Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!yale!bunker!hcap!hnews!267!41!Fran.O'gorman From: Fran.O'gorman@f41.n267.z1.fidonet.org (Fran O'gorman) Newsgroups: misc.handicap Subject: sign vs oralism /speech reading Message-ID: <15741@bunker.UUCP> Date: 19 Nov 90 04:02:04 GMT Sender: wtm@bunker.UUCP Reply-To: Fran.O'gorman@f41.n267.z1.fidonet.org Distribution: misc Organization: FidoNet node 1:267/41 - The HOST BBS, Glens Falls NY Lines: 38 Approved: wtm@bunker.UUCP Index Number: 11833 [This is from the Silent Talk Conference] Hi Ann, I finally got around to reading some of the msgs that were being posted and found the debate about sign vs. oralism/speech reading very stimulating. And I don't know if I've really expressed it but having listened to your arguments in favor of oralism I can see where a person would indeed be better off having mastered that (not that it isn't obvious, but I could see it more clearly still, in terms of how it aids other communication skills like reading and writing since ASL is so very different). But, (and I guess you probably anticipated a 'but' ) the one thing I read that you said was that you felt that everyone could master it. Well, actually you were referring to the speech reading which might be true, but the speech output part is the part that may, due to other handicaps, not be possible. My daughter is brain-injured and had a malformation inside her mouth as well as other problems, and then I was thinking of stroke victims, and C.P. (which Mary may be considered as having). That is one BIG reason why I feel sign should still have a place. Obviously as a last and not first resort. Sometimes even as a stop gap (while the other is being learned) or as an augmentation (when the other is not sufficient). If a person relies on sign for expressive communication then if there are more people out there who know sign, there are more people to understand them. I don't have to sign for Mary to understand me, but I need to know sign to understand her and she very much wants to communicate. Anyway, some more thoughts to toss into the collection. :-) -- Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!267!41!Fran.O'gorman Internet: Fran.O'gorman@f41.n267.z1.fidonet.org