Experiencing the world Visually

My first lesson in Auslan was just wonderful, I felt inspired and excited and as if I was definitely 'in the right place'. My tutor spoke of how people from the Deaf Community experience the world visually.

I too have always been incredibly visual. I'm a visual learner. I prefer to be shown things, not told. I struggle to learn languages that are aural. Yet dance and Auslan are a perfect fit for me, the languages of the body, where movement and expression can tell the story. I also love to read, the visual word is beautiful to me.

I love visual imagery, such as movies, visual art and video art.

I'm looking forward to becoming an efficient sign language user and increasing my abilities to communicate in a non-verbal way. I'll keep you informed of my progress.

Good Vibrations

I recently saw an article in the local Kids in the Coast Magazine that really caught my eye, it was about a course in Auslan (Australian Sign Language). I’ve had an affiliation with the deaf community for most of my life, it comes from having an almost deaf father. Those that know him would hardly know his disability, as he covers it well. He wears two hearing aids and is incredible good at communicating, however his hearing loss is 90%. Dad is a veteran of WW2 and his work on the Aircraft Guns is to blame for his devastating hearing loss.

As a 14 year old I was keen to learn signing, much more than dad was and I started learning the alphabet. I didn’t get to utilise this with him as he managed to communicate just fine with lip reading. Many years later, I had loads of fun teaching some deaf children tap dancing and the interest in signing grew deeper. I still didn’t have the opportunity to formalise my training at this point. Now I have found a place where I can learn to sign and I’m starting with a beginners course. I’m off to the Honey-bee Creations Studios this weekend.

In the future, I hope I will be able to teach more hearing impaired people to dance. I’ve found that tapping is a perfect art form as the vibrations transfer well through the floor and throughout the body.

The photo is of my new kitten Celine (now 3 months old), she is currently demanding my attention, so I must sign off. No pun intended!!!