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April 17, 2007
More Than One Deaf Cutie
I find that something that seems a relative rarity suddenly seems to pop up in front of your face at a rapidly recurring pace. I've heard various theories of how the human mind has a tendency to notice patterns in events that are otherwise random. Sometimes what we assume is unlikely is actually commonplace and other times what we believe can't be coincidence is easily just that. At any rate, in my city lately on the subway and out on the town in restaurants, bars and clubs, I've noticed quite a few people communicating using sign language.
A few times going out, I noticed it happen on my ride downtown and then again between different folks when I arrived. I tried researching online for statistics, both on deaf dating sites and others, regarding how many hearing-impaired people in North America there are, but only ended up with estimates of about 10 percent, which in a post on About.com (04/11/07) the moderator explains is hardly verifiable, or notably accurate. I always think that it's cool to watch, since there's something passionate when instead of spoken words, movements of the hands are used to express private thoughts in a crowded, often noisy public place.
I've often wished that I could understand what was being said. I love to eavesdrop and living in a bilingual city where others sometimes mistakenly believe that I don't speak both languages, it sometimes startling to hear what some individuals will say when they assume no one but their closet confidant is listening in a crowd. I often wonder if the same freedom of speech wouldn't be even truer when one might assume that even a larger percentage of the room wouldn't be fluent in signing. Again, there are no reasonably accurate stats on that either.
Anyway, more than once I've seen a real deaf cutie, both in real-life and on Deaf Singles Date, when I checked it out a while ago. However, since I don't know sign language I guess for now, it's a bit of a moot point to consider meeting someone with hearing impairment, since as I understand even someone who is skilled at lip reading finds it easier to communicate with someone signing as well. However, I know there are even some free online courses one can take.
I wonder if learning to communicate with one's hands wouldn't also help in perfecting body language. Actually to be frank, I'd rather sometimes be less easily read than I am. I know that my discomfort in social situations is as simple as seeing the writing on the wallflower. Nevertheless, since I prefer to keep most people at arm's length, maybe it's better to be myself in that uneasy way.
Posted by Will at April 17, 2007 2:49 AM
