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From: James.Womack@f14.n300.z1.fidonet.org (James Womack)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: Sign languages
Message-ID: <18089@bunker.UUCP>
Date: 15 Mar 91 04:40:29 GMT
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Index Number: 13929

[This is from the Silent Talk Conference]

Tim, I truly doubt that any of us are truly masters of any language
when pressed to explain the guts and blood of what makes thelanguage
tick.

Now as to understanding ASL despite SEE, maybethatis not such a mystery.
It has been suggested by some researchers that a "deaf" person takes
to ASL so easily and readily because it is natural to the deaf and
the proper medium of formal language reception via the eye. English
on the other hand is proper for the ear. In essence then, your "weird"
ability is simply what comes natural for a deaf person. The same thinghappens
to many other formerly "SEE" deafies. The only ones who seem tohave
a problem adjusting to ASL are: very latein life deafened persons,
people who are not regularly exposed to it by native users and people
who in their hearts don't want to learn it and find excuses to not
learn it.

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