Bridging the Gap Between the Hearing & Deaf Worlds
Check out the posts below where you can listen or read the transcripts of The Hear Me Out! [CC] Podcast.
The question ‘which sign language should I learn first?’ is a common one for those who wants to go on that journey of learning it. And that is great.
By asking that question, it is hoped that you are looking to learn sign language for the right reason (communicate with deaf people) and not for social klouts like attention and because “it looks pretty”.
This post will help guide the way for you.
There has forever been an ongoing trend by hearing people to demand a universal sign language (yet you never see sign language users say the same thing…hmmm). It is never too long before one sees comments on social media about “why is there no universal sign language”.
But even for me, as someone who is learning sign language, I have my own thoughts around this trend. And it’s an uncomfortable one.
As someone who has had countless audiology appointments for decades, it hasn’t always been a smooth process.
While it’s easier to blame the audiologist and the entire department, it’s true that they have their parts to play. But we as patients can also do our bit to make the whole audiology experience a more seamless and effective.
Learn how to make the most out of yoru audiology appointments here
It is easy to assume that deaf and hard of hearing patients have smooth experiences with their audiologists. But that is not always the case, as *some* audiologists and the audiology department as a whole are (ironically) not as deaf-aware as we wish.
From asking deaf patients to use the phone to talking to us when their backs are facing us, there are various little adjustments that can be made that will make audiologists’ job a lot easier and smoother, whilst making sure that the patients are happier and better looked after. In this episode, I list tips on the various adjustments that audiologist can make to better their relationships with us…the patients.
Learn how audiologists can improve their relationships with patients here
If you have access to Netflix, there is a new and somewhat groundbreaking new series called ‘Deaf U’ where the cast are entirely led by alums of Gallaudet University, the world’s first and only university specifically catered for deaf and hard of hearing students, based in Washington D.C.
This is an opportunity to show the world how diverse, expressive, beautiful but also complex, deep and perhaps intensive deaf community can be.
But has the series managed to portray that in a positive way that can make a positive and lasting impact, or did it focus too much on being a typical reality TV show, albeit more deaf-focused?
Even though my main love are captions, I don’t think that transcripts get the love, attention and respect it deserves. This is evident when most people just copy and paste a big chunk of text onto a document or web page and assume that “it will do”.
But you are missing out on so much more. And more importantly, so are you users.
When having a conversation with another person, there are certain cues, clues and non-verbal communication methods that I watch out for to allow me to understand what’s going on better.
Even though there are many non-verbal communication methods that a deaf or hard of hearing person tends to use, I’d like to use this opportunity to tell you what I (subtly) look out for throughout a conversation with another person.
There seems to be a worrying and dangerous trend where large brands are censoring potential profanity and swear words in auto-captions. They claim that it is to avoid mistakes, but still, this is not a good idea.
This is following the recent news that YouTube has decided to censor potential profanity in their auto-captions just in case they pop up as mistakes. But this goes against the whole concept of having captions/subtitles in the first.
When on a video call, and if available, I tend to take advantage of the automatic subtitles to help get through the call, and most deaf people would do the same.
But automatic subtitles are not perfect. They’re not terrible, but they’re not perfect. However, there are steps everyone can take to make it as accurate as possible and make it easier for the technology to pick up the words.
