Hello Cindy,

  CH> Andy? I was fuming over sad sorry pathetic fact for
    > years. OH yes let us feel sorry for the POOOOOOOOr
    > hearing person!!! Afterall the hearing loss is THEIR
    > Loss and for THEM to have to adjust to. OH yes.!

I'm not sure I understood a third of that.  ;-)

  CH> And they act like scared rabbits. Notice how they
    > won't even use body language. They freeez up! They RUN
    > AWAY...I go gaga when  I meet a rare gem that doesn't
    > act like a victim when I tell him or she is told I am
    > deaf..

    I'll put my hand up to being a scared rabbit.  My
two-year-old daughter signs.  We started teaching her when she was a baby
because it was a convenient way for her to communicate with us.  This was
long before we found out that she has a significant speech delay.  A speech
therapist visits twice weekly, with a developmental therapist tagging along
on one day a week.  There's a fairly intensive effort to teach her to
speak, which is as it should be.  That said, I want her to continue signing
and I think it would be helpful for her to play with other signing
children.  I know I need to take a proper ASL class too.  I have no idea
how people from local deaf community will react to a hearing dad and
daughter who try to communicate in ASL.

- Andy Ball.

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