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From:
Stefan Woehrmann2 Date: Tue Jul 31, 2001 9:13 am Subject: Re: skepticism about SignWriting | ||||||||||||
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Dear Valerie and listmembers, these days I am looking for many different sources to prepare a presentation of SignWriting at a very important meeting of DEAF and in DEAF culture interested people - I had a close look at the developental stages and invention of the Braille - system - It is so amazing - there are sooo many relevant parallel experiences. Poor Mr Braille has not been so lucky to see his invention - which is accepted world wide today - to be accepted during his lifetime. He even was forbidden to use it at school ! His books were burnt !!! Can you imagine ?? People have had very emotional discussions and people who declared themthelves to be the experts in teaching the blind to read and learn - explained that the Braille -system will not be good for the blind !!! Ha - it is really very, very intersting. In the end the blind people never stopped to describe their positive experiences with this new "6-dot - system" and got the possibility to use it ... Many of the questions they discussed at that time may be of interest in our days when we discuss to create literature written in SW - Stefan ;-) ----- Original Message ----- From: Valerie Sutton To: Sent: Friday, July 27, 2001 3:38 PM Subject: Re: skepticism about SignWriting SignWriting List July 27, 2001 Thank you for this message, Stefan! I appreciate your loving support for SignWriting in Germany, and your web site is truly wonderful. I can imagine there is some skepticism in Germany too. You are always so positive and upbeat, that we do not see the problems you may face day to day ;-) You are right that new ideas are frightening for everyone - for us too! I remember, back around 1992 or so...arguing that the internet would never be useful for me...what a laugh! Look at me now... So everyone argues against new ideas from time to time....we may not realize at the time we are doing it...but it seems to be a part of human nature.....1. to resist, 2. then think about it, 3. then try it, 4. then get enthusiastic.... So give your skeptics in Germany some time...they may learn from your example and in time, they may become your greatest supporters ;-) And just as it takes time to accept the need for SignWriting, it takes time to develop the invention too. 27 years of development is nothing, from an historical perspective.... So spelling questions will slowly be answered....those same spelling questions took centuries to be developed in our spoken languages. If it takes me a little time to answer all your technical questions by email...considering all that I am doing...I am doing the best I can...and you are learning...even if it is not fast enough for you ;-) Regarding lessons on email....although anyone can do this kind of thing... it is rare to find lessons on email on other subjects. So that is another new idea we are developing...and although it may not be as good as a real teacher, it is better than nothing!! Have you started your own SignWriting List in Germany in German, Stefan? You might consider starting lessons in SignWriting specifically for your country...that might help a little... Val ;-) --------------------- Stefan from Germany wrote: >thank you very much for your message. It is a very common and >important experience - there are still other people who seem to be >pretty much afraid of what is going on in these days. >For such a long time people tried to experiment with various >notation systems for SL - and all the systems before seemed to be to >complicated or too timeconsuming or simply not ready for every day >use. And now >a hearing person - a dancer - who doesn ±² care too much about the >linguistic problems that are connected to SL invents a Movement >Writing systems that should be usefull and practical in order to >"write" SL ?? >I bet that many " famous researcher in deafness " are still more >than skeptical. What are the reasons ? There may be many reasons - >but one on the top of the list may be that people are in general >afraid of new concepts. People in general are afraid to change their >minds and concepts that helped them to get along so far - and one of >these concepts seems to be that there is no way to read and write SL. >To my astonishment I read in the past a few skeptical comments >about GebaerdenSchrift (=SW) in Germany - and nobody of them would >be able to understand our email -lessons. In fact I heard some >comments in discussions about it - but these people hadn't even seen >one single sign written in SW !!!!!!!! They simply argued against >it - hm - --- > >So - if this big change does not suit their plans - there may be a >underlying fear of becoming incompetent. This can lead to >overreaction or even hatred - Most of them try to fight this fear by >not discussing or even mentioning this new writing system. SW works >as all of us know who are looking at the childrens pride, who are >amazed that we can read each others movement-descriptions. .. > >On the other hand - I ±> afraid that I would not have been able to >understand the chances and concepts if I had stumbled over SW 15 >years ago. The development that has taken place in the meantime is >enormous. At the same time - at least here in Germany time has >changed the attitude towards SL in general. Now we are going to >support teachers for the deaf to become more familiar with DGS !!! >I guess that the Literaca Project has been a wonderfull idea to >enable schools to get the foot into the door ! The internet allows >us to exchange our spelling problems. We don ±² have to wait for >weeks for our answers - well if Valerie is not too busy behind the >scenes ;-))))))) >The practical problems that occur day by day if you are working on a >daily basis need to be solved. > >Well - and we have to admit that there is a big difference : >Learning to read SW is sooooo easy - but learning to write is not !! >What we need is more basic knowledge of why and how ... and lots of >these wonderfull, wonderfull email - lessons with the attached gifs >that help to clarify things. > >Thank you Valerie for your kind and generous support ! > >There are still many more things to learn in detail but the system >seems to be a wonderfull tool for both groups of SL-user . (hearing >and deaf) > >The better I can explain how to read and write movements the better >are my chances to present SignWriting as a gift for those who are >ready to look for a answer to their questions. There is no need to >try to convince any >"famous researcher" . Time is on our side :-)))) > >Hopefully we will discuss soon your next spelling questions !!! ;-) > >All the best > >Stefan ;-) > > > | ||||||||||||
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