Joining Asl Congregation

[LeslieDean]

When I told my husband that my sister and I would be bransferring to the ASL group he just smiled.  I asked him what he was smiling about--was it the fact that we tried Vietnamese and after 10 months of not learning one single word we went back to our English group?  No he assured me.  He said he admired my ambition but wondered if signing was right for me.  I felt a pain that we would question if I were capable of learning something new.  My learning curve has been more like a flat line since my history of psuedo brain tumor.  My language skills are not on par and I have considerable trouble with numbers--like I use to do bookkeeping and now I have considerable trouble writing and transposing numbers.  

 

But I remember when they (doctors at UCLA) were doing extensive brain testing and told me that different areas in my brain were effected and others were heightened.  I.E.  I use to could read 3-5 books a week---since chemo I have never been able to read one book--I find myself reading and rereading the same page trying to sort the different characters and keep getting their histories/backgrounds confused.  This has been agony for me because that was my passion--reading!  You can be transported anywhere on earth and assoiciate with types of people you would never mmet just by the power of pen.  The doctors did tell me that I learn and remember by seeing--actually pictures!  I could look at a picture and remember what part of the page each person was on as they read a story to me.  I could not follow the story but the pictures I could recall.

So, I felt that this (ASL) might be right in my wheel house.

 

My husband then proceeded to say--do you remember the first week we bought the bar and a man came in and sat at the bar and you asked hime what you could get him?  I told my husband he would have to be more specific than that because that is what all the men  do--after all--it is a bar/gill.  He then smiled and said  "Well, the way I remember is I saw you turn around and ignore him and I came up to you and asked you what was wrong.  You said that he needed to be "cut -off" and with his index finger he made a sign of drawing his finger across the base of his neck (like in cutting someone's head off) and he started hysterically laughing!  My husband said--"You then told me he was so drunk he was slurring his words and you were not going to serve him!"  Rick said "What?  He just got here" and I replied "well, he must have been somewhere else first".  Rick went over to talk to him and when he came back to me he asked for a pen and paper because the gentlemen was deaf!  He rolled his eyes at me and went back to "converse" with the man and take his drink order...I hope I sincerely do better with the deaf now.  I want to make up for wrong assumuptions--but really--it did at least SOUND like he wa intoxicated!

[Lin ASL Ebron]

Hey!!!!  I'm glad you started this.  Maybe others will find this and participate in the conversation.

 

About ASL:  The thing that really stands out is how it simplifies everything.  "Through use" you will get it, if you keep trying.  I haven't gotten the WT gloss for this week, but as soon as I do, I'll forward.

 

Thanks again for starting this...

 

Agape'

 

Lin

[BloomEtta]

ASL has really surprised me. I'm not geared to absorb things visually but ASL is re-training my brain. I had to let go of the notion that sign language was English with hands. It truly is another language and culture.

I had to let go of looking for word-for-sign translations. ASL is about concepts. My comments are actually signing the description of a picture or scene in my mind. That makes the bible really come alive!

[Toy Poodles]

I hope this conversation starts back up again. I have wanted to learn another language for so long, either I had a husband who wouldn't allow it or I had too many things going on. My husband now of 9yrs, is practically deaf, he had one bad ear when he was in his 40's and then he was working underneath a dozer welding and got hot metal in his good ear, of course being the stubborn man that he was, he didn't see a doctor until about 2wks later after it was good and infected. He had to have surgery on his ear which means that they had to take his ear completely off except for one side of the skin. They learned that he had burned the shelf off and they tried to repair it but it wouldn't build a new shelf. He wears hearing aids at the meetings but not for every day use because when he gets sweaty they start turning in his ear and he can't stand it. I thought it would be great to learn ASL for the both of us. 

I understand a little bit of what Leslie is going through, when I had my head-on collision, the gear shift went through the front of my head, I have terrible short-term memory and I too used to read a lot but now have a hard time. My kids think I am nutso because they remember mom doing everything, I was strong like a man and worked many jobs to make sure we had a roof over our heads and decent food on the table and gas to the meetings and service. I took everyone's kids, the saying back in Calif. was if you want your kids to learn to do chores take them to Deenna's and they will love doing chores. Well I am not the same person I once was. 

I don't know if I can learn a new language or not but would love to try. My second daughter has learned Spanish and my oldest daughter along with my grandson are starting to learn Chinese. 

Is there a program for ASL that makes it easy to learn? I downloaded the one of the societies dramas in ASL and was surprised because their were no words or talking with the drama, it was totally silent and all this gesturing, I was hoping to learn by listening and watching the sign language. 

Anyway I am determined to at least some basics so I don't have to constantly yell at my husband because I don't have the lungs for it. 

I do hope there are more witnesses interested in ASL. 

[Lin ASL Ebron]

Hey Deenna!  First off, I just started a topic, ASL Gloss of Watchtower Questions Weekending 5-12-2013.  It's second from the top of the right column, "Recent Topics".  I'm in an ASL congregation and one of the sisters is a professional interpreter.  She knows brother in another ASL congregation and he interprets the questions and publishes them every week.  I will try to put them out here as soon as I get them.

 

Don't get too discouraged by your limitations.  Remember, Jesus said Jehovah can make the rocks cry out and don't forget Paul's words to the Christians in Corinth, (2 Corinthians 8:12) . . ."if the readiness is there first, it is especially acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what a person does not have."

 

A sister here in NC, not in ASL, met a Deaf woman.  The sister tried to use the videos published by FS, but she just couldn't get it.  She asked the woman to teach her the alphabet.  Using just the alphabet, the sister was able to help the woman complete the Bible Teach book and progress to baptism.  Obviously, Jehovah's spirit was involved.  Is there an ASL congregation near you?  Maybe you can start with one meeting a week.  Just a thought.

 

Agape'

 

Lin

[Lin ASL Ebron]

ASL gloss has been posted to thread for this week's Watchtower