Disability Etiquette ? 7 Tips to Polite Practice

Following proper disability etiquette is one of the best ways to make persons with disabilities feel welcome and comfortable in any setting.  Disability etiquette also makes good business sense – helping you to expand your practice and effectively serve your customers.

Tip #1 – Respect the individual

Persons with disabilities have families, jobs, hobbies, hopes and fears.  They are people first and even though their disability is an integral part of who they are, it is not what defines them.  Don’t turn persons with disabilities into heroes or a faceless “they,” but respect them as individuals who have much to offer.

Tip #2 – Always ask, never assume

Ask before you help.  If a setting is accessible, persons with disabilities can usually get along on their own.  If you are uncertain in any situation – just ask.  Don’t assume.  Persons with disabilities are the best judge of what they can or cannot do and will also be able to let you know how you can be of assistance.

Tip #3 – Respect private space

Persons with disabilities consider their equipment part of their personal space.  Don’t touch any assistive device or push a wheelchair without permission.  If a person uses a guide dog, don’t pet or distract the animal.  Remember, the animal is working. If you need to make physical contact in order to assist a person, always ask first.  Never grab a person without warning as this may cause them to lose their balance.  In the case of a person who is blind – offer your arm rather than taking his.

Tip #4 – Communicate effectively

Always address a person with a disability directly.  Don’t speak to his companion, assistant or sign language interpreter.  The use of common expressions such as “see you later” or “it was good to hear from you” are also perfectly acceptable.  When communicating with a person who is blind, make sure you keep them well oriented.  If you are providing directions, be specific.  If you are in a group, verbally introduce everyone so that the person can take part in the conversation and always let them know before you leave their side.

When speaking to a person utilizing a wheelchair or to a person of short stature, the conversation will be much more comfortable if you face them on the same level.  You can pull up a chair for longer conversations or kneel down.

A person who is deaf or hard of hearing may use a combination of lip reading and / or American Sign Language (ASL).  While many individuals who are Deaf utilize ASL, it is not used by everyone and is not universal across cultures.  For instance, someone in Mexico may utilize a different type of sign language than someone in the United States.  When speaking, make sure to face the person during a conversation.  Speak clearly and be sure not to cover your mouth or shout..  If the person is hard of hearing, their hearing aid will be calibrated to normal voice level.  Your shout will only distort it and also make you look foolish.  If a sign language interpreter is not available or the person is not a native signer, a low cost and immediate alternative, if the customer is comfortable, is to type back and forth on a computer or to use instant messaging.

For those individuals that have difficulty speaking, never pretend to understand what someone is saying.  Ask them to repeat their sentence.  Most people won’t mind and will appreciate your effort to listen.

Tip #5 – Use empowering terminology:

Always use person first language when referring to someone with a disability.  Say “person with a disability” not “disabled person”.  Avoid negative disempowering words which focus on the impairment rather than the individual – such as “wheelchair bound”, “crippled” or “handicapped”.  Some persons with disabilities dislike jargony euphemistic terms like “physically challenged” or “differently abled”.  If you are unsure of which words to use – ask.

Tip #6 – Ensure accessibility:

Ensuring your facilities are safe and accessible to a wide variety of persons is one of the best ways to communicate an open and accepting attitude towards persons with disabilities.

Tip #7 – Be sensitive to hidden disabilities:

If a person makes a request that seems out of the ordinary, it may be related to a hidden disability.  Hidden disabilities including a variety of conditions such as a learning or psychiatric disability.  Be sensitive to needs that may not be apparent.

Lisa Jordan is a disability and workforce development expert. Lisa uses her keen ability to identify challenges and develop solutions so that workforce development professionals can increase their comfort level, productivity and effectiveness when working with a diverse clientele. Download Lisa?s Special Report on 5 Easy Disability Tips to Immediately Increase Agency Accessibility by visiting http://www.human-solutions.net

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can somebody please tell me how I can learn sign language for free online?

I’m not deaf or anything but I read a book about somebody who was deaf and now I’d be interested in learning sign language. Please tell me where I can go to find a place for me to learn sign language online for free.
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Website opens up China’s film industry to the outside world

Website opens up China’s film industry to the outside world
China’s state-run Film Bureau has opened an English-language website in a further sign that the country’s movie industry is increasingly becoming part of the larger international picture.

Read more on Independent

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Baby Sign Language – A Tool For Early Communication

Baby Sign Language is a gesture-based form of communication used with hearing pre-verbal babies and toddlers. It is an exciting way for parents to communicate with their children before they can talk. Parents communicate with their children through body language and their knowledge of their child’s behavior; Baby Sign Language is an extension of this natural behavior and bridges the gap between guessing what your baby may need and knowing what your baby needs.

