as a child...
The Miracle Worker,
with Patty Duke as
Helen Keller, & Anne
Bancroft as her ama-
zing teacher, Annie
Sullivan.
When the movie was
over, I went to the
encyclopedia & found
the manual alphabet
that Annie Sullivan had
taught the young Helen
Keller.
I learned it that evening-
then taught it to my little
brother, & many years
later to my kids.
As a teen, I would some-
times 'sing' along with
some of my favorite music-
(as a result I can spell a lot
faster than I can read-
should've used a mirror:)
Years later, my landlady,
(who was only in her
twenties at the time but
losing her hearing), and
I would watch a show
called Signing with Cindy.
We learned different
songs using the actual
sign language, as well as
the manual alphabet.
Now, every so often,
if I'm singing out loud
& get adamant protests
from my rugrats, I switch
to the manual alphabet,
& start silently singing
in stereo:)
2 comments:
I learned the manual alphabet, and later, to sign because the mother of the young deaf girl who lived in my building always made white-bread-with-chocolate-spread sandwiches. The right thing for the wrong reason....
Thank you all for your comments- your blogs are interesting, also:)
I will say that I am not 'fluent' in sign language- the songs we learned were many years ago (my friend passed away last year.) She never completely lost her hearing, which was the result of a childhood accident, although it worsened over the years- (just read a bio on Louis Braille- he lost his eyesight due to an accident as a child also)...
The one person I knew who could not hear at all, always carried a pad & pen, making communicating easier for those of us who could not sign.
Thanks again for writing-
God bless you!
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