Deaf opposition to SW

[Kimberley A. Shaw]

Quite true -- but printed English does not fully convey the impact of a
well-done out-loud reading, either!
I can read a Beethoven symphony from the score, for example; this is just
the "raw material" which does not approach the experience of listening to
the work itself. It cannot and should not record every nuance of how a
given set of instruments played it on a certain day, but that gap between
what *can* be recorded on a page and what an artist brings to it when
preparing a performance -- or the fun of reading a novel, and then
imagining for yourself how *you* might act it out or read it out loud ...
this gap is completely "normal" to those who have grown up reading and
speaking. And this is where imagination has room to step in and become
artistry, so it does not seem such a detriment to us. 
But I guess it would be an *entirely* new concept to born-Deaf signers,
and rather disconcerting!
Best,
Kim from Boston

sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu on Wednesday, July 20, 2005 at 8:30 AM -0500
wrote:
>It may be because a written system can never catch all the nuances of a
>language.  For instance, a signed song can be beautiful in it's
>expression but that beauty is lost when writing it down.  It's the
>artistic sense of a language that is so difficult to capture.
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>Bill
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>Kimberley A. Shaw wrote:
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>Hello all:
>this makes me think of an e-mail encounter I had with somebody Deaf the
>other day, who felt that SignWriting is a "dis-service" to the signing
>Deaf community ... and does not do justice to such a beautifully visual
>method of expression! (???!!)
>I am still trying to figure it out; are people afraid that if Sign gets
>written down, that it will be taken over by the hearing world? 
>Puzzled HoH in Boston,
>Kim
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>[ mailto:sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu ]sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu on
>Wednesday, July 20, 2005 at 12:01 AM
>-0500 wrote:
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>I'm sad to see that it was a few Deaf grads from Gallaudet who 
>expressed opposition to SW.  Hopefully the deaf community in Malaysia 
>will have the opportunity to evaluate SW for themselves and not let a 
>few make a decision for the whole.  The challenge for us (in any 
>community) is finding a way to help the majority have a chance to 
>experience SW for themselves and not allow a few to block their access. 
> I have seen some of that in my own sharing about SW. This is where it 
>is very important for those of us who are deaf to take the 
>responsibility to explain why we like it.  That makes a difference.
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>Just an observation,
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>Stuart
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