As parents, we all wait with excitement for our baby’s first smile, first word or first step. Baby’s communicate with their parents through the only means of communication they know, which a lot of the time involves crying. If a baby is hungry it will cry, wet diaper, cry, and tired, yes once again cry. Knowing what your baby requires is very important, and all parents strive to be the best parent they know how to be. Baby Sign Language allows parents to take the guesswork out of communicating with your baby. By the age of 6 moths, babies are reaching for objects, giggling, recognizing their parents in a room full of people and able to start using Baby Sign Language. It’s very exciting knowing that your little baby, who relies on you for everything, can let you know exactly what they need through the use of simple, body language based communication such as Baby Sign Language.

A question often asked by people is whether or not Baby Sign Language will delay speech in a baby, and the answer is a definite no. In fact, it is the exact opposite. Studies have shown that children who have used Baby Sign Language have developed speech at a younger age and have an increased IQ level. By encouraging your baby to use Baby Sign Language, you are teaching not only a word, but also using your hands to explain the word. By doing this you are ensuring that your baby is using both sides of the brain in a very important stage of human development. The studies have also shown that by the age of 3 that children can be at least 12 months ahead of children who have not used Baby Sign Language. Have you ever seen a pre-verbal toddler throw itself on the floor of the supermarket, screaming and crying? Your first thought maybe “I wonder why that child is doing that?” If that child was able to communicate exactly what it needed to it parents, do you think it would be throwing itself on the floor having a tantrum?

By the age of 6 months, babies will start to communicate back to their parents using Baby Sign Language. Your baby’s first word does not have to be verbal; it can be a Baby Sign. Signing with your baby every time you are communicating encourages your baby to mimic your movements and tie the word into the gesture. As a parent you are the most important learning tool a baby can ever have. Baby Sign Language will ensure that the frustrations of both parent and baby are minimal through a basic understanding of needs.

Baby Sign Language is now used in households and child care centers worldwide. As parents, if we can reduce the frustrations of our baby’s, and ease the pressure on ourselves, it’s a win for everyone involved. Children develop and learn so quickly, what an amazing opportunity Baby Sign Language gives parents and baby’s to bridge the gap of communication.

Ian Creaser is the Author and Company Director of Toddler Interpreter. Toddler Interpreter specializes in Baby Sign Language products including Books, Posters and Complete Learning Packs. Toddler Interpreter Baby Sign Language Products can be purchased online from http://www.toddlerinterpreter.com

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Baby Sign Language Sign for Stop

Parents and teachers are always searching for new ways to effectively instruct their students. Speaking or shouting verbally often causes a distraction for on-task children, and are therefore not effective. American Sign Language is a great approach to help with this issue, lessening frustration among adults and children. It is a way that children will understand what you are saying without having to stop what you were doing at that particular moment.

One sign that I suggest learning is stop. Teachers and parents use this word on a daily basis in order to tell children to stop something they should not be doing. Instead, you can now sign this. To sign stop, hold one palm out flat and firmly put the side of your other hand on top of it, like a karate chop.

For teachers, this is a great sign to use to improve classroom management. In a classroom of young children, it can be challenging to be sure all of your students are doing what they should be at once. When in front of a classroom, you may find yourself telling one student across the room to stop doing something they shouldn’t be doing. During the time you are talking to this particular student, the other children in the room have now become distracted and now you need to get them back on track as well. If you incorporate American Sign Language signs into your program, this student will understand what you want them to do, and the rest of the class will not be distracted. If you are teaching and notice a student fooling around or talking to a classmate, you can simply sign stop. Your lesson does not have to be interrupted and other students will not be distracted. Without having to shout across the room, the child will understand what you want them to do. This could also be done at home if you want your child to stop doing something, but you don’t want to interrupt something you are doing, such as talking on the phone.

Go ahead and start signing. You’ll find it can be an effective way to improve classroom management and to help your child behave at home as well. For more tips/ideas visit www.babysignlanguageonline.com/blog or for teachers http://signtosucceed.blogspot.com

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Music Mediated Baby Sign Language Instruction Enhances Motivation And Learning Development

Music mediated sign language instruction has several central purposes. The first is to guide each child, deaf or hearing, in developing fluent language skills while promoting effective communication between the children and their family and peers. The second is to support the development of language as a tool for literacy attainment. Third, it will create an effective and rewarding vehicle for self-expression and self-esteem, allowing participants to explore new means of expression while they enhance existing ones.  The fourth purpose of the objective is to facilitate social interaction and age appropriate play. Additional benefits include more rhythmic speech; growth in balance, spatial reasoning and motor skills; increased IQ, auditory and perceptual awareness, attention span, memory recall, and vocabulary; reinforcement of cultural identity if Deaf; and improvements in family relationships as communication is clarified.

