Sarah was sitting nicely at her desk in English class. Except that it wasn't English class, yet, because the bell hadn't rung. It was still a couple of minutes until....
A girl came over and waved at her.
Sarah didn't know the girl, but she waved back. After all, it usually doesn't hurt to pretend to be friendly. I mean sociable.
The girl became very excited. She smiled and waved her arms around a bit, and then she starts talking very animatedly and hurriedly to the interpreter, "She understood me! She waved back! She understood I meant 'hello!'"
So do most untrained monkeys, but...
Sarah said, "Yes, waving is also a way of saying 'Hello' in sign language."
The girl continued on in her excited vein, this time speaking to Sarah, while the interpreter interpreted.
"I want to learn sign language and then I can be your friend and you won't be alone!"
Of course, Sarah is never "alone". Sarah has her retinue.
She has two trained adults following her around from place to place.
Well, actually more like 4 trained adults.
There is the interpreter, and 3 different people who type for the speech to text service that she has in 4 classes.
Oh yes, and she actually has some friends, but we probably should be nice and not spoil the young lady's image of herself as....
"And you look just like Hellen Keller!"
Huh?
The girl explains that Sarah looks like Helen Keller in the movie- with her curly hair.
I am fervently hoping that the girl realizes that this was an actress playing the part of Helen Keller.
But you know, all of those blind people look the same.
I mean deaf people. They all look alike. Right?
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3 comments:
I feel sorry for the poor dear. It's a shame her parents couldn't teach her better about the differences of people in our society so that she doesn't have to sound so foolish every time she stereo types a person who is handicapped. Perhaps her new friendship with Sarah will help her to see as well as Helen had. :-)
:)
Did I ever send u a link to my daughter's video? 3 and a half minutes- kind of a deaf comment on things- she did it for her film and animation class - I apologize if I previously sent it to u.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGlSlGCAaqs&context=C3365e95ADOEgsToPDskJ6MPK86an4f6wfMgZHEMrH
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