Sometimes I want to find the person who first came up with the idea that it is “ableist” or a form of “cultural appropriation” for hearing people to want to learn sign language
and give them a really blistering lecture about how they are completely abusing the concept of “ableism” and “appropriation”.
No, it is not ableist for ANYone to want to learn sign language.
No, it is not appropriation for ANYone to want to learn sign language.
Deaf people WANT for more people to learn sign language so we can have more people to communicate with.
So please, *please* don’t ever tell anyone that their wanting to learn or use sign language is in any way ableist or “appropriation”. Because it is *not*.
If you are a person with auditory processing issues, then we WANT for you to learn sign language if it might make communication easier for you.
If you are a person who is non-verbal, then we WANT for you to learn sign language if it might make communication easier or more accurate for you.
Yes, we still want you to learn sign language even if your auditory processing issues, or your loss of speech, only happens sometimes and not all the time. Part time need for sign language is still *need for sign language*.
Yes, we still hope you will consider learning sign language even if you have no personal need for sign language at all. Your learning sign language can give *us* more people to communicate with, and therefore still benefits *us*. It is not ableist for you to want to learn sign language to benefit other people. In fact, it’s basically the *opposite* of ableist because it makes it easier for us to be fully included in society.
A more detailed response for people wanting to learn sign language, particularly for people with auditory processing issues.
(Resources for people with APD in general)
This is a thing? Wow, I am slowly learning to sign and I want my mate to as well for when I have nonverbal episodes–if she does, I hope she tells me of anyone ever cusses her out for this.
Unfortunately, yes, this really is a thing :-( I’m not sure how many people necessarily are going around cussing people out for learning sign language. But there certainly seem to be a lot of people who worry that they’re doing something wrong if they want to learn sign language. One the many responses I’ve gotten to this post was someone explaining that they once unfollowed a blog on ASL because most of the content turned out to be, the moderators answering asks from people wanting to know if it really was okay for them to learn to sign.
If your mate is ever cussed out, and if any part of this post would help in formulating a response, then please feel free to crib as much of the text as you like. You can give them a blistering lecture and say it’s on my behalf! :-)
Wait what. I studied British Sign Language for two years and thought it was brilliant. I took exams in it! When I was a shop assistant and helped a deaf woman by signing she was so happy. There was like a whole community in my area of encouraging non-deaf people to learn sign language.
I honestly never even thought it would be seen as a problem. I thought the whole point of learning sign language was to help and encourage people and make them feel more welcome in society. Is that really viewed as a problem?!
Yes, absolutely, the whole point of learning sign language is to let more people feel more welcome in society. The whole point is to enable communication. As I’ve said, deaf people absolutely WANT for hearing people to learn sign language for all of these reasons.
But unfortunately, some hearing people for some reason have been told otherwise. I am pretty sure they are probably only told this BY OTHER HEARING PEOPLE, and never by those of us who are deaf or hard of hearing or have auditory processing disorder. I can’t imagine any deaf person complaining about a hearing person learning to sign, ever. (The *only* time I’ve seen deaf people complain, it is NOT about hearing people *learning* to sign, the complaints have only been about the very few hearing people who try to make a profit or gain social media fame based off their amauteur signing skills, often at the expense of talented deaf people who could have done the same thing better.)
But enough hearing people get worried about the possibility of “offending” deaf people that they flood certain blogs about ASL, deafness, etc with questions asking if it really is “okay” for them to learn sign language. And even more heartbreaking, are the people I’ve encountered on line who *need* sign language because they have auditory processing disorder, or because they sometimes lose their ability to speak. They desperately want to learn sign language so they can have another way to communication, but they put it off for years because they’re so afraid that they’re doing something wrong just in wanting to learn. Of course, every time I encounter another person in this situation, I immediately reassure them that I *want* them to learn sign language, that they *deserve* to learn sign language, that they have a *right* to learn sign language, that deaf people *want* more people to learn sign language, and it is never never ever ever wrong for any hearing person to want to learn. But they should never have been put in this position in the first place, and that’s why I get upset with whoever it was (again, probably a hearing person) who first started spreading the false, false, false idea that it is somehow a problem for hearing people to learn to sign.
I don’t know quite how widespread this problem is. You’re not the first person to be surprised that this has ever been “a thing”, and I’m really glad to note that this false concept hasn’t spread everywhere. But unfortunately, yes, there are still a disturbingly large number of hearing people who really do worry about whether it is “okay” for them to learn sign language to the point where they have to keep asking first.
(via ockomnha)
