Breaking the Sound Barrier: A Look into Deaf Communication

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beforehand. This will allow her to give the interpreter relevant information about her presentation that could ensure her message is being received.

Eye contact is an important non-verbal method of communication for both Deaf and hearing people. Facial expressions change the meaning of a sign, even with the same hand movement. “I’m going to the bathroom” turns into “Am I going to the bathroom?” just by raising your eyebrows (Zinza, 2006, p. 15). So it is important for the speaker to make direct eye contact and use dramatic facial expressions to ensure her message gets across. This can be problematic when the audience consists of non-Deaf people.

This was the issue with our own speaker, who was told she needed to make eye contact with the audience, but found it difficult to sign with her attention directed towards anything other than her interpreter. In this area, I think we failed her. The advice given to her by the consultant was to pause and look around the room, then continue signing. I don’t think this would be effective, because it would still appear that the speaker is talking to her interpreter, and the audience’s attention would be on the interpreter and their translations.

I believe a better solution could be to place the interpreter in the very back of the audience, facing the speaker. This way, the interpreter has full view of the speaker, and the speaker can quickly glance around the room to ensure that the audience is understanding. It is also more likely that the audience’s attention will be placed solely on the speaker, since they would have to turn around to look at the interpreter.

I found that working with Deaf people is generally not that different from working with Hearing people. I’ve also learned much about Deaf culture, and how I perceive deaf people. This case study enlightened me to many things about working with different types of learners. I will certainly apply these new understandings to future consultations and even my future career.

References

Ender, S., Newton, F. (2010). Enhancing cultural proficiency (2nd ed). Students helping students (pp. 57-92). Jossey-Bass.

Lawson, K. (2006). Understanding today’s learner (2nd ed.), The trainer’s handbook (pp. 75-86). Pfeiffer.

Zinza, J. (2006). Mastering ASL! Level one. Burtonsville: Sign Media, Inc.