This week is Deaf/Hard of Hearing Awareness Week.
Let's celebrate our differences!! Here are 5 things you may not know....
1. The Huddle for football was created by deaf players from Gallaudet University (an all deaf liberal college.) They created the huddle so the other team wouldn't see their hands (sign language) or faces- (read lips) for plays.
2. Where did we get….Hand signals for strikes and balls in baseball?
Invented by William Hoy, an outfielder who was deaf and played for the five different major league teams as an outfielder for fifteen years. Hoy hit a grand-slam home run in 1901 which was the first ever grand-slam in the American League. Now all baseball teams use his hand signals.
3. Is Sign language universal or the same all over the world???
No, American Sign Language is a visual-gestural language used by Deaf people in the United States and Canada. Nearly every country has its own sign languages.
4. Gaining a person's attention and facing them is the best way to communicate with a person with a hearing difference.
5. Lip reading is harder than it looks…
Statistically, people who read lips only understand about 30 percent of what’s being said, and a lot of meaning is gathered purely from context. Everyone speaks differently, some people have accents or mustaches, while others don’t move their mouths much while speaking, so it shouldn’t be assumed that a deaf person can read your lips. Feel free to use other ways to communicate such as with a pen and paper or a phone.
Bonus: The PC terms to use: Deaf or hard of hearing OR people with a hearing difference.
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Carre Klein, Teacher of the Deaf/Hard of hearing