Chapter
15 gives many reasons why a hearing person should learn to sign. Fingerspelling
is one thing that I now believe all people should learn. My view before reading
this chapter is that I had to learn how to fingerspell because I am in an ASL
class, but that was the only reason why I needed to know it, so I could communicate
with deaf people down the road. After reading this chapter my view has changed.
Deaf, hearing, or hard hearing I think everyone should know how to fingerspell.
Fingerspelling I learned could come in
handy in communicating with another hearing person. The book gave some examples that I have never
really thought about. Fingerspelling comes in handy when talking or whispering
is frowned upon such as: church service, swimming underwater, at a play or
movie, and sometimes (even though you shouldn’t) cheating. It also comes in
handy if you are choking or lose your voice, you can communicate. There is always
that reason that someone in your family might become deaf or a close friend. If
everyone knew how to sign regardless of the situations there could always be a
way to communicate. I agree with the statement the author made “Fingerspelling
is a most useful communication and survival skill that everyone can profit from
knowing. There are no philosophical or methodological excuses” (112).
In class
we dedicated a day to talk about Deaf Culture. In our talk I realized that I
really had a desire to learn the language. I am a straight A student and my
only concern when entering a class is keeping up my GPA. I won’t lie I had the
same mindset for this class. After our talk I realized that is far more important
for me to pass the class with a D and learn something (I really rather have a
better grade) than it is to have an A and learn nothing. ASL is something I
will be able to use in my future career and it will be helpful throughout life.
Works Cited
Morre, S. Matthew, and Linda Levitan. For Hearing People Only. 3rd Ed. Rochester, New York: MSM Productions, Ltd.,2003.Print.
Im glad that you brought up the day that we dedicated in class to discussing Deaf Culture. It was actually more beneficial than reading the For Hearing People Only book. Learning fingerspelling is very important because after our class I learned that not all deaf people read lips. That is pretty valuable information so that I dont have any assumptions about the deaf culture.
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