(marker scratching)
(Pokemon game sound)
Hello, and welcome to episode six,
of... I think it's six,
of Deaf Poynters where I talk to you
or, you know, give you advice or whatever
about Deaf and/or disability-related problems
in the car, pretending we're going for a drive.
But the truth is I may have to,
I may have to start thinking about
changing the setup 'cause it is getting too damn hot
to start filming in this car anymore.
North Carolina springs and summers are nothing to mess with
in a car where you have
no air conditioning.
I have air conditioning, but it's too loud for this.
So, with that said, let's get on with this episode.
"Hey Rikki, I just signed up
"to the local Deaf social club in my area
"since I am learning Auslan, Australian Sign Language.
"I recently found out that people who aren't Deaf
"can't give out sign names.
"Out of curiosity, why is that?
"Also, if you're hard of hearing,
"can you give out sign names?"
Very good question, a lot of people don't know this.
First things first, hard of hearing can fall under Deaf
because we are talking about culturally Deaf people
and not just lower d, medically deaf people.
That sounds kind of strange when you word it like that.
Real quick, the difference between lower d deaf
and big D Deaf, lower d, big D,
is there's a medical and a cultural difference.
So even in the big D,
yes, you're still medically deaf obviously
but it's more than this.
This is just, okay, I'm deaf.
These people mostly are just oral.
Kind of like how I was basically, and still sort of am,
depending on the situation.
But then when you got big D over here,
the whole cultural thing, you know.
Fluent in sign language,
the sign language of the country that you're in.
And then very involved in Deaf cultural things,
events, meet-ups, anything.
Very involved in history and what have you.
So there's a difference there.
So you can be hard of hearing and be in this,
and you can also be hard of hearing and be in this, sort of, area.
So there's that.
So yes, hard-of-hearing people,
assuming that you are Deaf, the big D Deaf,
and in that little cultural thing,
yes, they can give out sign names.
So, to talk about why only Deaf people
can give sign names.
Now, if you're hearing, let's get this out of the way.
If you're hearing and you're gonna give out a sign name
because you don't care, so be it
but it doesn't mean that people are gonna approve of it,
so okay.
Nobody can force you to not follow a cultural rule,
but you know, you do you.
So, okay,
now onto the point.
The reason why is because it is a cultural thing.
That's what it is.
So you could consider it cultural appropriation,
I know, that big bad word that a lot of people hate.
You could consider it cultural appropriation
when a hearing person gives out a sign name.
And yes, that includes CODA, a.k.a. a child of Deaf adults.
So there are two pages that I screenshotted
that really explain why
it's very much only appropriate
for Deaf people to give out sign names.
I feel like that's probably a better word to say,
it's more appropriate, whatever.
So my friend Abby from Deafle Puff made a post about this,
and I'll take out a little part of it.
So in the first paragraph she talks
about how if you get a sign name, right.
She says "the sign name must be agreed upon by you
"and most importantly, the Deaf community."
So when I got my sign name, which by the way is this.
You know, K.
I.
Two K's in my name,
which sometimes I end up doing it three times but, yeah.
I have a video, wherever side it will be,
about my sign name if you wanna go watch that.
And it was agreed upon,
Josh Castille made it up, Jules was involved in the,
"Do we agree on this?"
And then I said yes.
So, okay.
"I am going to make this part clear though.
"Hearing people are not allowed to give sign names.
"Even CODAs aren't allowed.
"Only a deaf
"and a hard-of-hearing individual is allowed
"who is involved in the Deaf community.
"Why am I mentioning this?
"Many hearing assume that just because
"they have a deaf or hard-of-hearing friend,
"that means that the deaf and hard-of-hearing person
"give a hearing person a sign name.
"Wrong, we must get to know you,
"understand your personality, who you are
"before even deciding to give you one.
"You must also be a good working..."
that has nothing to do with it.
Okay.
"We can't just give you a sign name,
"and a community must agree with it, too.
"Why?
"Because some people or a location may have a similar sign
"for some one thing which may not be appropriate
or offensive."
So that's not really about,
that's more about hearing people receiving sign names
or something like that,
but here's something from lifeprint.com,
which I absolutely love.
If you're trying to learn ASL, and you're kind of,
and you can't afford classes
and you don't know any Deaf people around you,
Lifeprint is the way to go.
I have that, it's great.
Okay so Bill Vicars, is it "Vickers" or "Vyckers"?
I think it's Vickers.
"In general, only people who are culturally Deaf
"should give name signs to others."
So operative word being should.
"The reason you should get your name sign
"from a Deaf person skilled in ASL
"and active in the Deaf community is because
"such individuals have enough experience to know
"if a potential sign name is grammatically correct
"and culturally appropriate.
"Getting your name sign from a Deaf person
"who is active in the Deaf community
"helps ensure that your new sign name
"doesn't conflict with local name signs
"or those belonging to a prominent
"or historically important individuals."
So I think that last paragraph right there
pretty much sums it up very, very well.
Gives more of an explanation rather than just
no, you can't do this, or, because it's a cultural thing.
This just gives you a little bit more of a detail,
and hopefully, hopefully gets hearing people
to kind of understand why that's kind of not a thing.
I think I've seen some comments on some past videos
about how... coming from hearing people,
and they're kind of like,
"Well why can't I give a sign name?
"What the heck?" You know.
But that paragraph is why.
Because Deaf people who grew up with this, with the language
will know more
and better than you.
Especially if you're not very familiar with any history, you know.
If you were to give them something that's inappropriate,
that would be a bad thing.
Hopefully that makes sense.
Hopefully that gives you a little bit of insight
and helps every single one of you
understand a little bit better.
Also I don't think I said who sent in that question.
The person's name is Miranda.
So thank you Miranda for this question.
I very much appreciate it.
If you have a question or something
that you would like answered, like my advice,
or if you want me to just rant along with you,
'cause we know I'm good at that,
I'm good at running my mouth (laughs)
leave a... gimme a... blah blah blah.
Send me an email at deafpoynters@gmail.com
right here. You know.
Over here.
Don't forget to check out my website deafpoynters.com
where there are articles and stuff that you can read,
and rikkipoynter.com, which is my public speaking website
and I would love to be hired for stuff.
If you wanna follow me on all of my social media,
links to that will be down below.
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I upload every Monday, Thursday
and Deaf Poynters on Saturdays.
And I will see you later.
Bye.