So the other day at work I had a deaf lady come through my till, she told me early into the transaction, but I found it difficult to decide on a method of communication beyond smiling and waving (when she left), and I've been thinking about the situation ever since. There should be more effective methods set in place for including people with disabilities of any kind so I've decided that this summer I'm going to try and learn some basic sign language, so in a situation like the other day, I can still effectively communicate as I would with a person who had full hearing.
It made me think though, would it not be beneficial to have some kind of program in which everybody, when they're are young to learn some sign language, it seems like such a simple thing that so many people are ignorant to including myself, but could make a dramatic difference in terms of inclusion.
So I've spent the last few hours going over some basic phrases, and now from memory I can recall the alphabet, 1-9, hello, goodbye, sign language, please, thank you, sorry, how are you?, happy, sad, good, tired, hungry, I & know :)
However, I decided that an effective way of learning would be use of an iPad app, and it surprised me how difficult it was to find a free app which gave more than a few useful words but not enough to be able to sustain any kind of conversation, for information that should be universally available
This is certainly going to be a challenge so wish me luck!
XOX
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