Author Archives: Jemdeafhistory

A third day of the NZSL (New Zealand Sign Language) Week in New Zealand.

I made the Deaf Vlog for the Facebook group – Deaf Vlog (NZ, Australia and UK) this morning. One Deaf mother with a hearing son from Australia, replied to my vlog and the message was ‘how quiet is at my place without any sounds, BUT to see the autumn leaves lying on the ground? A very quiet sound of the wind blowing in the trees.’

Pan flute – The Sound of Silence

Here are a couple of links to YouTube with the captioning for the Deaf people or Hard of Hearing people.

The sound of Silence with captioning – Lords of the Ring

Dana Winner – The Sound of Silence

I turned the sound off when I was doing the video, and I signed a small message about our NZSL Week to Australia, the UK including Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Republic of Ireland and New Zealand in sign language.

The boy’s message made me realised and his ‘experienced on silent’ was living with his Deaf family. The experienced on silent makes no difference to me because I grew up in two worlds – in the Deaf community and in the hearing community.

Looking at the people speaking with their voice everywhere – buildings, car park, rock concert, home, workplace and the parks. Imagine if there was a loud noisy area and people cannot hear each other when speaking. Yep, it would be very difficult for them.

check out the sound in Paris cafe and traffic noise in Paris

For us, many Deaf people communicate in sign language easily – no matter where we are in the places, farm, noisy place. We communicate in sign language through the window, high-rise floor, across the road or across the large ‘crowding’ room. We did not have any problem with communicating than using voice by shouting out or yelling out to other people.

Recently I watched the movie and it called “The Quiet Place” last month.

In John Krasinski’s brilliantly suspenseful thriller, a family must remain silent at all times to avoid the giant predators roaming their post-apocalyptic world. The Guardian Paper Review

I noticed a number of audiences in the same room as me and they were trying to work out the storylines until the end of the movie. A couple who sat near me, they were asking me about the movie and I told them that I am deaf. They were astonished at me. Of course, we have several discussions over cuppa afterwards and they did not know about sign language as they knew very little about Deaf people. Who pays for the cuppa? They paid for me in return of thank you for the information about sign language and Deaf people.

Help Jean to raise money for the blog, Deaf History International projects. My domain is “mydeaf.blog” under WordPress is not ready yet

https://www.facebook.com/donate/1995566747363589/?fundraiser_source=external_url

Deaf History New Zealand and International fundraiser for Sine Peader

Today is the second day of the NZSL Week, in New Zealand.

I took the Somalian Deaf lady – Alisa* for her shopping after we have a coffee and chat in Hamilton this morning. We were signing as chatting just like everyone else in the cafe and staff asked for the signs such as please, thank you and coffee. The weather was perfect and a warm day during the Autumn season.

Fast forward to the Pak n Save, in Mill Street, Hamilton. we were inside the shopping and people watched us when I was explaining the name of the foods on the shelves even in the vegetable area. They were not nosey, just seeing us – Deaf people communicated with each other. One checkout lady asked for a sign – thank you and I responded the sign – thank you to this staff. the staff repeated the sign to Alisa.

We walked out into the car park and Alisa put her foods at the back of my car. She put the trolley back to the trolley bay.

Something was not right!

One driver, who her car was parked next to my car, she was reversing her car out while Alisa walked behind the driver’s car. The driver gave a glared and scowl at Alisa and lucky Alisa responded back in sign language – DEAF. It was not about where she came from. It was about telling Alisa to look where she is going.

The driver was shocked and said nothing. I saw the drama and I tapped on the driver’s window lightly. I spoke to her if she thought about invisible disability than any children or pets behind the car or not. The driver did not know about Deaf as an invisible disability. I said to her if she would like us to wear the label on the front or at the back of our body.

She replied well, perhaps and I told her that many disabled people refused to wear the label as a disability. To wear a label of any types of disability is a medical word for many years. I showed her my hoodie sweater which it had got a message and I said to her to think about when coming across to any person who can not hear the car reversing.  No matter if it was children or elderly people but what about the disabled person including Deaf person in the car park.

