by Rebecca Mikulin

Created on: January 10, 2009   Last Updated: May 30, 2009

When I first saw the title "Sign Language: Not Just for Kids" the first thing that popped into my head was, "You've got to be joking. Who thought it was just for kids in the first place?" Blame my upbringing, I suppose...as the homeschooled child of a sign language interpreter, I learned the beauty and widespread use of sign language at a very young age.

First off, to say that sign language is simple is to say that the Russian or Japanese spoken languages are simple - to someone learning the language, it simply isn't true. There are many different sign languages worldwide just as there are different spoken languages and each is just as detailed and complex as any spoken language with all the expression and inflection you'd put into your everyday speech. As with any other language, the sign languages can tell you so much about the culture and thought processes of their "speakers" and help broaden your own worldview as you learn.

In the US, the most widely used non-spoken language is ASL (American Sign Language). Many people who take sign language classes from community colleges and high schools do not learn ASL, though there are such classes available in most areas, but rather learn a sign system such as SEE2, or Signing Exact English. The first thing to realize is that ASL is not English and does not adhere to English rules, whereas the SEE or SEE2 systems take English words, thought and word order and translate them into motions. To fully understand sign language, you must know which sign is a separate language and which are simply turning a spoken language into an unspoken one.

Through my life I've had the privilege of knowing many people who were deaf, Deaf, hard-of-hearing or CODAs (Children of Deaf Adults). With the exception of the last one (though some CODAs also fall into this category), all of these people are classified by the government and society as "hearing impaired". True, there are some deaf people who consider themselves impaired, but many see the term as an insult to their culture and way of life and do not see deafness as any kind of impairment. Essentially, this is the difference between deaf and Deaf; the first simply can't hear and may feel handicapped by it, while the second identifies with the unique culture and language of the Deaf community.

I personally love languages and devote my time to learning as many languages as a I can as well as I can, yet those who have known me my entire life still struggle to remember that I am truly

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