Learn the Language First

When I was a kid I attended summer camp for handicapped kids. We had blind kids, deaf kids, kids on crutches and kids like me who use wheelchairs. I learned some sign language so I could communicate with the deaf kids. I thought sign language was pretty cool so I taught my little brother a few signs so we could communicate in public without other people knowing what we were saying.

One time we were at a party given by my dad’s boss. There were tons of families there and people all over the house and the backyard. I was sitting at a table with my brother and some other people that I did not know. I needed to go to the bathroom but I needed my mother to help me and I could not see her anywhere. Not wanting to embarrass myself by saying out loud to my brother, “Can you go find Mom and tell her I have to go to the bathroom?” I decided to sign my message to him. He got up to go look for her and then the man sitting at the table near me began signing to me. I only knew a little sign language so I did not understand what he was saying to me since he was only using sign and not speaking. I looked at him dumbfounded and said out loud, “What?” He said, “Oh, I saw you signing to your brother and I thought you were deaf.” I was so embarrassed when I realized that he understood what I said to my brother about needing to go to the bathroom. Don’t ask me why that was embarrassing — it just is when you are 12 or 13 years old. He introduced himself to me and explained that he was a teacher at a school for the deaf. He turned out to be a really nice man. It took a year to get over my embarrassment!

1 Comments:
At June 08, 2005 6:30 PM, sarahk said…
yes, at that age, it’s really embarrassing. 2 years later, you’re yelling out in the hallway at school, “i gotta pee!”