[Carrie-L]

I understand that American Sign Language is recognized as a legitimate language, but my concern is that ASL when written out makes no sense, and it’s frustrating and infuriating that some deaf customers have this snotty attitude that we should know what they’re communicating to us. I understand that deaf people don’t want to be considered different or treated as such, but to me it’s stupid and unreasonable that those I come in contact with feel I should go out of my way to learn this. You can’t have your cake and eat it, too, and my feeling is they should learn to write in proper English. What do others think?

User Detail :  

Name : Carrie-L, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Asian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 30, City : Scottsdale, State : AZ, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper class, 

[Rachel30207]

It’s not clear from what you said what field you are in, but it might benefit you to learn some more about ASL and deaf culture, especially if you deal with a lot of deaf people. There’s a book called For Hearing People Only that is a good starting place. As for deaf people learning to write ‘proper’ English: There isn’t really such a thing as written ASL (though some systems have been worked out for research purposes and such). What you’re encountering is probably English words in ASL grammatical order. For deaf people who learn ASL as their natural first language, English is a second language. I know that when I’m attempting to speak a language that isn’t my native language, I make grammatical errors. So when speaking (or writing) to another person for whom English is a second language, I try to cut him or her some slack and focus on mutual understanding and grasping meanings as the point of communication.

User Detail :  

Name : Rachel30207, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 25, City : Los Angeles, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Customer Service, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Amber R]

Hi Carrie. I have worked and volunteered with many Deaf people and I don’t quite understand what profession you are in. First off there is no set out form of written ASL.If you’re working with Deaf people shouldn’t it be mandatory that you take classes to understand the language? ASL is a widely respected language and a linguistic minority. If you are working with Deaf people I don’t think that they are being snotty because they think you should go out and learn it but they probably are wondering why you dont understand their ASL. I don’t really agree with the fact that you think they should go out and learn proper English because English is very difficult to learn for a Deaf person who has never heard or been exposed to English. And many Deaf people have learned English because not only does ASL contain English but many of them want to learn how to communicate but they’re comfortable in their own language. It’s sort of contradicting your own statement in that you think you shouldnt have to go out and learn how to understand their written language… no offense but with that perspective, why should they learn yours

User Detail :  

Name : Amber R, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 22, City : Bakersfield, State : CA, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, 

[Ashley]

It’s good you understand that ASL is a recognized language – but what you don’t know is, that the syntax of ASL is different from English. If you know Spanish, then you could compare ASL syntax as being very similar to that of Spanish. In ASL, the ‘little’ words are eliminated, being unneccessary. I’ll give you an example of English and ASL: English: Johnny went to the store and is home now. ASL: Johnny finish go store, now home. Looks more like the ‘written’ ASL you were talking about,doesn’t it? I write English so well because I read so much. Don’t be upset that the Deaf people seem to have that snotty attitude – it’s not entirely their fault. When you consider that the majority of deaf schools teach in such a way that their English is compromised, and they actually learn at a lower rate than that of their hearing peers…. Reading, most deaf kids graduating from high school have a reading level of maybe the 3rd or 4th grade. Any other questions? 🙂

User Detail :  

Name : Ashley, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Disability : Deaf, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 24, City : St. Augustine, State : FL, Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, 

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