when deaf people struggle to choose between speaking & using sign language

@deafinitelydope original video was about feeling conflicted with what language to use when being interviewed. It’s hard when you first grew up speaking English and then learned ASL (American Sign Language) later in life, or are still learning it. You don’t want to be seen as a “fraud,” but you run into that risk too if you do sign and end up making mistakes and sign the wrong thing. It’s a battle I’ve been dealing with myself for a long time too. We both relate to that. A lot of you know that part about me already if you’ve been around long enough, but a percentage of you are new, so… let me just talk about it again, haha.

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Video Description & Transcript:
Stitched video is of Matt Maxey, a young Black man, using American Sign Language. He is wearing a hat and a hoodie. Text says, “So, the struggle is real. Just finished doing an interview and I always feel conflicted every time.”

Video switches to Rikki, a young white woman with no makeup, brown wavy hair down. Text says, “It’s true. I grew up voicing and with English. I’m fluent in English, not ASL. I’m still learning ASL. I’m speaking English in most interviews because it’s easier to express myself that way. And yes, I’ve been seeing the comments people leave for the last 10 years. ‘Why isn’t she signing! She’s not deaf! She’s not signing!’ And it’s hard because, yeah, I wanna sign more too. But the fact of the matter is English is my native and fluent language. And that doesn’t change how deaf I am or my deaf identity journey.”

#DeafCommunity #DeafAwareness #SignLanguage #AmericanSignLanguage #ASL #DeafCulture #HardOfHearing #LearningLanguages #LanguageLearning #SelfDiscovery #DisabilityAwareness

Видео when deaf people struggle to choose between speaking & using sign language канала Rikki Poynter