My First Deaf Event

On September 16th, at 4:45 pm I attended my very first Deaf event of my life. The Deaf event that I attended was held at the Hawk’s Hangout with a few of my fellow students, and two Deaf people, my teacher Paul Kiel and Rodger. During the event many things were going through my head, but I was still able to learn a few new signs, and even learn more about the cultural differences between English and American Sign Language. While attending my first Deaf event many different thoughts and feelings crossed my mind. When first walking into the event, I was very nervous, I had no idea what to expect. Once I sat down and introduced my self I was able to collect my thoughts, realizing it wouldn’t be so bad after all. The only Deaf person that I have ever been around has been my ASL teacher Paul Kiel, so trying to communicate with someone that I hadn’t seen sign before was more difficult than I thought. The other Deaf person at the event was Rodger. When I was first introduced to Rodger, he was trying to fingerspell me his name, but I had no idea what it was. I kept having Rodger fingerspell his name again and again, but he just signed it much faster than what I was used to. After about the 5th time of having Rodger spell his name I was finally able to catch on and
figure out what he was fingerspelling. The longer I was at the Hawk’s Hangout the more comfortable I was at the event. Even though many thoughts were running through my head, I was still able to learn more about the Deaf culture, and even learn some new signs.
When Rodger was signing about his life I was able to pick up a couple of new signs, the signs for two years ago, college, and school. Also watching Rodger sign I was able to realize how important facial expression is when it comes to signing something. During the event we wanted to watch the news, but unfortunately someone took the television we wanted to use. They didn’t really understand why we needed the TV and even tried to ignore us. This event allowed me to learn many new things that I hadn’t known before, such as new signs and more about the Deaf culture
itself. By attending my very first Deaf event I will be able to take what I learned from this event and use it in the next one that I attend. The best way to learn American Sign Language is to communicate with a Deaf person. During the event many things were running through my head, but I was able to learn new signs, and even learn more about the cultural differences between English and American Sign Language. I am glad that I was able to attend my first Deaf event at the Hangout, without attending, I wouldn’t know as much as I do now about the Deaf community.