#used british sign language for this

[louistonehill]

Explaining the path home

[fayrobertsuk]

Poetry for ALL - an appeal

When I said "yes" to helping Rose Drew host what turned out to be the first ever Poetry for ALL in 2018, I had no solid idea what I was getting myself into, but through all the amazing events, brilliant performers, amazing interpreters, and fascinating venues, several observations have stayed firm:

These events are both loved and necessary – there's something immensely powerful, on a personal as well as societal level, about putting disabled people in spaces where they can perform without having to strive to overcome the usual tedious access issues, or see other disabled people telling their truths, amplified and spotlit and attended to (or both, of course). All our performers have physical, mental, or sensory disabilities, or are neurodivergent (and most are a combination of the above), and there's something undeniable about being among the majority for once.

It is increasingly difficult to fund these events, despite all of the above, the Arts Council yet again turning us down, this time on the grounds that we hadn't "demonstrated the demand" for such an event. I'm pretty angry about this, but mostly in the "okay, fine, we'll just have to show them, then" way.

Rose is a terrifying force for nature and I'm glad we're on the same team.

So we're doing the event again in York, despite both of us being different types of really ill, and we're livestreaming and recording it, and we have an amazing lineup of artists that you should really grab the opportunity to witness, especially at the prices we're offering (hell, the livestream is pay-what-you-can!), and we're crowdfunding again, because that worked last time, but we're really behind, and could do with some help.

The events are so accessible it's unreal - fully wheelchair accessible venue, poem text projected onto the screens, BSL interpreters for all spoken word, Covid-safer performance space, I'll do audio descriptions for anyone who needs them, low ticket prices and discounts for disabled attendees (plus free access for personal assistants), and if I can find my Braille label-maker, we'll have a Brailled merch table to boot!

So if you fancy helping out an event that showcases some of today's most exciting disabled UK poets (Rick Dove and FR Kesby headlining?! What?!), or you just want some nifty merch, or you'd like to help us demonstrate to the Arts Council that yes, there's a bloody demand for this kind of work, you can click any of the links above to buy tickets for the York show or the livestream, sponsor us until 23rd December this year, or buy our merchandise in the shop.

And please, PLEASE do share this as widely as you can!

[pomeraniandancer]

How the fuck does this even happen...

There are a number of languages you can search for works in on AO3, including Eald Eanglisc of all things, but the one language on there that really throws me for a loop is...American Sign Language.

Like, is there even a video option on AO3 for this to be possible?

I once picked a really big fanfic collection to search for ASL fics in and the only one that categorized as ASL was *written* in English. No videofile too be seen.

The most you can do in ASL in writing is write English words with ASL syntax. But that's still not ASL. ASL does not have a written alphabet or syllabary.

Genuinely bewildered about how this came about. Can people just post something and write in an "other" language and AO3 just adds that language to the list of languages they have fics written in?

I can't think of any other way that this might've happened, and as much as I adore AO3, this is pretty problematic.

[unclepolyglot]

Writing Signed Languages in Fanfics

so i recently got into learning ASL (which is amazing!! i love it so much!!) and am planning to reference it when writing a Legend of Zelda fanfic, like certain facial expressions or how quickly/forcefully a sign is made, etc.

the thing is, since i'm hearing, i'm wondering if those of you who are d/Deaf or HoH can give me some tips on how to write a signing character, like things you wish you'd see in fanfics, or things you wish writers would stop doing.

also, to show that the MC is communicating in another language other than English, i'm thinking of using these Japanese 「quotation brackets」. thoughts?

[tuttle-did-it]

Why is there a BSL sign for a random, absurd word like this when there’s not an official way to say ‘non-binary’ or ‘they/them’ or even the word ‘pronoun’?

BSL, get with it. I can’t even identify myself in this language. There isn’t even a gender-neutral way to say ‘sibling’ or ‘parent.’

Frankly, I’m not enjoying learning BSL and I’m a little bitter that I have to because I’m deaf and need to talk to other humans. This language is absurd.

[tiddygame]

i have a confession:

i’ve been playing/watching my older siblings play cod games since i was way too young, bo2 defined my childhood, and i remember sobbing at the end of mwii (09)

i just found out roach isn’t american. he’s british.

idk why this entire time i thought otherwise but i am reeling.

[shayberri789]

I have a question for Deaf folk around the world (or anyone who uses sign language really, of any variety):

When you discuss fandom in SL (eg: A book, or a movie, or a game), do you spell the name of the media in it's full? Or do you abbreviate it the way we do online (Eg: tloz for legend of zelda, istv for into the spiderverse, pjo for percy jackson and the olympians)? Or do you come up with sign names for them?

Do you spell it out full the first time (maybe using corrisponding full signs where appropriate eg the 'in' movement for into, or 'legend' in legend of zelda) then point back to that space to refer to it again? Come up with an arbitary nickname for it for every conversation/depending on the person?

How do you navigate fandom and character names in sign?

