A first-person account from off the beaten track, as told to Anne Ford.
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“I moved to the Chicago area because there was a large population of deaf people here. I had deaf roommates for about five years. We had wooden floors, so they’d stomp on the floor to get someone’s attention, and the vibration would carry. The biggest thing for me culturally—and I’m making a generalization; not all deaf people are like this—is that they were very blunt. I saw a deaf person describing me once, and they’re like, ‘Tall, skinny, big nose.’ I got used to it.
“I do a workshop on swearing and sexual signs. The way it came to be was I was interpreting a counseling session for two deaf parents and their hearing children. The father signed the word ‘hell,’ and I had never seen that sign before. He was yelling, and then there was dead silence while I was trying to ask what that sign was. I left with a mission: I am going to learn every dirty sign out there
