My Attempt to Understand BSL

Getting lost in a deaf conversation when you are deaf is definitely not funny!. Tonight, I was at deaf meeting in Brighton, England. It was my first time that I go to such meeting. Since I came in the UK a week ago, I did not have much opportunity to meet with the local deaf. I was excited about going to the meeting tonight and I was hoping I would be able to understand them; because  I thought, it should be easy to understand BSL since English is their  main language . However, I have realized that American sign language which I use  and British sign language are very different. For instance, some ASL signs are driven from written language like “Family” where you sign both hands together with F. But in the BSL, they have different signs. Both hands are used for finger spelling in the BSL and most of it, you can not relate to spoken words;  while ASL you only use one hand and a lot of words can be related to spoken language.  

After arriving at the meeting, I met few people and I was introduced to the meeting leader who knew some American  sign language. I was able to have some chat with him. However, the presenters and most of the meeting attendees were using British sign language. So, here, I have gotten lost in a deaf meeting. The good thing is that, I was with my professor who knew ASL  who interpreted for me  because there were BSL speech interpreter. I hope I will be able to learn some BSL while I am  in England. I just learned how spell my name in BSL :).

Nodding Your Head to Pretend You Understood

One  miscommunication experience that is common for deaf and hard of hearing persons   is nodding their head to  pretend they understand something where they didn't in order  to avoid embarrassment or fail to  carry on a conversation without making anyone uncomfortable. However, sometimes, we nod our head  which the person who is talking to us surprises , because they were expecting us to answer their question not to agree.

I was with my friend talking about some stuff and walking. As a Cochlear Implant user, I heavily depend on lip reading to understand when I am chatting with hearing people. Most of the time, I pretend to understand while I did not , because I might be hoping,  I will understand what they are talking about in their next sentences. Unfortunately,  this does not happen always. My friend was talking to me and asking a question. Instead, of answering his question, I replied oh yeah and nodded my head; he  was surprised and said “ that was a question!” After an awkward moment, I told him I did not  understand what he was saying  and asked if he could repeat?  

This experience is common not only for deaf and hard of hearing but also  hearing people especially those who are learning sign language. This method  of nodding head to keep conversation going, I think could be found in all people who are learning a new language and do not understand it well. But, I believe that higher number of deaf and hard of hearing experience this  compared to their hearing counterparts.