Deaf Residential Schools in the US...

[Shane Gilchrist O hEorpa]

Val have a very good point there...

my cousins and my brothers were forced to learn Irish (usually taught
by inadequate teachers of Irish) - the funny thing is that because of
me being deaf, I wasnt taught Irish...yet my brothers and cousins
would avoid using Irish yet I would love to get every opportunity to
use it.

For your information, Belfast English is the family language and
Ulster English is the school language - something they grew up in.

Shane

On 12/01/07, Valerie Sutton <signwriting at mac.com> wrote:
> SignWriting List
> January 12, 2007
>
> On Jan 12, 2007, at 12:52 PM, K.J. Boal wrote:
> > True of most of the Deaf community here, too!  I do think that's
> > one of the biggest hurdles to get over . . . the fact that most
> > Deaf have never imagined reading and writing ASL as part of their
> > lives.  What could make things more difficult . . . most Deaf don't
> > like to read or write because they've only been exposed to written
> > English, which they find difficult to understand!  Most Deaf don't
> > read for pleasure . . . an attitude I can't even begin to imagine,
> > since I can't remember ever not being able to read (been doing it
> > since the age of 3) and have loved reading ever since.  I'm not
> > sure quite how to cross that chasm. . .
>
>
> Oh. I can imagine not reading at all. Strange to hear me say that,
> isn't it? I love living in a visual world...
>
> Have you ever lived in a foreign country with no clue as to what the
> street-signs say in the written language of the country? Have you
> ever been with a group, where you are the only foreigner, and
> everyone else speaks another language? I have. And at first I hated
> it, but then I grew to respect the process of learning what was going
> on visually, never truly understanding anything that was said. The
> world became visual for awhile, since the sounds meant nothing, and I
> observed body language to get by. At the end, just smiling was the
> only solution to a conversation totally past my head...not knowing
> anything of what just transpired and wondering if it really mattered
> anyway...If people went away thinking I understood them they were
> wrong...I think a lot of hearing people assume that understanding is
> happening between deaf and hearing when it is not...
>
> Reading Danish for pleasure? Well...I am at around the third grade
> reading level in Danish...that means I can peruse a magazine in
> relaxed Danish, and with the combination of the pictures and the easy
> language I get the idea...but sitting down and reading a thick
> complex Danish novel about a subject matter I know nothing about,
> without any illustrations...for a third-grade level reader in
> Danish...that is not a pleasure...that is work! hoping I can
> understand half of it is a struggle to be sure I got all the nuances
> of advanced reading...and newspapers...forget it...too many large
> words I did not know...
>
> Not true for my native language English...
>
> But my third grade reading level in my second language Danish is a
> struggle and I make no apologies...it is not an attitude - it is a
> reality of skill and understanding...
>
> Deaf people are forced to read their second language, a spoken
> language, with no writing system for their first language...that is
> totally unfair! And not pleasurable...so reading for pleasure is
> based on how skilled you are in the language you are reading...
>
> Ok...
>
> I have to get off my soap box...and must rest and prepare the
> Handwriting lessons...
>
> Have a great evening everyone -
>
> Val ;-)
>
>
>
>
>