i’m not saying that deafs are mutes, i am just saying if a deaf guy or gal was deaf and mute how could this task be accomplished
oh, wait i apoligize for saying deaf muted i meant deaf blinds, i deeply, deeply apoligize
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First of all, just because a person is deaf does not automatically mean he is mute. I know several deaf people who have been taught to speak. You have to get used to the manner of speaking, but it is understandable.
Second, members of the deaf community learn sign language as anyone would learn anything: by going to classes that teach sign language. There are also books available for anyone to use to learn sign language.
Oh, and I’m a member of the hearing community myself.
As children, just like their hearing abled friends kids learn to read and make the signs for concrete objects first when they are given the picture. Think What’s this animal? and all the little kids say COW!!! In the hearing impaired world, instead of totally dependent upon saying it (although some will try/achieve this) they will sign it.
People with hearing problems usually have a little more problems with abstract language and with our “filler words.” Think helping verbs (is going, etc). It just doesn’t translate into their language as easily.
“Mutes” is the n-word for Deaf people!
When a child is born Deaf in a DEAF family where one or both parents are Deaf, the parents will begin signing to the baby as they bring it home from the hospital. The baby “sees” the signs, mommy, daddy, milk, etc etc over and over with a lot of pointing, acting and using expressions paired with the signs. Deaf parent place the baby right in front of them and in the midst of all the sign language. The child grows up knowing about his/her environment very much the same as their hearing peers. When they do get to school, the teachers reinforce and build on that -5 years of knowledge.
When a child is born deaf to HEARING parents most hearing parents try and get him/her to learn speech, put hearing aids on or a cochler implant in to help them hear. Some kids become successful and with very small student teacher ratio will learn to use speech as their major means of communication.
For a huge number of these kids, the parents may not find speech the best mode of communication. All too many times the child may then be sent to school having missed out on tons of language. For the kids with proactive parents, the parents will learn sign themselves and teach the child, in the same way as mentioned above- word by word, short phrases over and over, at home, and fight with the teachers and districts to provide good quality interpreters (public school) or state schools for the deaf.
Too often than not, kids show up in kindergarden with less than 100 signs and it is then the teacher’s job to start from scratch.
You as a hearing person could learn more signs in 3 months than many parents bother to learn!!!
I commend all the many parents who have learned who are reading this, but I have had H.S. kids for over 20 years,tell me their parents never learned “their” language .
Well, deaf and hard of hearing people don’t need to speak in order to see signs. And, most deaf people aren’t mute, although their speech can be difficult to understand. My son’s best friend is hearing, but his mom is deaf and dad is hard of hearing. I took a class in American Sign Language, but I sign so slowly I always feel like I must be very frustrating to these people. They are so patient with me, and the mom will often just pull out a paper and pencil. She can read my lips, but I can’t read hers. Who has the problem here? Me!