People would describe me as someone that is quiet and keeps to himself. I have always been this way ever since I was growing up, as I am an only child that didn’t communicate very well. I usually kept my opinions to myself and adapted to the situation at hand. However, in my freshman year of high school, I planned to change that behavioral trait by taking American Sign Language and immersing myself in Deaf culture. In ASL, there are no secrets. Everyone knows everyone since it is a tight-knit community. I saw this as an opportunity to become more open to my surroundings and to instructors because I would have nothing to hide. My first year would also be a challenge due to a fully deaf instructor that had a short temper. Communication would rely on broken sign language and limited writing. I learned fast that the Deaf love to pry for information, and my teacher would do this to me constantly. …show more content…
I needed to know how to cater to social norms along with being comfortable asking for personal information in a conversation. Breaking the rules became harder in year two and three, when I had a hearing teacher. Attempting to communicate to the teacher by taking would result in no response. Signing would be strictly enforced in the classroom due to it being a “Deaf culture environment.” However, this benefited me greatly when learning extensively about Deaf culture, as there would be ample time for communicating with my peers and practicing my social skills. My teacher constantly reminded us that the deaf people want to be heard, as they live in a small bubble in a world of predominantly critical and uninformed hearing people. This resonated with me because I didn’t possess very accurate information about deaf culture and I also wanted to make my own voice