The first three years are the most critical years for a child’s language development, though sign language may be used to encourage communication among children of varying ages, abilities and interests. Signing not only offers a method of communication to nonverbal children, but it also facilitates the onset and development of spoken language for pre-linguistic children. Studies have proven that once a set of conceptual, cognitive, and linguistic skills are developed in a first language, they can be transferred or are applicable to the subsequent development of a second language. As children naturally gesture in self-expression, there is a growing consensus that a sign language such as American Sign Language (ASL) should be presented as the first language in infancy and childhood. By exposing babies to sign language classes, parents will facilitate the development of thought patterns and enable full communication of intelligence to their child. With the use of signing, unexpected benefits may occur for children who hear normally. Hearing children learn to think in words; when they are told it is raining and simultaneously shown the signed word for rain, they are provided the opportunity to visualize rain through sign. Otherwise, words are quite abstract. Baby sign language classes (for parents) will provide a means of communication more closely aligned with pre-linguistic thinking.

The development of language should be accomplished by making use of experiences, interests, and needs of children. Music is one medium to achieve this goal. Teaching sign language to children (through baby sign language classes for parents for example) using music, enhances motivation, enjoyment, social skills, self-concept, and development of language. Benefits of music mediated sign language instruction are endless.

Families can do endless activities at home to reinforce language development, reading skills, motor skills and other benefits mentioned above. First and foremost, have fun! Talk and sing to your baby as you are out taking a walk or inside making dinner. Carry your baby in the front carrier or sling so you can sing and dance together. Quietly listen to and feel each other’s breathing and heartbeats, two of the most significant aspects of both life and music. Include in his or bedtime routine singing a lullaby or reading a story, get a sign language dictionary, put a photo album together of your baby’s favorite people, places and things. Invest in a baby sign language class or two…

For more information, visit MyBabyFingers.

Baby Fingers LLC, founded by Lora Heller, Board Certified and Licensed Music Therapist with a M.Sc. in Special Education/Deaf Education, specializing in music mediated sign language instruction. For more information, visit www.MyBabyFingers.com.

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My Baby Fingers – Expanding Communication With Sign Language Classes For Teens

Growing in popularity, the concept of pre-verbal communication with infants has benefited many families. Current theory suggests that children have finished developing basic language skills at around five years of age, but the desire and need to communicate can begin in babies as early as four months. Many parents have found that early teaching and use of non-verbal communication with their hearing and deaf children has yielded exciting results, including earlier meaningful communication with young children and larger vocabularies for toddlers who can confidently sign their needs and feelings. Beyond childhood, those who participate in sign language classes for teens and who know American Sign Language (ASL) can communicate with a broader range of people.

Baby Fingers, an organization in New York offering sign language and music classes teaches children, teens and adults to communicate non-verbally. Originally focused on sign language programs for babies and their parents, Baby Fingers has expanded their classes to include sign language classes for teens. The company’s founder and director, Lora Heller, theorizes that children and teens who are able to interact with others using ASL are sometimes better able to express themselves than if using speech alone. With this in mind, she developed sign language classes for teens, a program taught by a deaf teacher of ASL. Classes for teens 15 years or older are designed to encourage those who are just beginning their study of sign language to increase their vocabulary and communication skills, refining any previous ASL experience they may have had. In Baby Fingers’ sign language classes for teens, participants learn basic signs of ASL and, like learning any other language, broaden their interactions with composed multi-word phrases. A testimonial to the success of learning basic ASL, a New York parent reports, “our older son has gone through all of Lora’s Baby Fingers classes and they are so wonderful. We have our younger son enrolled now too! All the teachers are great, each one with a special flair.”

Lora Heller, MS, MT-BC, LCAT is the founder and director of Baby Fingers and is a Board Certified and Licensed Music Therapist with a Master of Science in Special Education/Deaf Education. Baby Fingers offers parents and children classes for music and sign language, music therapy, and sign language classes for teens. Mrs. Heller has offered such programs at St. Mary’s Hospital for Children, St. Luke’s Hospital Division of Child Psychiatry & Roosevelt Hospital Preschool, and The New York School for the Deaf, and the 92nd Street Y.

Beyond sign language classes for teens, children and adults, Mrs. Heller has authored several books that teach parents how to communicate with their children using sign language. Her books, such as “Baby Fingers: Teaching Your Baby to Sign” are available on Amazon.com. She has also recorded a CD of original children’s songs entitled “You Can’t Fall Up” which feature performances by her own family members.

For more information, or to view a class schedule, visit MyBabyFingers.

Baby Fingers LLC, founded by Lora Heller, Board Certified and Licensed Music Therapist with a M.Sc. in Special Education/Deaf Education, specializing in music mediated sign language instruction. For more information, visit MyBabyFingers.com.

