools for the deaf that only allow verbal communication. Similarly, there are many fluent Deaf people who English is not their first language and the written word can contain a communication barrier. There are a multitude of reasons why someone may or may not choose to sign, or why they may or may not Simultaneously Communicate (SimCom).
9. I also want to make a point that you should never ever consider Assistive devices as curative, or believe that CIs/HAs make hearing easier for a d/D/hoh person. There is a LOT of energy that goes towards sound processing, speaking, and carrying a vocal conversation with hearing loss. The only way I can describe it is similar to someone trying to immerse themselves in foreign language - you have to allocate a lot of “processing” power to translating in your head in real time, and in processing your own voice, tone and phrasing. I am also, for example REALLY BAD at locating sounds - I don’t know where they come from! So I am easily overwhelmed in traditionally “loud” environments because my brain just gets overloaded with auditory information. Assistive devices are an accommodation that is not perfect. Some people will choose to only wear their devices at certain times and/or around certain people. We advocate that children actually receive “hearing breaks” to lessen the energy strain of trying to process sound constantly. Your character may or may not have devices and they may not wear them all the time. If your character is from a hearing family, they may want to wear them constantly because that’s how they were raised.
10. My last comment on the topic involves subtle ways to think about how being d/D/HOH might affect your character: they may like music and they might like it LOUD! Subtitles on EVERYTHING! Your character may be startled when people approach them suddenly! It is a fact of Deaf culture that Deaf people will gather in well lit bright areas. Your deaf character might sleep like the dead! Vibrating alarm clocks! Even with my HAs I have issues hearing doorbells, smoke detectors, microwave alarms, or even tea kettles! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve left the sink running because I couldn’t hear it. Batteries die! SL allows communication from far away or through windows - your character might have conversations in completely different rooms! Expect that your character will likely interact with the world in a very unique matter….. all that to say that I had to come back and remember what the point of this paragraph was: deaf people are really loud!!! we don’t have a great awareness of what an appropriate sound level is - and often we can’t accurately hear ourselves. This turns into deaf people sometimes inappropriately being loud (speaking, slamming doors, with fidgeting etc) until we try to modulate again, OR as someone trying their utmost best to be so quiet to the point where they tiptoe around everything because they’re not sure what is and what isnt’ a noise so they try to be the most silent.
