CAbed, Inc. >> ASL

American Sign Language (ASL) is a true language. It is used everyday by thousands of people all over the country. My interest in ASL began when I worked with a consumer at my current job named Howard. He was not mentally disabled, but he was physically handicapped. Howard has a rare and unknown disease that slowly broke down his muscles. Over time, this wierd (if you would) disease took away his hearing and then his sight. After Howard became deaf, he learned ASL. Then, after his loss of sight occured, he learned braille.

There were two ways Howard communicated with the outside world. Since Howard was born with the ability to see and hear, he developed the ability to speak like a non-disabled child would. The challenge for Howard wasn't that he couldn't tell a person what he wanted, but knowing their response. On Howard's computer, he used a braille interface to read what was displayed on the screen. To type, Howard used the keyboard normally by shifting his weight around to press the keys.

In person, if Howard wanted to talk to you, he would speak normally. In order to know the person's response, they would take his left hand and use the Manual ASL Alphabet and press it into his hand, spelling out each word. For the untrained person, they would spell it out with their finger. After working with him for a few months, using the ASL alphabet became like second nature for me.

To get the 411 on ASL, here are some useful links I like:

ASL Manual Alphabet*
The Deaf Resource Library
NIDCD

*Requires Adobe Acrobat