Not An App But The Knoxville Center Of The Deaf Will Have Free Classes Starting In January. If You Can't

Fireworks

Sources: SigningSavvy, ASLDeafined

[Fireworks in American Sign Language. Hands crossed in S handshape separate as they move up and open to 5 handshape. Movement is repeated three times as body rotates from left to right. Movement is illustrated by arms that are translucent green, blue, purple, and pink in different stages of the sign.

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i know hearing people on this website love to pass around those posts with links to free sign language lessons but you know you need to actually put effort into learning about Deaf culture, too, right?

What kind of technology do you think would help d/Deaf / HoH people in the future? Should there be more research into improving hearing aids, or making real-time captioning glasses, or maybe AI that can translate sign language instead of a human interpreter? What would be super useful if it existed?

Hello,

hearing loss is very varied, as are the types of communication people use. As such, I wouldn't focus on one single technology, since it wouldn't fit all deaf people.

Hearing aids can't be much improved, imo - they work on making sounds louder for existing hearing. They can be fine tuned, but they are more akin to glasses. The biggest issue with hearing aids isn't technology, but their price - they often aren't covered by insurance and as such, remain inaccessible for lot of people. There is also a significant stigma about their usage, esp for people who lose hearing later in life and discomfort with using them. I think that should be the priority.

Cochlear implants are a hearing device which can still be improved and does keep improving every year. Ideal end goal would be hearing identical to natural hearing and smaller size of implant. Current implants do work well, but sounds from them are different compared to "ordinary" hearing (more robotized, less fine) and they are still fairly big. Of course, you can't make them too small, otherwise you wouldn't be able to operate them. And same as hearing aids, price remains a problem - not just price of surgery and implant itself, but of batteries and upkeep.

I would honestly love real time caption glasses! They do exist in some way nowadays, but not in any practical form. One of the biggest issues is that automatic caption is still pretty... hit or miss. Especially in louder environments, extra especially if your language isn't English. I do think its a neat technology that could be useful, but we are far from its ideal existence. (not to mention, problems with privacy, connection to internet, how to power them, price, etc etc.)

There already has been some attempts into artificial interpreter, but nothing really workable. Big issue is that you need both technology that produces very fine tuned movement of all top parts of body (including face expressions) and is able to capture movement and recognize movement. Another issue is that you would need to have a workable library of all signs in a specific sign language. ASL is probably the closest to it, but it would need to be likely captured for that technology specifically and that's insane amounts of work. Unlike with written English, you can't just scrape internet for signs - they are in various video forms, differ slightly, lot of signs aren't on internet at all... To have AI interpreter, you first need to have a great, indexed sign language dictionary and that doesn't really exist at the moment.

(there are various online dictionaries but their quality... is in my opinion not up to par for this)

The biggest problem often isn't technical limit of technology itself, but the amount of time and money it would need for these technologies to exist. That's why cochlear implants get most "updates", bcs its funded by big medical companies and it brings lot of money.

In ideal world, I would love to have all of these technologies. If you focus on just one, you risk leaving part of community in the lurch. Not all deaf/hoh people use sign language. Not all deaf/hoh people want or can use hearing aids or cochlear implants. Not all deaf/hoh people are good readers (either due language issues or additional disabilities).

Hope this helped,

Mod T

Late Night

Double Feature

Picture Show

Deaf Broadway's Rocky Horror Picture Show

[Image ID:

Image 1: graphic design of the sign Late Night in ASL.

Image 2: graphic design of the sign twice in ASL.

Image 3: graphic design of the sign show twice in ASL.

Image 4: graphic design of hands representing light being projected.

Image 5: graphic design of the sign show, as in performance, in ASL.

All images are translucent red, black, grey, and white in different stages of the signs.

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Imani(Faith)

Faith

Sources: National Black Deaf Advocates, SigningSavvy, Lifeprint, ASLDeafined

[Image ID

The sign for Faith in American Sign Language. F handshape taps forehead then taps base hand in F handshape. Movement is illustrated by arms that are translucent red, green, and black in different stages of the sign. Eyes are black. Background is white.

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Surgery

Sources: SigningSavvy, Lifeprint, ASLDeafined

[Image ID:

Surgery in American Sign Language. Hand in A handshape drags thumb against base hand in open B handshape. Movement is illustrated by arms that are translucent green and blue in different stages of the sign.

End ID]

Overcome

Sources: SigningSavvy, Lifeprint, ASLDeafined

[Image ID:

Overcome in American Sign Language. Hand in S handshape moves down over base hand in S handshape. Movement is illustrated by arms that are translucent green and blue in different stages of the sign.

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Technology

Sources: SigningSavvy, Lifeprint, ASLDeafined

[Image ID: technology in American Sign Language. Hand in 8 handshape taps the side of base hand in open B handshape. Hands are robotic with frayed red wires coming out of the dominant hand's pinky finger. End ID]

could i request 'rabbit' for lunar new year? thank you :)

Rabbit

Sources: SigningSavvy, Lifeprint, ASLDeafined

[Image ID:

Rabbit in American Sign Language. Both hands stacked in front of signer wiggle between U handshape and N handshape. Movement is illustrated by arms that are translucent green and blue in different stages of the sign.

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I went to a production of The Last Five Years where they incorporated ASL and it was absolutely Beautiful! The play is full of parallels and opposites and the way they did it built upon that.

In The Last Five Years you see a 5 year relationship between a man and a woman. From the man's perspective, you see their relationship from falling in love to the end of their relationship, but you see the women's perspective in reverse: from divorce to first date.

The actress for the woman was deaf and used ASL. An "inner voice" sang her parts from a platform in the back. The actor who played the man sang his parts and an interpreter, his "inner voice" translated from the platform. Except during the wedding scene the actor signed his vows as he sang

My favorite songs were, in order, Still Hurting(absolutely devastating in ASL), The Schmuel Song, and The Next Ten Minutes

It was amazing. I cried

[Image ID:

Program for The Last Five Years. The top is white and has line art of two hands in the C handshape. It resembles the end of the sign without from above. The bottom is black and has line art of two hands in the F handshape touching in the sign for connection. They are separated by line art colored in with read of two hads reaching out, the left one with the palm down, the right one with palm up.

Image words:

Written & Composed by Jason Robert Brown. Deaf Austin Theatre & Ground Theatre present: The Last Five Years

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Hello and welcome to my dumbass opinions. Every musical should be translated into ASL, however there are a few that I have come across that I think it would be especially fun and cool. Here's those

Six-No plot changes here, I just think ASL would look really cool and beautiful worked into the chorography

Beetlejuice-What i was thinking is that Lydias mom could sign but her dad cannot. In the later parts of the show Beetlejuice could act as her voice maybe? Very rough ideas but I think it would be so cool

Hades Town- Oh my gosh this one would just be so pretty, I think most of the characters would function as two(sign and voice) excluding Hades, Hermes and the Fates.(they would talk/sing while signing) The ensemble would be mixed using people signing and people singing together. Ithink it would be so pretty and I want it

That's all the ones I have really thought about. Please keep in mind that I am just learning ASL and I am by no means an expert. Do you guys have any ideas?