Chapter23 :)

"Where did you learn Sign Language?"                                                                                      

I found this chapter to be very interesting! I have been asked at deaf events who my teacher is, but I have never really been drilled about it. I don't think that I would be too uncomfortable though, if more questions were asked, because as the book mentions often they are just curious. I do not think it sounds like gossip when they refer to effective and poor ASL teachers. I think this is more of a help to students and a nice gesture, because by recommending good teachers the Deaf community is opening up the opportunity to better learn ASL.  I do understand that "ASL is the language of Deaf people" I understand that "it belongs to them and they feel protective of it." It saddens me to know that not all hearing people who are "native ASL-quality" have the best interests of Deaf people at heart. I really want to learn effective sign because I am going to be a speech-language therapist and I would like to one day have the opportunity to work with Deaf students and their families.

Something mentioned in this chapter that I was unfamiliar with before was the American Sign Language Teachers Association( ASLTA). I agree that this is a great organization that keeps ASL teachers sharp on their signing skills.

I really liked the passage in this chapter relating a tourist in France who understands French culture to a hearing person who knows ASL. I think it is very important to study and practice Deaf culture as it is to study and practice ASL. I am have been working on a semester long project in CD 280 about Sign Language and Speech-Language Pathologists, throughout my presentation I reference deaf culture and the impact SLPs can make through knowing ASL and deaf culture. While researching for this project I found 5-6 very interesting books on Deaf culture in the Gary Randsdell Hall library on Western Kentucky University's campus. 

I think if I were sitting down to dinner with a friend, and a person from another country asked to sit and talk because they were learning English, I would definitely welcome them. They are taking the time to learn our language and be a part of American culture, I would not wasn’t to turn them away.