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Baby Sign Language First Signs

It can be frustrating for both parents and their child when they lack communication with each other before their baby can speak. American Sign Language can be a great way to communicate with your baby before they can speak verbally with you. As a parent, it will help you to understand your child’s needs and wants more easily.  Because of this, your child will be less frustrated and happier, and so will you.

If you have decided that you would like to use American Sign Language with your baby, but don’t know where to start, do not be discouraged. It is simple! There are four signs that would be a great starting point to learn and teach to your baby. Milk, eat, more, finished. This signs will help you to begin communicating with your baby about their most basic needs.

To sign milk, open and close your hand, similar to the movement when you milk a cow. For eat, touch your hand to mouth as if you are holding a piece of food. This is also the sign used for food. To sign more, bring both of your hands together and touch your fingertips. This is a very popular sign and is usually a baby’s first sign. To perform finished/all done, hold both hands above your shoulders and flip them at the same time so palms end facing outward. When you first begin signing with your baby, keep in mind that they may not perform the signs exactly correct, and that is okay. For example, when some babies sign more, they sometimes clap their hands. You will simply need to learn your child’s way of performing each sign, but make sure that you continue to sign it the correct way,  eventually they will sign it the correct way.

Now that you have learned some signs to get you started, go ahead and start signing with your baby. It is never too soon or too late to start communicating with your child. You will learn that it can be easy and fun for both you and your baby. For more ideas on signing with your baby, visit http://www.babysignlanguageonline.com/blog

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Sign Language For Babies – Open Communication Lines Between Your Baby & You!

Sign language for babies helps you and your precious little one to communicate. Let’s face it, when your baby cries, do you instantly know what’s wrong? No of course you don’t, Mothers rarely do. On hearing our baby cry we run through a check list, trying to identify the underlying problem. Teaching your baby sign language would mean that you save valuable time trying to figure out what’s wrong, and that means that you can meet your baby’s need more quickly.

Baby sign language – Making life easier?

Imagine this scenario. Its around 3am, you are woken by your baby crying, as you rub your eyes and stumble sleepily into your babies room, you wonder what on earth could be wrong. He normally sleeps through. You get to your baby and check his nappy, you offer him a drink, you hand him his pacifier, all to no avail. Your baby still won’t settle. You rub a little teething gel onto his gums, ahh that’s the problem. The point is that by now, you and baby are both quite awake.

Wouldn’t it be so much easier, if when you had first entered his room, he could have shown you the basic baby sign language for ‘hurt’ This would have saved time, you could have comforted your baby, used the gel and by now you would both be falling back to sleep.

Many parents believe that teaching baby signing will some how hinder their child’s ability to learn to speak. Researchers disagree with this, a babies ability to actually talk will always be much slower than the ability to learn motor skills, and understand what people are saying to them. Your baby will naturally try to mimic your movements and hand signals, long before he can actually use words to describe what you’re doing.

Baby sign language isn’t just for the hard of hearing!

Dr Joseph Garcia (who is an American child development expert) discovered that babies of deaf parents seemed to be more settled and less demanding than than babies of hearing parents. Babies of deaf parents learned to sign as way of communication with their parents, often getting there needs met a lot quicker.

Although sign language for babies doesn’t fall into place overnight, you will need lots of patience, but experts agree that teaching baby signing isn’t really that hard. The benefits of teaching your baby to sign far outweigh the patience needed to start. Your baby should become less demanding, in turn your life as a mother will become less frustrating (now we could all do with that!)

Experts also agree that baby sign language can help your baby to become more confident and calm, and he will develop with higher levels of self esteem – as the communication lines with their parents are fully open. Parents instead of having to listen to their baby crying in frustration to get what they want, will know exactly what he wants because baby is signing it to them!

Baby signing – A sign of things to come?

Many parents are now turning to baby signing to help them have an easier time with their baby in day to day life. After all if we know what our baby wants, and we can tend to them straight the way, then everyone is happy. Parents normally start teaching their baby signing at around 8 months old, although some babies are known to sign significantly earlier (some as early as 6 months) Signing can be used with your toddler as well.

To learn more about baby sign language, visit me – Julie at: http://www.new-baby-and-beyond.com/baby-sign-language-book.html

I’m Julie, mum of two beautiful but very demanding kids!
After trying for 3 years to get pregnant with my first child, and then knowing nothing about babies when he did come along. I picked up loads of great advice along the way.
I have created my web site to help ease women naturally into motherhood. So grab a cuppa and take a look around my site, dedicated to all the mothers of the world, new and not so new! Motherhood is a joyous occasion, make it the best time in your life!

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