Brighid's Kiss

Friday, January 4, 2008

The politically incorrect Amercian Sign Language (ASL)

The first time I had the chance to learn ASL was when I started working in a company with a hearing impaired colleague and another who was very well versed in the language. It took me a while to pick up the alphabets and a few words, but it was a pretty joyous experience. Though I still suck at it, I know enough to understand that ASL was not designed to be politically correct.

Why you ask? Try looking up the ASL dictionary for the sign for 'Goddess' or 'pagan'. You won't find any. The closest you will get is a sign for 'witch', which, not surprisingly, implies someone with a classical hawk nose.

That raises an interesting question for me. Since there hasn't been any created in the years ASL has been in use, does it mean that we pagans haven't really been doing enough to help out the community? Surely, if there were enough of us out there actively helping out, someone would have to add to the dictionary, just so that signing is easier.

My volunteer consent form is in the mail, how about yours?

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