[weneedatdcharacterwho]

We need a total drama character who doesnt/cant speak for one reason for another and uses sign language to communicate but no one on the show understands them (including Chris and everyone bts) exept one other camper. So the mute camper and the camper that also knows sign language just openly start an alliance and will shit talk who they’re voting off and plot who to eliminate next openly at marshmallow ceremonies, but nobody else has any idea they’re doing so Bonus points if the camper who can speak lies about what they’re discussing to everyone else.

And at some point I imagine Chris finds someone to translate the mute campers confessionals and discussions and shows it to the rest of the campers to “eliminate unfair advantages” (stir shit up) and everyones pissed

.

[necromancy-savant]

That one poll reminded me of how one time in high school one Ms. Pease saw me quietly listening to my ipod in the hallway waiting for my next class and she just ripped it out of my hands. And I was staring in pure dumb shock for like 30 seconds and she was like "are you coming or not." She then proceeded to explain, once we walked the whole fucking school to her shitty little office she shared with 15 other people, that ipods aren't allowed in hallways. Which was news to me on account of everyone had them or cd players. She was known for being horrible for no reason but damn. I wish it was her who got arrested for cocaine

[sniffanimal]

every time i start watching a video in sign language and start really worrying that my sign language skills are not nearly as good as i though they were, i realize the video was in BSL or AusLan -.-

[whumpcloud]

Are Clary and Cai Russian? I just wondered cuz i thought Nikitin sounded Russian and also they are Very Blonde

yes they are! more specifically their mother is irish and their father is russian, though they actually got the blonde from their mother lol.

[valyrfia]

predictions for the f1 2025 car launch in london:

someone forgets to send out the dress code. george russell turns up in an immaculately pressed suit, lando norris turns up in black sweatpants.

the british drivers are raised onto the stage like they’re in the eras tour

the non-british drivers have to come in through the crowd entrance and buy their own tickets

christian horner still hasn’t decided who’s filling that second red bull seat. as a result max is accompanied on stage by what seems to be three untrained rookies in a trenchcoat

speaking of max, he doesn’t speak a word the entire night preferring instead to communicate short answers in sign language.

the hosts keep trying to awkwardly fill time à la eurovision song contest

there are at least two fistfights

and one dogfight (leo and roscoe)

pierre and esteban stand next to each other at first before they have to awkwardly be reminded that they’re not teammates anymore

someone makes a thinly veiled reference to the mclaren 2024 rear wing

kimi antonelli gets booed (british crowd) and about half the grid has to be physically restrained from jumping on the audience

toto wolff tries to seduce max yet again.

max audibly laughs at him. this is the only time we hear his voice all night.

oscar piastri gets visibly teary at the sight of drs since it’s the last time it’ll be used in f1

fred vasseur makes an insane prediction on how many races ferrari will win. everyone laughs at him.

he ends up being absolutely right

fernando turns up in another team’s colours

it’s later revealed that one team paid the sound engineers to play thunderous applause when their car was revealed

one livery will merit audible laughter

it will be alpine’s.

[soup-mother]

this is a niche one but instead of "they would not fuckin say that" it's "they would not fucking use American sign language".

ASL is not the only sign language. two british characters in your fanfiction would not be using ASL. England in fact has its own kind of sign language, BSL, that forms a sign family with many other sign languages around the world.

ASL isn't even the original member of its sign family, it comes from french sign language. do you know sign languages aren't related to spoken languages? that's an important one! it's not a direct 1:1 with people speaking English around the world. people in other countries don't learn ASL just in case they run into an usamerican or Canadian (who do often use it)

i know the entire world is the USA or whatever and sign languages do sometimes borrow from ASL for signs they don't have, but please be aware that there are other sign languages and families in the world that are not in fact ASL.

[inspectorspacetimerevisited]

The Third Inspector admitted to mistaking Agrilons for Nomadians, after he accidentally made a rude face and learnt that Agrilons use hand signs for communication.

‘That explained why everyone was so offended when I twisted my moustache like that!’

[dannyphannypack]

Writing ASL: Techniques to Write Signed Dialogue

Hey, guys! I've been reading a lot of DC Batfamily fanfiction lately, and in doing so I realized how little I see of ASL being represented in written text (love you, Cass!). I wanted to briefly talk about tactics to writing American Sign Language (ASL), and ways that these techniques can help improve your writing in more general contexts!

SOME THINGS BEFORE WE GET STARTED

I will be discussing everything in terms of ASL! If you have a character who uses Chinese Sign Language or even British Sign Language, the same rules will not necessarily apply! Don't be afraid to do some extra research on them.

Do not let this dissuade you from writing a character who signs ASL! This is by no means the end-all be-all to writing ASL dialogue, and I do not intend this post to insinuate that by writing ASL the same way you write English you are deeply offending the Deaf community. If this is something you're interested in though, I highly recommend experimenting with the way you write it! Above all, have fun with your writing.

Related to 2nd rule, but still very important: not everyone will agree that sign language should be treated/written any differently than English. This is a totally valid and understandable stance to take! I do not hope to invalidate this stance by making this post, but rather to introduce an interested audience to how ASL operates in the modern world, and how that can be translated into text.

ADDRESSING SOME MISCONCEPTIONS

ASL is the same as English, just with gestures instead of words.

