SignWriting List
April 21, 2002
>> Maria Azzopardi on Malta wrote:
Sorry for the delay in writing back re: the article. Well done
Valerie! I really enjoyed reading it. I also learnt something I never
knew before, that there are actually people who seem to be
anti-signwriting. Or at least people who believe that signwriting is
not so important for the Deaf (and ouch! that hurt ;) Congratulations
once again :) Maria
Dear SignWriting List Members, and Maria!
Thank you for this kind comment, Maria. The reporter, Margalit Fox,
wrote a good article. We were fortunate, since I had no control over
what they printed. They do not supply a copy for proof readers...so
whatever they print, they print!
Yes, it is true that there are negative reactions to SignWriting, but
in balance, there are also many positive reactions too...It depends
on the person and their attitudes towards deafness and signed
languages.
And these problems are becoming evident once again, now that the
article was published in the New York Times. I just received a
message from an educator who wants SignWriting, but she doesn't
"approve" of American Sign Language, and feels we should be writing
SEE signs. SEE signs, as you know, is the name of a signing system
here in the US that places signs in English word order, and also
changes some of the signs to match certain characteristics of English
- so it is not ASL.
Since SignWriting can write any body movement, it can be used to
write SEE, but when our Deaf Action Committee was active, we had
decided as a group to write ASL...
So sometimes the negative reactions stem from people's differing
philosophies on deaf education in general. For example, if a person
believes in oralism, there is a chance they will be against writing
signs...
I hope that the Maltese Deaf Community has not met so many obstacles,
as Deaf people do here in the US!
My best wishes -
--
Val ;-)
___________________________
Valerie Sutton
....visit the...
SignWritingSite
https://www.SignWriting.org
Read & Write Sign Languages
SignBankSite
https://www.SignBank.org
Sign Language Dictionaries
DanceWritingSite
https://www.DanceWriting.org
Read & Write Dance
MovementWritingSite
https://www.MovementWriting.org
Read & Write Movement & Gesture
Deaf Action Committee for SignWriting
Center For Sutton Movement Writing
an educational nonprofit organization
Box 517, La Jolla, CA, 92038-0517, USA
tel: 858-456-0098....fax: 858-456-0020
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