Sunday, May 30, 2010

Percentage of Deaf in the USA and Finger Spelling

Sorry, I haven't been writing recently. I've mostly been writing in my private and scripture blog. I've noticed that I love blogging. It takes me a while to write a single post though. I probably average around forty minutes. I really want to write about Zion National Park and Angels Landing; however, I need to go to bed. Maybe, I can write about it tomorrow. I just wanted to write a quick entry about the percentage of deaf adults in the United States. For my infectious disease class, we had to sign up for a weekly and monthly newsletter that's published by the CDC. I haven't gotten rid of it because it's interesting to browse through. I came across an article that gave the stats of the adults who were deaf in the United States. Almost three percent are deaf!!!! No wonder one rarely sees sign language!!! One cannot find people who are deaf unless the look in the right places. I've seen sign language a little here at BYU. Probably, it's the same student that I'm seeing. I don't know though. I've forgotten many of the signs which I've learned at SCC. I sort of miss sign language. When taking sign, I was always bad at finger spelling. At first, I just wrote down the letter on a piece of paper. Then, my teacher had me finger spell along with her. It really worked; however, I was still bad at recognizing words. I've noticed that problem is showing up when I text. I have T9 word on my phone. So, I have to have it the word all spelled out in my head because I can't see it on the screen while texting. Sometimes, words give me trouble because I can't figure out how to spell them without typing or writing them down. Twice the word appointment has given me trouble.

1 comment:

ZenHG said...

Interesting. My older brother is Deaf. He was born early and his ears were not entirely developed. He went to a school for the Deaf in Post Falls, so I grew up around people who sign all the time.
A majority of his friends are deaf.

He knows Alaskan Sign and American Sign, essentially speaking two different languages.
We were both born in Anchorage and that is where he spent the first nine years of his life. He learned how to actually speak from a computer program.
My older brother is awesome, State Champion in Wrestling and Soccer, almost played for the Seattle Sounders, blew out his knee, but then took up rock climbing.
He has been through a lot. His wife was deaf due to a heart condition, unfortunately she died not too long ago and he was left with two children to raise.
His oldest daughter had a twin brother that died eight days after birth, his first daughter died of the same heart condition as her mother.
Both his children can hear, but sign anyway.
Interestingly enough, his family, like my grandparents, were Mormon too.