Can you hear me now?

Well, sadly, an entire community of people will always answer "no" to that question. And poor cell phone reception or a faulty wireless carrier is of no consequence whatsoever regarding their ability to "hear you now." The community I am speaking of is the deaf community. These individuals will most likely never "hear you now."

I am posting this today, because of an inspiration I had--one derived from watching, of all things, Sesame Street with my two year old daughter. In this episode, Telly and Zoe (you mommies know exactly who I'm talking about) assumed they were being ignored by a lovely little dark haired girl when they invited her to join in their play. Well, turns out she was deaf, not rude. I watched her signing and immediately was transported back to my college days, when my desire was to become a speech pathologist and work with deaf children. In this educational journey (which unfortunately ended when the ever blessed moo-lah was dangled under my nose and I dropped out to work full time) I took two semesters of American Sign Language (ASL). An entirely new world opened up for me, and I actually acquired a new circle of friends, deaf friends, that I never would have had if I had not had the ability to communicate with them.

I learned of the issues members of the deaf community face, the stereotypes they unwillingly fall into, the problems that arise from their lack of hearing--ever wonder how many times you may have had an automobile accident if you weren't able to hear your road neighbor laying on his horn? Or thought about how you ever would have known the ambulance or fire engine was quickly approaching if not for the loud siren? These are every day occurrences for so many deaf men and women.

Soooo, onto the inspiration. Well, I was first inspired to take ASL classes way when my cousin, who incidentally is deaf, was visiting for the summer. She was visiting from India. Not only had she not learned a formal signing language, but she could only read lips in her native tongue--Hindi. Talk about a language barrier! That summer was a beautiful one, as we learned to communicate not only through the hearing/non-hearing barrier, but the English/Hindi language barrier as well. It was a challenge, that pretty well goes without saying, but we did it. And so came ASL in my short college stint.

Just like any other second language, if not used for, oh, a decade (as is my case with ASL) you pretty well lose any and all fluency you had acquired. But after being inspired, once again, by Sesame Street of all things, I hopped on Google and found a Deaf Coffee Chat at a restaurant in my hometown. Members of the deaf and hearing communities meet for, well, coffee twice a month to interact, learn ASL, make new friends, and open up circles that, without the ability to communicate, you would not feasibly be able to enter completely. I am going to take part in these chats. I am going to re-visit ASL. I am going to meet new people, make new friends. I am going to regain the knowledge I lost. And I'm going to do it all with an obnoxious caffeine buzz!

Wish me luck on my newest venture. I'll keep you posted on my progress as I delve into this "foreign language" once again.

Hugs,
Geeta