Before I get going, Iâm 75% deaf, as some of you know, semi-reliant on hearing aids and lip reading. My first languages were Makaton sign and then BSL. I now use spoken English.
There are a lot of issues I find with how deaf people are represented in books, when represented at all. I would love to see more deaf and hard of hearing characters in the books I read- without having to read books specifically about deaf/HoH people- but when I find them, theyâre grossly undercharacterized or stereotyped. Authors write them in a way that sets signing language characters apart from speaking characters as if they are inferior, and this makes my blood boil.
Some technicalties
Iâll keep this brief.
You may have heard that âdeafâ is a slur and you should use âhearing impairedâ. Donât. Iâve never met a deaf or hard of hearing person who believed that. Use deaf for people who are deaf, and Hard of Hearing (HoH) for people who lack hearing. These can be interchangeable depending on the person. This is why sensitivity readers are a useful part of the beta process.
Sign language is incredibly varied. It developes in the same way as spoken language. Fun fact: in BSL there are at least half a dozen ways to say bullshit, my favourite of which is laying your arms across one another with one hand making a bullâs head sign and the other hand going flat, like a cowpat. Itâs beautifully crude, and the face makes the exclamation mark. Wonderful.
There are different sign languages. Knowing more than one would make a character multi or bi-lingual, even if they are non-speaking.
Makaton is basic sign language used by children, and it mirrors the very simple language used by toddlers.
Yes, we swear and talk shit about people around us in sign language sometimes, and no, it isnât disrespectful to have signing characters do this. Just remember that we also say nice things, and random things, and talk about fandoms and TV shows and what weâre having for dinner, too.
Each signed language is different from another. ASL and BSL? Nothing alike. Just google the two different signs for horse.
Remember that sign language is a language, equal to the spoken word
Therefore, treat it as such. Use quotation speech marks and dialogue
tags. You only need to explicitly state that this character uses signed language once, and then let your modifiers and description do the rest.
 It isnât a form of âsub-speech" or âmaking hand actionsâ- sign language is a language all on its own: it has its own grammar rules, syntactical structures, punctuation, patterns, idioms and colloquialisms. For example, âwhat is your name?â becomes âYour name what?â with the facial expression forming punctuation in the same way that spoken English uses alterations of prosodic tone (inflections). There is even pidgin sign; a language phenomenon usually associated with spoken language.
In the same way that you would describe a spoken-English characterâs tone of voice, you would describe a signed-English speakerâs facial expressions and the way that they sign- keeping in mind that these things are our languageâs equivalent of verbal inflection.
So please, none of that use of âspecial speech marksâ or italicised
speech for sign. If your viewpoint character doesnât understand signed
speech, then you take the same approach that would be used for any other
language they donât understand, like French or Thai. E.g âHe said something
in rapid sign language, face wrinkling in obvious disgust.â is a good
way of conveying this. The proof that youâve done this well is in whether or not you can switch âsign languageâ for French or something else, and it would read the same.
Donât be afraid to describe how things are said, either.
Sign language is such a beautiful and expressive way of talking, and to
see a writer do it justice would be truly fabulous. Putting this into practise:
âOh, I love maths!â She said, fingers sharp and wide with sarcasm. She raised her eyebrows.
âIâm sorry.â He replied and made his face small, but could not keep the grin forming. She was starting to laugh, too.
This is part one of two, for the sake of readability and keeping the information simple as I can. Part two- writing the deaf characters themselves- is coming up over the weekend. See you then and best luck with your writing until that point đ
This is part of my weekly advice theme. Each week I look at what youâve asked me to help with, and write a post or series of posts for it. Next week: settings and character development (including heroes, anti-heroes, villains, and every other kind of character).
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this is what the message looks like, and if you click the link, it sends it to every single one of your mutuals (or possibly ALL THE PEOPLE THAT FOLLOW YOU)
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I fuckibg got this one too
( Â please donât click this be safe guys)
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I got this a day or two ago. The people sending them arenât aware of it, so if you get one, let them know, so they can try and fix it.
!!!!! Here it is
I got one. didnât click because it seemed fishy af. Be careful guys
Just to let everyone know, I got this message today:
These spam bots are really trying hard to spread this virus around. Let people know you got this message so they can be safe and change their password and run an anti-virus.Â
pain-lies-inside 