Actually, no! There is a language that exists that is like that: it's called Signing Exact English, and it's an artificial language; i.e., it did not come about naturally. All languages came from a need to communicate with others, and ASL is no different! It is a language all on it's own, and there is no perfect 1:1 way to translate it to English, just as any spoken language.

2. But everyone who signs ASL knows how to read English, don't they?

No, actually! Because it's a completely different language, people who sign ASL and read English can be considered bilingual: they now know two languages. In fact, fingerspelling a word to a Deaf person in search for the correct sign does not usually work, and is far from the preferred method of conversing with Deaf people.

3. Because ASL does not use as many signs as we do words to articulate a point, it must be an inferior language.

Nope! ASL utilizes 5 complex parameters in order to conversate with others: hand shape, palm orientation, movement, location, and expression. English relies on words to get these points across: while we may say "He's very cute," ASL will sign, "He cute!" with repeated hand movement and an exaggerated facial expression to do what the "very" accomplishes in the English version: add emphasis. Using only ASL gloss can seem infantilizing because words are unable to portray what the other four parameters are doing in a signed sentence.

4. Being deaf is just a medical disability. There's nothing more to it.

Fun fact: there is a difference between being deaf and being Deaf. You just said the same thing twice? But I didn't! To be deaf with a lowercase 'd' is to be unable to hear, while being Deaf with an uppercase is to be heavily involved in the Deaf community and culture. Deaf people are often born deaf, or they become deaf at a young age. Because of this, they attend schools for the Deaf, where they are immersed in an entirely different culture from our own. While your family may mourn the loss of your grandfather's hearing, Deaf parents often celebrate discovering that their newborn is also deaf; they get to share and enjoy their unique culture with their loved one, which is a wonderful thing!

YOU MENTIONED ASL GLOSS. WHAT IS THAT?

ASL gloss is the written approximation of ASL, using English words as "labels" for each sign. ASL IS NOT A WRITTEN LANGUAGE, so this is not the correct way to write it (there is no correct way!): rather, it is a tool used most commonly in classrooms to help students remember signs, and to help with sentence structure.

IF THERE'S NO CORRECT WAY TO WRITE IN ASL, THEN HOW DO I DO IT?

A most astute observation! The short answer: it's up to you. There is no right or wrong way to do it. The longer answer? Researching the culture and history, understanding sign structure, and experimenting with description of the 5 parameters are all fun ways you can take your ASL dialogue to the next level. Here are 3 easy ways you can utilize immediately to make dialogue more similar to the way your character is signing:

Sign languages are never as wordy as spoken ones. Here's an example: "Sign languages are never wordy. Spoken? Wordy." Experiment with how much you can get rid of without the meaning of the sentence being lost (and without making ASL sound goo-goo-ga-ga-y; that is to say, infantilizing).

Emotion is your friend. ASL is a very emotive language! If we were to take that sentence and get rid of the unnecessary, we could get something like "ASL emotive!" The way we add emphasis is by increasing the hand motion, opening the mouth, and maybe even moving the eyebrows. It can be rather intuitive: if you mean to say very easy, you would sign EASY in a flippant manner; if you mean to say so handsome, you would sign handsome and open your mouth or fan your face as if you were hot. Think about a game of Charades: how do you move your mouth and eyebrows to "act out" the word? How are you moving your body as your teammates get closer? There are grammar rules you can certainly look up if you would like to be more technical, too, but this is a good place to start!

Practice describing gestures and action. ASL utilizes three dimensional space in a lot of fun and interesting ways. Even without knowing what a specific sign is, describing body language can be a big help in deciphering the "mood" of a sentence. Are they signing fluidly (calm) or sharply (angry)? Are their signs big (excited) or small (timid)? Are they signing rushedly (impatient) or slowly? Messily (sad) or pointedly (annoyed)? Consider what you can make come across without directly addressing it in dialogue! Something ese about ASL is that English speakers who are learning it tend to think the speakers a little nosy: they are more than able to pick up on the unsaid, and they aren't afraid to ask about it.

Above all, don't be afraid to ask questions, do research or accept advice! New languages can be big and scary things, but don't let that make you shy away. Again, there is nothing wrong with deciding to write ASL the same as you write your English. I've personally found that experimenting with ASL dialogue in stories has aided me in becoming more aware of how to describe everything, from sappy emotional moments to action-packed fighting scenes. Writing ASL has helped me think about new ways to improve my description in more everyday contexts, and I hope it can be a big help to you as well, both in learning about Deaf culture and in pursuing your future writing endeavors. :)

P.S: I am quite literally only dipping my toes into the language and culture. I cannot emphasize how important it is to do your own research if it's someting you're interested in!

P.P.S: I want to apologize for my earlier P.S! What I meant by “I am … dipping my toes into the language and culture” was in direct regards to the post; what I should have said is “this post is only dipping its toes into the language and culture.” While I am not Deaf myself, I am a sophomore in college minoring in ASL and Deaf Culture, and I am steadily losing my hearing. Of course, that does not make me an authority figure on the topic, which is why I strongly encourage you to do your own research, ask your own questions, and consult any Deaf friends, family, or online peers you may have.