This was a fascinating book, although it’s very easy to overlook. It’s a slender little book, barely 100 pages including the intro, text, list of signs, and references. Plus, fully half the book simply lists acceptable name-signs in alphabetic order. So if you’re a fluent ASL speaker, this book probably won’t even […]

I’ve just finished reading Mindfield by John F. Egbert, who kindly sent me a copy. I thought this was an excellent book, and I think it might be a good way to introduce issues surrounding deafhood and deaf culture via an enjoyable piece of fiction. As good as some other books are, some […]

Forbidden Signs is a book that traces the history of sign language in the United States and how and why oralism attempted to obliterate signing and replace it with lip reading and speech. As the author himself notes, the history is quite complex and even though he takes a detailed look at various aspects […]

…in light of recent conversations around here. (I do plan on a proper review, but I happened across this gem just now.)
From Forbidden Signs, pp 103:
Another measure of the oralist preoccupation with efficiency was the support they gave to a national movement to rationalize the spelling of English words. The late-nineteenth-century spelling reform […]

Wow…it works (the scanner you can purchase at Library Thing). And I’ve got linux, so that’s great news, it seems to be bullet proof.
I am SO in trouble Just wait ’till I get home tonight…

I may be in trouble. This is COOL!!!
http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=browneyedgirl65
So help me, I’ve ordered that little scanner they have…

It’s taking me a while to get through this book, in part because I keep coming across snippets and bits that make me want to get out here and pound out some more rants, so I set the book down — and then realize all the other things I have to do before I get […]

What is it like to be curious
To thirst for knowledge you can call your own
With an inner desire that’s set on fire—
And you ask a sister, brother, or friend
Who looks in answer and says, “Never mind”?
You have to be deaf to understand
This is quoted in Alone in the Mainstream. While my family, thankfully, doesn’t […]

I finished reading