My in-laws family knows sign language but they do not know anything about deaf culture, they think they do, but they don't. I never speak up to them cuz well im expecting my husband to do that but he is very quiet "passive" and never speak up.
Now we have daughter Bella and she is still a baby, she is hearing so far, but my concern is the "communication".
My husband's niece and nephews knows nothing about sign language, cuz they always hear and depend on adults to interpret for them. They always stare at the ceiling or walls and the in laws always have conversation first adn then at the end interpret us short. I never complained about it, cuz we only visited them once in a while.
But now we're moving to a cousin's home and we'll be much closer to the family and today we all got together there with 4 little kids, our daughter's cousin, they are adorable kids wanting to learn sign language, i was happy to know that, but what turned me off is that the in-laws did not use sign language at all in front of us. The cousin tried to use body language and little hand talking to in laws in front of us, at least they're trying and that was respectful, but in laws were so "hearing" and keep talking, i felt insulted. I sat there drinking my coffee and starring at nothing, until they finished conversation then in-laws interpret us very short. How can i explain to them to use sign language at same time they are speaking? And that they have use ASL and talk same time to our daughter cuz our sign language is a first priority language in our home.
Everytime i remind them to pls use sign language, they always say "oh i forgot, sorry" i've heard that million times, oh come on! Even our deaf friends feels insulted and offended, cuz their own son is 100% deaf, so they should know better.
I tried to find a website about it, but no luck.
Any ideas? or u have a better wording?
Please do not insult me or give me lecture about it, communication is very important to me and i need someone who understand this deaf culture, thank you.
1 comment… read it below or add one
I agree with the person above.
My parents are both deaf, i am hearing, and all of my relatives are deaf.
My mom gets so frustrated when her relatives leave her out of conversations. So when she talks to me, she asks me not to talk and sign at the same time cuz she says its not fair that they can understand us and she cant understand them. So when your talking to your husband, make it so THEY cant understand you. For example if they dont really understand ASL, use STRONG ASL
My mom can lipread her mother very well so they just "talk" back and forth, but my dad cannot lipread. So when my grandma talks to my dad she tries to sign as best as she can, this is what your in-laws should do, and if they dont then try to explain to them as best as possible that it is considered very RUDE and you dont appriciate being left out of the conversation. Ask them how they would feel if they were in your position.
Hope i helped!
Good luck!