Personal Narrative: My Experience At A Deaf Night Out

On Thursday, October 1st, I went to a Deaf Night Out event on UNCG’s campus. The event was held in the school of education and was a mix between a social and a presentation. Luke’s roommate and a few other students shared their experiences from studying abroad in Italy to learn Italian sign language. When I first arrived at the event I did not see anyone I knew. I very much felt like an outsider who was imposing. Then I found Luke and felt a little more comfortable. Everyone there knew each other and were having conversations using ASL. This is going to sound so obvious and silly, but I was amazed by how quiet it was. It was really cool, because in a room full of all different conversations at once, there was no sound at all. The people talking were very expressive in their faces. I think their expressiveness in their face, paired with the words they are signing, is equivalent …show more content…
There really are no secrets in ASL because everyone can see what you are saying. There is no such thing as whispering or privacy. If you want to saying something to only one person and no one else, you would have to leave the room and get away from everyone else. Since this is the case, the deaf community is more blunt and bold. They’re not afraid to say what they’re thinking because it’s all out in the open. We should consider this in our care of patients, that the deaf community already as this as their norm, so we will be prepared in the sending and receiving of communication. Something they say may seem rude to us, but it isn’t to them, and they don’t mean it to me, so we need to be aware to not take things the wrong way. This can also be helpful to understand when doing patient education, in that we should be more forward and direct because that is the style of communication this culture is used to using. This can take some getting used to but can lead to good laughs, and a good