Deaf people must all be insomniacs too

[John the Monkey]

The expressiveness is all part of the language - a very stony faced interpreter wouldn't be much good...

I can imagine, although the lady in question was more enthusiastic than most I've seen.

 

[Danny]

My best mates parents are deaf and we've been at plenty of functions, weddings, christenings etc where his dad has stood up to make a speech.

Richard has always signed these where possible and Jeff usually tells a few jokes at the end.

The timing is priceless and they make a very good double act.

I once went to a big 40th birthday party where most of the people were deaf or, if not, were able to sign. It was a very interesting and challenging experience being one of the small minority who couldn't sign.

During the evening there was a succession of signed "speeches" which must have gone on for a good hour - apparently this is a big feature of social gatherings involving deaf people.

 

[Arch]

I once went to a big 40th birthday party where most of the people were deaf or, if not, were able to sign. It was a very interesting and challenging experience being one of the small minority who couldn't sign.

Yes, it's a sobering experience to suddenly find yourself in the minority, and excluded from understanding what's going on. Until I learned sign (mostly forgotton now, but I expect I coud pick it up again fairly quickly), I had no idea that it was more than just a translation, and that being a language in it's own right, it brought with it issues of community and culture like any other language. I understadn that many deaf people consider themselves to have a separate culture in a way that, for example, blind people don't - because they still use English, just translated into Braille for them to read.