I know there are few cars that came in with reversing sensors in New Zealand a couple of years ago. I saw a couple of cars with reversing sensors in the car park with my partner. I asked my partner if he knows about it or not. His reply was yes and it was expensive but safe for anyone to see the sensors or to hear the reversing alarm. I know buses, trucks and large earthmovers have got one BUT not many cars available in New Zealand. Here is one of the websites and I posted the link below.

example of tools reversing alarms and sensors

At the end of the day, my job was over and Alisa said she is to continue to tell people by signing  “DEAF” back: if other people ask questions, scowling at her. This is her sign message as a voice to other people so they need to know and learn that she is Deaf and her language is ESOL/NZSL (New Zealand Sign Language).

*Note: Alisa is not a real name and her real name is protected from other people in any blogs. 

Deaf History New Zealand and International fundraiser for Sine Peader (Jean Masters)

https://www.facebook.com/donate/1995566747363589/?fundraiser_source=external_url

Tiki Tanne: No Place like Home in NZSL

You may know or heard many songs by Tiki Taane.

Here is the chance for you to watch him along with our Deaf community.

Celebrating our NZSL Week…

Enjoy watching this video…

Fund raise for my Deaf History Research

Yesterday it was Karl Marx’s birthday. He was born on the 5th of May in 1818. Yep, 200 years since his birth. Karl was a German philosopher, economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist.

I studied his papers under Marxism at the University of Waikato and I never studied Marxism at my high school even in the Deaf Education. This Marxism work was difficult for me to understand and gave me a huge challenge to learn such as the Government, politics, capitalism, labour’s power etc.

So, how about the quotes I found from Karl Marx and compare to the disabilities area in the communities today than in the past. First of all, the first quote as above is about any individuals who have their disability or no disability such as Deaf and he/she express their life as they are to the other people. Marx made this quote unambiguous and loud message to everyone.

The second quote – it is a bit tricky if you can understand or can not understand this message. There are many workers in any buildings, Education or the company and their wages are not all the same even in the working class. Recently on television, there were several issues on midwife and teacher aides’ income because they were receiving low pay on long hours of working in the education/health industries. All the nurses even teacher aides established a protest match in the public and sent off petitions to the Government for their right to the pay rise.

Mm, think about people with disabilities. The people with disabilities excluded in some workplace and education. What about the right to communicate in sign language in the workplace, education, health industries? How can the Deaf people achieve their goal and their right in the community? First of all, they must stand unite and sign their language as their voice out to the public to remove the barrier of discrimination.

Tomorrow in New Zealand, we – Deaf People celebrate our NZSL (New Zealand Sign Language) Week.

I wore my hoodie sweater with a Sign Language message on the back. My hearing partner and I went down to Morrinsville yesterday. It is a message to everyone in the public and I am proud to wear it. Tomorrow night I will be wearing it and visit the Scout group in Ohaupo. The Scouts will be learning to signs in the Scout’s Promise and Law. I am a bit rusty in the Promise and Law, because I used to be a Brownie and Girl Guide many years back. My mother was a Scout Leader even my sister was a Brownie and Girl Guide and two brothers were Scouts. I could not find a replaced Deaf person who lives near Te Awamutu as the first Deaf person was not available.  I AM hoping that my right side arm,elbow and hand will improve and to allow me to sign easily without having nerve twitching all over. Then I will have a physio on Tuesday afternoon..

Roll On, NZSL Week starting tomorrow!!

May the 4th be with you! (For any Star Wars Fan)

I stayed home and resting on the May of 4th due to a lot of catching up work loads including travelling to Auckland for the two days workshop. A trip to Auckland and coming home on the second day, I found myself very tiring and it took me a week and a couple of days to recover. Why? I have got a nerve damage in the right elbow, arm and fingers. I am still on the waiting list for the second nerve conduction assessment before going ahead with the options such as a nerve implant transfer, a long-term medicine etc…. Moving on with something else!

What so special about the 4th of May? It was not the Star Wars stuff! It was the quote “May the 4th be with you” and it was my partner’s birthday as well.

