Sue Thomas FBEye

In class the other night we watched Sue Thomas speak. This woman is amazing. She was hearing until at the age of 18 months old while watching TV with her brothers she went deaf. Her story is inspiring and she is a woman of great conviction. She has lead a more exciting life than most hearing people know. Want to learn more check out her site.

ASL Numbers

Here are the ASL numbers 1-10.

ASL Alphabet

Here is a chart of the ASL alphabet. Try to learn your name.

Sound and Fury

Sound and Fury is a movie we watched in class a couple weeks ago. This film is a documentary about a deaf child of deaf parents who wants to get a cochlear implant. Her parents decide in the end to not allow their daughter to get the implant. This movie was an eye-opener for me. Our professor asked us if we had a blind child and there was a magic cure to make them see would we. Most responded yes. If you had a deaf child would you give them the magic cure to make them hear? Again most responded yes. Problem is everyone in that class was hearing and very few if any have any knowledge of the deaf culture or what it is like to be deaf. I know that this movie put an entirely new light on deafness and the fact that people that are deaf do not think they are missing anything and that it is the hearing community that has such a hard time dealing with the fact that someone else is deaf. If you are interested in learning more I am sure that the your local library will have a copy of the movie that you can check out. Also if you click on sound and fury in the beginning of this post it will take you to a website with more info.

Types of Deafness

I was just adding more links and found a couple pages that describe the different types of deafness so I thought I would post a couple links here for you to check out. Go here, here, and here. Let me know what you think about the links.

The house that Jack built

Tonight in class we watched a video of a deaf man signing a story. Then we watched another video with him signing another story called The house that Jack built. It is a cute little story and our teacher taught us all the signs and how to sign it. I can't wait to sign it for my kids and see what they think. I wish that I had a way to add video to my blog so that everyone could see the story signed.

Signing a song

For our final exam in ASL1 we have the option of signing a song, or a poem, or a children's book. I am going to do a song. I have chosen Broken Road by Rascal Flatt. Two of our TAs came to class last night and signed the songs they did for their finals in ASL1. It was really cool to see what they were able to acclomplish in one semester. Both songs were awesome. One made me cry! I just hope that my song turns out that good.

About the name

Okay so the name of my blog is silent coffee. This is a bit misleading because the coffees and dinners I have been to have been anything but silent. It's not that people are rude or yelling it is just that when you have a large group of people in a small place it tends to get loud. I know some of you are thinking how loud can deaf people be?!? Well let me tell you pretty loud. So the reason for the title is that it gets people's attention. Why are you having silent coffee? what is this silent coffee all about? What do you do there? The reason for this blog not only for my mid term project but to help inform others about ASL. As I learn I will add more links and add more information. Keep checking back!

Jason's Deli

I went to Jason's Deli on Friday night. Jason's was not as crowded as Starbucks. I actually got a chance to sit and talk with a couple different people. The best part was that I realized no matter where I go and meet deaf people there is always going to be someone there that is willing to help me. I was able to learn some new signs and to get feedback on the way to sign others that I was confused about. I also learned about a deaf service at a local church. I think I may go next Sunday.

This blog is going to be about my journey through ASL1. I have been on the class for a few weeks now. One of the requirements of the class is to have interactions with the deaf community. I have had two interactions at a local Starbucks. During both of these evenings I learned so many new things and made what I hope will be friends for a long time.