The Pilot Episode: My Deaf Family April 8, 2010
Posted by travisthetrout in Sign Language.add a comment
Reality TV gets more real. Unfortunately, its only on youtube. This is well worth a watch.
“MY DEAF FAMILY is the story of Jared, 15 and his family, The Firls, who live and love like any family except that Jared is hearing and communicates using sign language with his deaf family.”
Sign language Level 1 October 21, 2009
Posted by travisthetrout in Sign Language.4 comments
So last week I had my Sign Language Introductory course exam. I passed. And this week I am starting my Level 1 qualification. The Level 1 in BSL is a year long course with 3 exams but I am really looking forward to it as there is much more content than the introduction. We also have monthly deaf centre get-together to have contact with deaf people which sounds educational and fun.
I have started signing more in daily life. I practice during my morning commute and sign when I am at home. It is becoming more natural and hopefully soon enough it will become second nature. My main problem is that when people sign they also lip. As a lip reader I automatically lip read to understand them and sometimes I wonder how much I am understanding from the signs and how much from the lips. For example, someone will sign the name of a pet or family member by finger spelling, the name may be quite long and sometimes we are all tired after a hard day’s work and it is easier to lip read. Not that I do it on purpose of course, I want to learn, but it is just one of those things.
All the signing has got me thinking. For me signing is obviously never going to replace lip reading and talking. It’s not something that is going to IMPROVE my skills as a lawyer. Sign Language is regional, and I could see potential mix-ups that could result from signing with individuals from other cities. For example, business in London is the same as our word for toilet. That could make for interesting conversation. Nevertheless I have been having a great time signing and I am looking forward to having a crack at more vocab tomorrow.
Keeping Busy… How do you spend your time? September 18, 2009
Posted by travisthetrout in Life at Medium Sized Law Firm, Sign Language, Working Life.4 comments
As I mentioned previously, my contract at work has been extended – so I’m employed for another 6 months doing more organisation. After I’ve completed the 6 months I will be allowed to apply for a paralegal position within the firm.
That said I worry that my CV will not change much in between the last round of Training Contract applications and my next wave. But now that my job is stable I’ve decided to get more pro-active and do something about it.
Last night was my first sign language class. It was a nice friendly interactive class with a wide mix of people. The two recent graduates I was signing with are hoping to be special needs teachers. We all thought we knew the alphabet, and we were all corrected – turns out everyone had been practicing from the same online videos. Word of advice if you are considering learning sign language – do it in person, you learn much more about how to position your hands and use facial expressions. That you simply don’t get from videos. we also did hand exercises to increase the stamina of our hands, really sore, I had never really thought of my hands a weak before.
As well as learning sign language I am hoping to find some suitable volunteering opportunity to fit in around my schedule. There has been a lot of promotional things about volunteering lately with unemployment on the rise. The Vinspired website is aimed at 18-25 year olds in a bid to help them gain more skills. It is a great interactive website with blogs, photos and a forum as well as the search facility. Personally I prefer to get straight to the point and find out information. A lot of the opportunities on Vinspired come from Do-It, which has a much less “jazzy” design, with a simple search and the opportunity for you to create a profile and apply for positions.
Despite the fact I think Vinspired’s interface is a bit cluttered, their VoiceBox Project is actually a good idea. Trying to get young people to speak out about relevant issues in an interactive way. For example one of the questions was how you spend your time: here is mine.
Note that under volunteering I have a 0. Another reason to find something to sign up for. So far I’ve emailed to possible organisations and I am awaiting a response. but even if there are no jobs – there are quite a number of volunteering opportunities out there.
Deafness – a mix of fear and frustration August 30, 2009
Posted by travisthetrout in Deafness/HOH, Sign Language.8 comments
I’m taking a break from the B2S series to vent my frustrations. I’m ill which for me equates deafness which only adds to the insanity I’m feeling as I am confined to bed drinking tea on bank holiday weekend no less. As I’ve mentioned before I’m Hard of Hearing (HOH). A while back I met a guy whose hearing level was similar to mine – but he learnt sign language at school (where as I rely totally on lip reading). Annoyed that I was never taught to sign at school I decided to sign up for evening classes in sign language to start mid-September.
This of course was not as simple as I would like – it is one of the few classes that you cannot sign up with online at my local college. I emailed them and they suggested I go in to see them between 9 and 5 which of course doesn’t work for me as I’m in work / commuting to work from 6am until half 6pm. The remaining option was phoning them. Given that I lip I hate phones, but I braved phoning them in my lunch hour – this turned into a disastrous conversation – I couldn’t understand a word they said and they couldn’t understand a word I said and so I didn’t get signed up to the class. Very frustrating.
Now I know there are deaf people are lawyers – but for me the fact that I’m HOH was what put me off trying to become a barrister – that said I still worry about being able to cope as a solicitor. It is a hard thing to get people to understand what I experience, and I’ve found there is a distinct lack of support. Here in the UK both the Group for Solicitors with Disabilities (now lawyers with disabilities division of the law society) and Deaf Lawyers UK seem to be MIA. I’ve emailed both a few months ago now and failed to receive any response. I have debated whether my attempt to reach the lawyers with disabilities was lost during the change in organisation even though they say it shouldn’t have been. As for the deaf lawyers their website hasn’t been updated in a long time. Compare this to America where there is a regular blog and a twitter presence of deaf lawyers – and generally a good sense of community.
I find the UK’s lack of support a great disappointment and in many ways it is discouraging – as it doesn’t bode well for coping in the future. You’d think with all the advancements in social media – it would improve.
I received little support through school and university – but I’ve always considered myself self sufficient. However, more recently I’ve found myself to struggle more, due to a mix of deteriorating hearing and a much more busy work environment, where lip reading is more physically exhausting and probably also hindered by my own unwillingness to announce to the world my difficulties. I have many fears about being able to be a solicitor one day – for example my difficulties in using a telephone confidently – some days it just makes me want to pack it all in. It just seems hard enough to qualify these days without admitting to the fact that you may not be able to do some aspects of the job that should be the most straightforward part.
Sign Language May 8, 2009
Posted by travisthetrout in Sign Language.3 comments
I had my first proper sign language conversation last week. Only to find how much I had forgotten and how badly I learnt it in the first place. I “self-taught” myself sign language a couple of years ago.
Honestly I have never found the need to learn sign language; and have been described as totally lip, meaning I only lip read. (and use subtitles of course). The fellow signer was completely surprised that I had not been taught sign language at school – he was, and he went to a public school. Is this a service schools are supposed to provide if you are deaf? I had never thought about it?
Inspired upon meeting this guy I was amazed at the power signing had – lip and signing go hand in hand – there is so much expression – maybe I have lost out on a lot. So post-exams, I’m going to be hard at work – getting my sign language, further than a few cute phrases.
Upon reading comments on other blogs, I’ve realised a lot a law students are learning, wanting to learn sign language, so I wanted to ask – How does everyone go about doing this? and what makes it easy? and how often do they actually use sign language – actually anything they want to tell me about their experiences would be interesting. Or even another language – I’ve not acquired language skills – my greatest failing as a lawyer2b probably.