The morning was glorious and sunny day, four of us – three dogs and myself basking in the sun room. It was a nice relaxing, to feel the warmth ‘sun rays’ and looking out in the blue skies through the French doors. Judging our dogs who loves sunbathing and I saw them how they were relaxing than me. It was the Mother Nature and the word ‘Mother Nature’ can be found as a common personification of nature that focuses on the life-giving and nurturing aspects of nature by embodying it. (en.wikipedia)

Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities.^[1] It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology.^[2]

Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to abstract concepts such as nations, emotionsand natural forces like seasons and the weather.

The silence bought inside the sun room than any traffic noises can be heard from the other side of the house. Not me surely, just these dogs who keep on look out for me when I am home daily or not. I am a deaf person and I can not hear every sounds just like you but it make no different when I wear hearing aids.

How bliss is the country life here, a spacious property with many gardens such as flowers, trees including fruit trees and a couple of vegetable gardens.

LIfe in the rural was a better opportunity to live than living in the small town or in the city! It is easy way to de stress your work loads or to detox your life by coming home in the rural from the small town or from the city.

Robin Williams’ quote from the Dead Poet’s Society. It is an excellent message to everyone and to spread the positive message rather the negative message.

Many people with disabilities have been let down than a small number of people with disabilities around the world. Look at Robin – did you know that he had got disabilities or not? The answer was YES. He suffered from depression/anxiety, Parkinson Disease, Mental Illness, alcohol/drug addictions, ADD (Attention deflect disorder) and to DYSLEXIA. Wow!

The Deaf people in the community – they struggle to communicate with other people in the community, not in their own Deaf community. Why? Average people who does not have experience or a limit of understanding in sign language out there while other people thinks we sign like ‘monkey gestures’. Often the people are really clueless on what is Deaf and sign language mean to you.

We – the Deaf people, were lucky to have the ability to communicate in a loud noisy room, through the window, across the room or the road, having a sore throat or a person come from Sweden. Anyone who have hearing, they will struggle to understand what a person was talking about in a loud noisy room, unable to speak if they have a sore throat etc.

Did you know that sign language was the first language before speaking or writing?

The earliest written records of a sign language can be found in the fifth century BC in Plato’s Cratylus. Moving on to the sixty century A.D., there was another sign language recorded in the Bible – The first chapter of the Gospel of Luke: Luke:1:62. Fast forward to the 1980’s in New Zealand, our sign language family is BANZSL and BANZSL stand for British, Australian and New Zealand Sign Language. This sign language may be considered dialects of a single language by using the same grammar, manual alphabet and the high degree of lexical overlap. I won’t go further to explain this lingiustic area.

World Sign Language Family

What I am saying that sign language is a visual language or method of communcation. How hard or easy for anyone to learn to communicate in sign language? Do not be put off if you do not know how to communicate with any Deaf person.  No other person will tell any Deaf person to speak than sign. What is Robin saying in the message – start learning the new words by sign language and you will be surprise that you sign naturally by asking for a pen or to drive. That is the sign language we use daily.

fund raising for my project on Deaf History

Mm, the quote in the photo may not be correct for any Blind person or any Deaf person.. perhaps I can re write the quote as follow in “Kindness is a language the blind can hear and the deaf can see.”

The NZSL Week run from the 7th to 13th of May this year. Reflecting back to the 6th of April 2006, the parliamentary bill need to approve the NZSL passed its third reading on the 6th of April 2006. The bill received Royal Assent, (a constitutional formality), on the 10th of April 2006. New Zealand Sign Language became an official language of New Zealand the day after the Royal Assent.

Today there are three languages which are Māori, NZSL and English in New Zealand.

This morning I took a deaf with speech impaired and CP man for his shopping and banking at Westfield Shopping Centre, Chartwell and Pak n Save. Several people including children were watching us in signing conversation. We were not bothered by people and children staring us, because they do not realise or to understand very little about sign language. The staff ask me to reply what are the signs such as in thank you, help, foods, and please. Then the team responded back to the deaf man in signs and his face lighted up and smiled.

