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  • Essay / The Uses of Directness in Conversation

    “Directness” The use of directness in conversation means extremely different things between deaf culture and hearing culture. While the former depend on it to communicate effectively, the latter tend to avoid it for fear of disrupting the conversation. Throughout this semester, I was able to become more familiar with the inner workings of deaf culture by once again attending Northeastern University's "Deaf, Deaf World" event, watching See What I Mean: Differences between Deaf and Hearing Cultures, video calling my teacher to discuss what I learned from the aforementioned DVD, as well as attending two other events within the Deaf community. Based on all of the experiences above, I have not only managed to become more confident in my skills as an ASL student, but also become more aware of the very different expectations for conversation within deaf cultures and hearing. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayHaving attended “Deaf, Deaf World” once before, I was admittedly less anxious this time, but I wanted always desperately succeed for my own sake. This was especially true considering my poor performance last semester, having only visited 3 tables during the event. Although I still felt nervous about unintentionally offending the Deaf and DeafBlind people in attendance, I knew that the only way for me to learn from my previous mistakes was to take action and engage in the tasks to be accomplished. Fortunately, I managed to have an incredibly rewarding experience by successfully visiting each table and communicating effectively with the people stationed there. It was also at this event that I first discovered the concept of candor within the deaf and deafblind communities. Visiting Elaine Ducharme's table, which was an electronics supply store, I was immediately taken aback as I had never interacted with a deafblind person. individual before. Although the conversation only required me to spell my name and sign the product I wanted to purchase, it took me a few more tries before I figured out how to place Elaine's hand on mine so she could understand what which I spelled out and signed for him. Once our conversation was over, Elaine immediately signaled to me that I needed more practice, which I completely agreed with, although it made me a little self-conscious at the time. This instant, direct feedback I received served as a great introduction to how Deaf and DeafBlind people perceived openness differently than hearing people. To Elaine, this probably seemed completely natural and was intended to be helpful to an ASL student like me. For me, however, it made me fear my own mistakes and the possibility of having ruined Elaine's first impression of me. The above situation is consistent with the section on criticism and feedback in See What I Mean, in which a deaf employee was left confused after their hearing colleague gave them feedback using the "approach sandwich” (see what I mean) – starting with a positive introductory sentence to soften the blow, then slipping in the criticism, before concluding with another positive comment. I never thought before that this approach could be confusing to people; It just seemed like the best way to go about it without hurting anyone's feelings.,.