Special Training Tools for the Deaf in a Machine Shop

[WKHANNA]

Thanks to all for your insights and suggestions. Especially Ifrost, Jennifer & Michael M.

I am finding my time spent with this special young man to be quite inspirational. His self-taught ability to adapt to and function in our world when few others seem to put forth any effort to understand his is quite humbling. This event has begun a learning, fascinating and rewarding experience for us both. Should I earn only a fraction of the respect I have for him, I will consider it honorable.

I am also pleased with the overwhelmingly positive reaction of, and interactions with our other employees. His tack & sophisticated sense of humor have already enamored him to many. For those who have never experienced the social web & hierarchy of daily life in a machine shop, I will only say that faint hearted action, thin skin and braggarts are soon revealed and seldom, if ever, suffered.

 

[lfrost]

Thanks to all for your insights and suggestions. Especially Ifrost, Jennifer & Michael M.

I am finding my time spent with this special young man to be quite inspirational. His self-taught ability to adapt to and function in our world when few others seem to put forth any effort to understand his is quite humbling. This event has begun a learning, fascinating and rewarding experience for us both. Should I earn only a fraction of the respect I have for him, I will consider it honorable.

I am also pleased with the overwhelmingly positive reaction of, and interactions with our other employees. His tack & sophisticated sense of humor have already enamored him to many. For those who have never experienced the social web & hierarchy of daily life in a machine shop, I will only say that faint hearted action, thin skin and braggarts are soon revealed and seldom, if ever, suffered.

WKHANNA,

You will find a whole new world awaits you as you learn about the Deaf World. A little known fact: In 2005 American Sign Language was the third most "spoken" language in the United States.

I agree, you will find that you will some interesting things that this employee will be able to do. I for one, am surprised when I look at all the things a person who cannot hear is able to perform.

 

[bbarbee]

As a note, one of the things I learned (note, I am not an expert in any way) was in 'ASL' you don't phrase things the same as speaking english. there are two types of ASL, one is basic and one is 'conversational'. Most speak basic. You don't say, 'would you please go to the store and get bread', what you end up saying is 'go store bread'. It does tend to sound harsher than we are use to and our guy explained that sometimes he reverts back to basic even when typing as that is his 'thinking process'.

Spot on. ASL is not a code or a substitution for English. It has its own grammar, and when a Deaf person writes in English they will typically make grammatical errors because of this. It's fortunate that your guy and the OP's both are literate - many born Deaf are not. I've got a good friend who's an ASL interpreter, and if you pay attention, it's not too hard to pick up some signs that help you communicate. I've been able to have simple conversations with Deaf people here and there, and it's a neat experience. It's really foreign because you can't translate it in your head as easily as with spoken languages.

 

[lfrost]

bbarbee,

One thing that your ASL interpreter friend will tell you is that ASL is it's own stand alone language. It has its own syntax and sentence structure. Most Deaf do not understand this because they never learned ASL in the schools. They learn it from their parents or friends who are Deaf. Here in the US, when a Deaf person goes to a Deaf School, they do not learn ASL, but English. Something which preplexed my sons as they were growing up. They now understand, because they were "mainstreamed" in public schools and did not go to a deaf school. One thing to remember, ASL is a language of "signs" and is not a written language. Hence, the subject of English being taught to the Deaf.

On a personal note (I know this may not be the plateform for this, but I mention it anyway): My oldest Deaf son is with an organization known as Signwriting.org. They are in the process of developing a way of communicating in ASL as a written language. If you are interested, you may look at the website (same as the organization) My son's name is Adam.

 

[Jen Kirley]

bbarbee,

One thing that your ASL interpreter friend will tell you is that ASL is it's own stand alone language. It has its own syntax and sentence structure. Most Deaf do not understand this because they never learned ASL in the schools. They learn it from their parents or friends who are Deaf. Here in the US, when a Deaf person goes to a Deaf School, they do not learn ASL, but English. Something which preplexed my sons as they were growing up. They now understand, because they were "mainstreamed" in public schools and did not go to a deaf school. One thing to remember, ASL is a language of "signs" and is not a written language. Hence, the subject of English being taught to the Deaf.

On a personal note (I know this may not be the plateform for this, but I mention it anyway): My oldest Deaf son is with an organization known as Signwriting.org. They are in the process of developing a way of communicating in ASL as a written language. If you are interested, you may look at the website (same as the organization) My son's name is Adam.

Thank you so much for this valuable piece of insight - one of many! I was once a certified Industrial Arts teacher though my time in the schools was mostly spent with Title 1 students. By the time I left I was not sure that mainstreaming was a good idea. You just gave me an excellent example of what it was intended to accomplish as an education system design feature. Thank you.

 

[Jen Kirley]

Thanks to all for your insights and suggestions. Especially Ifrost, Jennifer & Michael M.

I am finding my time spent with this special young man to be quite inspirational. His self-taught ability to adapt to and function in our world when few others seem to put forth any effort to understand his is quite humbling. This event has begun a learning, fascinating and rewarding experience for us both. Should I earn only a fraction of the respect I have for him, I will consider it honorable.

I am also pleased with the overwhelmingly positive reaction of, and interactions with our other employees. His tack & sophisticated sense of humor have already enamored him to many. For those who have never experienced the social web & hierarchy of daily life in a machine shop, I will only say that faint hearted action, thin skin and braggarts are soon revealed and seldom, if ever, suffered.

This is so encouraging. I worked with many students who wanted to be taken seriously and too often were not. These young people had gifts worth sharing and could work, but almost all of them were certain to find achieving gainful employment to be a huge task because of their conditions. I had a brother with CP and epilepsy who never did manage to get a good job - all he could get was busing tables but my mom did eventually get him into business school via a program called Voc Rehab.

We who get a chance to work with challenged people very often come away with more than we entered into the relationship with. I learned a lot from my brother, and I learned a lot from my students too. I'm so happy you and your new machinist are getting along. So far, so good!

 

[lfrost]

Thank you Jennifer for your insights!

I too, have had the opportunity to hire deaf persons and am amazed at their care and understanding as they learn their duties on the job. You really do ge a chance to learn more than they when you give the opportunity for employment to the challenged. For they will show you that they are just as able to fulfill the duties as those of us who have no "handicap."