Comment on Anon introduces himself
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 3 days agoYeah its awesome and I love it in my own way. It definitely has issues, notably for a long time it was particularly hostile to hard of hearing people who don’t sign, but that’s been changing over the past few decades as both groups have been working to heal that divide. And I think that’s in part thanks to increasing discussions of ableism and audism as well as the social model of disability bridging the gap between the deaf understanding of “we aren’t disabled, we live fine” and the hard of hearing understanding of “we are absolutely disabled look at how hard we have to struggle in this society.”
And stuff like that, and audism and ablism aren’t really the things you’re going to be taught in an asl class for the same reasons they aren’t going to teach you much about American intervention in south America in a Spanish class. The goal is to get you in a place that you can communicate with native speakers/signers and have enough appreciation of the culture to both want to and to not make an ass of yourself.
And so on that I should say these terms gave me voice to my struggles. The deaf community taught me that the fact that my parents, grandparents, and great grandparents all were told by experts not to teach their hard of hearing child sign language (because we might prefer it and not bother learning English) was a form of systemic oppression. As is the fact that this language which is just generally useful to most people in some contexts, especially as most people will lose their hearing just isn’t bothered to be taught to most people.
The politically correct people are trying even when they miss the mark. When you get to the point of the part of the left that’s long been in discussion of ablism I actually think that’s where you get radical shit, like big queer events often have 'terps, and I’ve even been to a festival that had a deaf section to the camping area.
Idk this turned into a rant, sorry
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
That’s incredibly dumb. In fact, I think everyone in the US should learn basic ASL, enough to understand basic grammar and ask how to sign an unfamiliar word. Just doing that should give people an appreciation for what it means to be differently abled.
My ASL teacher was incredibly good at lip reading, yet insisted we try signing esp when frustrated (we’d say it out loud as well so she could understand us). That’s how it should be taught. I gained a lot of appreciation for accessibility from that class because I was forced onto the other side of that issue for a few weeks.
I hate to generalize, but I think many if not most are doing it for the wrong reasons, which is why they miss the mark. Just like the far right attacks minorities for their own gain (common enemy), the left “rescues” the minorities for their own gain. It’s less about actually helping people and instead being seen helping people.
It’s stupid. If they actually wanted to solve problems, they’d talk to the communities instead of just throwing out solutions to perceived problems so they look good to the majority.
I’m sure there are a lot of genuine people among the PC camp and they’re just getting bad information from influencers. My frustration lies with the bad information, not the rank and file.