Deaf talk

I attended a talk organized by the deaf society and it was an eye opener for me.
For starters, I have yet to attend an event that is so quiet although there was a big crowd!!

Anyway, the topic of the talk was "Child Sexuality Abuse". There was a speaker and a translator and it amazes me to see how he signed words like "Vag**a", "Pe**s", anus...OK, I admit he signed too fast for me to know what he's signing. Come on, he has 10 years of experience!!

To actually see how the deaf interact is very interesting. As we can hear, we'll turn to the direction the voice is produced and we can actually (sometimes) manage to listen to 2 people talk at the same time but the deaf, they can't really do so because they got to focus on the face, body and hands to comprehend the message and if they want to interrupt or join in the conversation, they got to catch the whole group's attention. So I really wonder how they communicate in a huge group.

After 1 hour of concentrating on the interpreter, I got very tired so it got me thinking whether they can hold a long conversation like us. The longest talk for me is about 6 hours and if I'm tired (do I get tired of talking??), I can just take a drink and continue. But for them, it's different as they need energy to move their hands, face and body and the power of concentration. Wow, they really are fantastic!!

I really am glad to get the chance to attend such gathering. It's like a whole new culture to me. Hope I can sign and communicate with them SOON.