# Interactions with deaf (and any disabled) people

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactions-with-deaf-and-any-disabled-people/514106>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 17, 2009, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactions-with-deaf-and-any-disabled-people/514106 "2009-10-17T01:17:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactions-with-deaf-and-any-disabled-people/514106/21 "2009-10-20T02:59:13Z")

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Not condescending, but too much fingerspelling is taxing especially when she was probably trying to speedily check you out of the line. Communicating via ASL requires at least a peripheral visual lock and fingerspelling usually obligates the other person to drop what they are doing and look at your hands until you have completed enough of the word that they can figure out the rest via context. This kind of confirms my suspicion:

> [@](#):
>
> I decided that I would spell out “I only know the alphabet”. That still takes a decent amount of time, and I’m not sure if it was clear what I was doing, though she cut me off as I started to spell “alphabet”.

The moment it was obvious you were starting to spell out “alphabet”, she had your meaning and cut you off to save you the extra work. I think I would have figured it out when you got to “I only know…” especially since you were fingerspelling the whole thing. I mean, if you are fingerspelling every single word, it’s pretty obvious what you only know 🙂

> [@](#):
>
> I’d like to know a good way to learn. I’ve tried getting books from the library but I have a hard time following the pictures. I don’t have a car or much disposable income so taking a class at the local community college is also out.

It really helps to have a hearing friend who knows the basics get you started. It’s easy to remember signs when you can make the connection between each particular sign and understand the derivation (i.e. the sign for “girl” uses the thumb to trace out a girls bonnet string - isn’t that just precious?).

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**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactions-with-deaf-and-any-disabled-people/514106/22 "2009-10-20T04:01:18Z")

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> [@Bricker](#):
>
> My mother is legally blind and uses a white cane, which is (or should be) a clear signal of her disability.
> 
> Yet more than once she’s gone into a store and found an employee (she has low vision, so she can tell generally if there’s a person-sized shape in front of her) and asked, “Where is thus-and-so?”
> 
> “Aisle 7.”
> 
> My mom will just stand there a moment, holding her white cane conspicuously aloft, before giving up and explaining that unless the aisles have voice announcements as you enter them, she has no way to find aisle 7.

My mother had the opposite experience when she was temporarily using crutches (after having broken her ankle). She was buying groceries, and basically nudging her cart along as she went, when a teenaged employee (think Squeaky-Voiced Teen from the Simpsons) came up and asked if he could help. She said thank you, but she was doing fine. He came back a few moments later and said, “I’ve been ordered to help you.”

That was a slightly different situation, though, since it was painfully obvious that coping with this injury was new and awkward to her.

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