The 1st ASL Slam NYC Adventure

Loving so much the Deaf acting, I was so thrilled to find out about the ASL Slam nights in NY that showcase many different types of Deaf artists. Since the beginning of my "journey" I have been trying to make time to go see the performances they have every month, but first it was on friday's, which was almost impossible to leave early from work to be there on time, not to mention that even if I could, on a friday my head was already so out there that I could barely remember my name, let alone that I should be going to the city. Anyway, not the best excuse, but oh well..I really have been postponing this adventure until last week when I found out that the day has changed to saturday and the guest artist would be, the so nice, Braam Jordaan. Great cgi artist and movie maker. Some few familiar faces from my first time working on the NY Deaf Theater play were there briefly and, of course, the famous Douglas Ridloff with his family.

Unfortunately, I was too late for the happy hour and I was not able to do some major mingling, but I caught the whole presentation. Since I was alone in the city (my friend had an emergency and couldn't go) and I do not like alcoholic drinks, there was no point for me to stay at the bar after the presentation so I left right after it and again, could not mingle too much. As I felt the same way when I was on the fund raising of KODA West in CA, everyone seems to know each other and they talk among themselves, I'm still an outsider and I'm still unsecured about my ASL ability and proficiency. But next time I'll make sure I will be early enough.

I got to say that I loved the environment, even feeling an outsider, but there were some lack of  "reasonable accommodation" (Haha, loved this quote from one of  Braam's tweets) that made me a little frustrated with this experience. Seating in the middle of the audience, it was extremely hard to see the host and the guest speaker signing, even though the stage is a bit high. Suggestion, a tall bar stool on stage to make the guest and the host sit on a higher range so we could see from the back?? Also, as a hearing person, even though I could not see the signing on stage I could have had the info from the interpreters, BUT, and a big but here, the interpreters were not saying everything being signed, many times it was a long pause and lack of speech from them, and not to mention that even with the microphone, one of them spoke so low that I couldn't hear a word he was saying. Summarizing the experience, I didn't get all the information being given by Braam on that day, and the little bit I got was when I moved around a little and the people in front of me moved too and I could see him signing. That's when, again I totally agree with the quote: Access is having the information in the original language. And I know all about that. Being from Brazil, I always hated when I watched an american movie there that was dubbed to Portuguese, the expressions, the intonations of the words and even meanings changed so much that it seems like I was watching a movie and hearing another one. Interpreters just distract the focus from the signed message. I will remember next time to bring some ear-plugs, maybe it will help on that part.

One thing I did noticed again, and I'm hoping it is really a cultural and real value from the Deaf people. They always seem to like the fact that someone is learning sign language. MANY times I have this compliment from a Deaf person, they are proud of me for learning and being interested in their culture. To be honest, I don't understand why it is such a big deal for them, the crazy would be the people who does NOT want to learn, they are the one missing such a great thing, such a rich culture and most beautiful way to express words. The way I feel is, the Deaf people have a goldmine and they are superior than me, and I'm the one who needs their help or approval to reach the "gold" also, when and if I get there, then I can see people feeling proud of me for my accomplishment, but on the "journey" there, a simple "thank you" or "keep up" is enough of a compliment for those who are "not there yet". Anyway, thanks for the compliment!! It may take me some time to get use to receive it, but I'll get there :-)

Once more, it was a great pleasure meeting Braam Jordaan, although it was really fast, the whole experience was rewarding. Wish to have another opportunity to meet Braam again and talk more about his amazing work! I just need to polish even more on the SASL :-)

Changing 1 person's view about Deaf people

One day I was trying to find out more about the famous Deaf  actors I always hear about so I would be more in tune to the Deaf people I know from the Deaf Theater. I always get free help from interns coming from a local college, I ask the intern that was doing her hours at that time to do a research and write a report for me on Sean Berdy. He is one of the actors that inspired me to learn about the Deaf community, culture and language. He plays on Switched at Birth I already wrote about how things started for me. After him the intern did a report on Bernard Bragg and Deana Bray but this story is about the report done on Sean Berdy. While the intern was researching his career and past life she found some information about his girlfriend, Mary Harman. At the time of the research they had a lot of tweets and Instagram posts to each other and their relationship was open to the public (which at the time I'm writing this is not or they are not together anymore, again this is not about his personal life either, I'm just writing to have a better reference of the facts and situation in case I read this in the future..distant future) So looking around her tweets and IG posts the intern started to look more into what she wrote or what she does. She found out a bunch of sites and information about Mary, which believe it or not, I still haven't read the report on any of the actors to be honest, but the report is supposed to be about Sean, not Mary but since I didn't read yet, I'm still blind about who he is too beside he is a good actor, signer that works on Switched at Birth. The thing that amazed me and made me so proud was that the more she was looking for information the more she found out about Mary, the more she liked her. She became a fan of Mary, for her vibe, for her attitude and her thoughts that were all visible through her words on the social media.

The fact the Mary is so well spoken and has so much in depth thoughts about life, politics and philosophy changed her thought about Deaf people in general. She, like me before, always knew that Deaf people exist out there in the world, but never she thought they had such a rich culture and were so intelligent as most people. The usual old stereotype "deaf and dumb" was what she had in mind, but reading and learning about how much they can do and what they accomplished and seeing it all real on Mary's profiles and interviews, she opened her mind to a very different world she was living in and didn't even notice.

Regardless if she will continue searching and getting involved in the Deaf community, she is now with a new view and complete respect to Deaf people. She can see a new world around her and all thanks to Sean Berdy and Mary Harman (if he wasn't a famous actor I wouldn't have asked her to do a report about him, and if he wasn't dating Mary she wouldn't find out about her either and fell in love with her)

That whole process of discovering the Deaf world also made me feel super involved, every new discovery she would share with me all excited about it, of course most of the info she would share I would know already, but it was so good to see one more person so enthusiastic to learn more about them.

And just yesterday, I got a text message from her asking to know who is playing the CODA girl who was Natalie's girlfriend because she wanted to follow her on twitter. Here are the facts: 1 - she didn't have a twitter account, she must have created it just to follow Mary as this is what she said when she finished her hours as an intern, 2 - she had never seen Switched at Birth until I told her about the show, and of course introduced her to Sean Berdy and the deaf culture, 3 - Although, I did not appreciate a text at 11:41pm asking for something that could have waited until the following day, and another text at 12:23am saying she found the person  it was nice to know she is still looking for more role models in the Deaf community such as Abby Walla (the person she was looking for). Maybe she is really trying to get into it.

On this week's episode of Switched at Birth, there was a line that fit perfectly to what just happened here "the best leaders lead by example". The example of a Deaf person that just for being herself created such an impact on someone else's life, that is Mary Harman, a true leader and great influence into the "Deaf world"

Sean Berdy and Mary Harman