Susan is a woman who is partly Deaf. She practiced speaking while growing up, then went to Gallaudet University to learn American Sign Language. Now, she teaches hearing students and tells them that she is hard of hearing- so her students can ask her to repeat what she says if they don't understand her.
I became profoundly Deaf at nine months old. I grew up oral with using Signing Exact English; I went to speech class up till middle school. Then, I learned American Sign Language during my middle school and high school years. During my senior year at Model Secondary School for the Deaf, I learned and picked up a lot of ASL there. I wanted to continue using my ASL, so I decided to come to Gallaudet.
And, I don't know if I really have a native language? I am confused, I thought a native language was a language you are born with and know it well. I can speak English and write English well but 100% accurately, not. I can sign ASL well! A lot of people tell me I sign like I've grown up with ASL. People thought ASL was my native language. Do I really have a native language? Please tell me what you think.
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3 comments:
Why can't you say that you grew up English because that's all the knowledge your parents had at that time in your life?? Every deaf person or hispanic, doesn't matter if deaf or hearing, have their own unique story..It doesn't have to be right or what everyone did..it's your unique story that makes YOU who you are. Not what everybody says it should be..
So you were hearing till age 9 months. Then continued to learn English and sign language, I would say your native language is English. People think your native language is ASL, tell them thank you but I grew up with English. You must be pretty smart to have learned all those languages!! I think you should congratulate yourself!!! What an amazing acheivement!!
My mother learned ASL as I was growing up, and now she uses ASL with me- so no, English wasn't the only knowledge my mother had in my lifetime.
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