So I took the bus which was quite empty, a few elderly ladies with their shopping bags and a few men. Then the bus stopped in front of a school ! The bus door opened and at least 15 to 20 young students around 14/16 stepped in and fell on the empty seats ! I pushed a big sigh (inside) and thought now my peaceful trip will come to an end and they will shout and make a lot of noise. To my surprise I heard nothing ! Not a single sound. I think I starred at them it was so unusual and then I saw what happened, they were talking with the hands, like Italians do and I thought the school from where they came must have been an Italian school ! They gesticulated in all direction and made big movements with their lips. Suddenly I understood this was a group of deaf teenagers who communicated with hand and lips. I became very curious because I had seen lip reading in movies, mostly when a murder was planned and recorded and the police had to hire a lip reader.
Finally I asked a young girl articulating with my lips and asked her if it would be difficult to learn lip reading. Stupid me, she couldn't speak and I couldn't read on her lips ! We both laughed. Then a young man came who could speak and translated. Apparently it is not so difficult. I wished I had learned it when I was younger, would be so nice to read on lips and know what people say even through a double glassed window. A part from that I am not curious at all !
Linking to SOCS-Lip
I have a neighbor, a widower with two grown up sons, both deaf (parents were first cousins). The older has a wife and child but lives with his father and brother (maybe they're divorced, maybe not). The father is their mouth and ears; he speaks their lip language.
ReplyDeleteI worked with a deaf person who couldn't lipread, and we all ended up having to learn sign language. Made life a little difficult...
ReplyDeleteMy sister in law is mostly deaf and picked up lip reading as a child.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience, while the school children might not be able to speak or hear, they can be just as boisterous children who can speak and hear, only they are a bit quieter. Some do make some sounds.
ReplyDeleteI took sign language course in college. Lip reading was not included but teacher taught us some slangs :-)
ReplyDeleteThe little communication I've done with deaf was be written communication.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on