I was reading the article about William Shakespeare in the newspaper at the Physiotherapy clinic and the date of my appointment for the physio was on the 23rd of April. What the fuss was about Shakespeare? The fuss about him, was the celebrated of his birthday – April 1564. The four hundred fifty-four years to this year since his birth.

One of his quotes, I recalled – “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”

During my holiday stays in United Kingdom, I returned to Warwickshire where my cousins live there many times.  I revisited the village called Stratford-upon-Avon and William Shakespeare who was born and died there. It was a lovely village and the village draw many people who love Shakespeare, and to learn and understand his works every years. I bought the complete works of Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon because we did not have these kind of books in Waikato, New Zealand many years ago.

I studied the Old English Language paper at University of Waikato and two professors gave us presentations about Shakespeare. These two professors have got disabilities – one born with disability and second have got a family member who have disability.

Why I choose to study the Old English language?  I wanted to understand why language keep changing from the past to present, is English Language culturally diverse, do everyone understand each other in writing or speaking even sign language?

Helena:
“Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind.”

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (I, i, 234)

Why Shakespeare? I never learn to read Shakespeare at the school and the teacher of the Deaf children thought it would be hard for any Deaf children/teenagers to understand his works.  That was a long time ago. I took up my courage to study his works and learnt to understand his language from his works. It was a bit of challenged for me to understand what he wrote the poems and the plays like Macbeth, Hamlet or King Lear. In the early days, the English grammar, spelling and pronunciation were less standardised than they are now.

Another person came along – Samuel Johnson and he was a lexicographer along with English writer, literacy critic and other roles. Johnson and George Steevens created The Plays of William Shakespeare – 18th century edition. Johnson and Steevens tried to re write the English language in order for everyone to understand Shakespeare’s writing. JOHNSON’S WORK ON SHAKESPEARE

Moving on – What about in the Deaf community? Can anyone understand Shakespeare’s plays with sign language or not?

Yes, there are few Deaf people understand his plays through using sign language. Here is a link. Sign Language in Shakespeare’s plays

Lastly, I am still pondering whether Shakespeare does have any mental illness despite on violence, torture or murder even hatred in the plays or not? mm

I was walking around the fields in our home. Many leaves are turning into brown, red or orange from green leaves. The Autumn season has arrived here.

The most massive liquidambar tree stand out in the middle of the ground, (in the second photo), showing much display of colourful leaves.

We sit down and have meals with drinks under this tree over a long Summer day. Our dogs love to sunbathe and to rest under the tree while we were doing gardening jobs.

During my travelling days to Europe, Uk, Ireland and Canada, I travelled during the late Summer and Autumn seasons because it was cheaper to book and visit many places. The Autumn season was the best time and the beautiful colour of leaves everywhere I go. During my stays in Ireland, I learnt one of the famous poets, and it was John Keats. He wrote the poem called Autumn.

John Keats – Autumn

Fundraising for the Deaf History International and New Zealand

The top link is through Facebook and I am hoping to continue blogs, stories and photos on the Facebook page – Deaf History International and New Zealand. It is the second option to raise money as well.

It is a good opportunity for me to start up again and unfortunately, I was forced to put myself to get a loan for the iMac Desktop due to insufficiently respond through the website – Givealittle.co.nz  I have got 86 days to go otherwise I will review and edit the page for an extra time. Now I am paying back to the loan from my work income. I would be grateful if you can spread my page to your family, friends and colleagues.  Raise money for the desktop and materials

Health issues forced me to cut back working from home and home visit including at the office in Hamilton City. I am still waiting for the second appointment on neurology conductive assessment at the Waikato Hosptial. This means I am on the waiting list for another 3-12 months along with the other people.

I enjoyed visiting two elderly Deaf men last week and I took notes down from the conversation of their early days at the school for the Deaf in Christchurch and Auckland. One elderly man – Les, gave me two books which called N.Z Deaf News dating from 1963 to 1973.

Last week I received a good new from Queensland Archives and they have got a few records on Mrs W. Mitchell Skerman, who she was a teacher of the Deaf children. Her sister was Dorcas Mitchell whom I am tracing her life and her works in Canterbury, New Zealand. I can not wait to see the record from Queensland, Australia.

Well, that is all for now.