Shall we all be signers?

Oman’s first forum for people with disability is happening this week.

While attending a press conference at National Autism Center, while the event was being announced, I realised it was the first press conference, where I experienced someone communicating in sign language.

Throughout the event the interpreter was explaining in sign language. But now the person sitting next to me had actually started conversing with sign language and as I did not notice it, due to lack of sound, I had interrupted with my question only to realise there was a slight confusion. That is when the person with the gentle smile gestured it was okay and signalled me to continue. I apologised but realised I was using my hands too.

I was overwhelmed by the communication skill used by people with disability in speech. The interpreter said the individual wanted to say that we must have more and more events such as this forum that was being held by the Ministry of Social Development at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre.

As I walked towards the end of the hall there were two people conversing. They were a bit far away from each other. People were still speaking on microphone, but neither the voice on the speakers were interrupting them nor were they disturbing others, for they were speaking to each other in the sign language. Watching them one could experience silence no matter what was going around.

Without the sign language maybe silence could get louder.

We talk about maintaining accessibility for everyone yet we do not take effort to step into the world of people for whom silence is a constant companion or for others who do not have means to get the voice out there to be heard.

When others want to express all their emotions, thoughts and feelings in words, how are they going to yell it out. How do they express their frustrations when others raise their voice?

Looking at the two colleagues having a lengthy uninterrupted conversation, one could understand why it is important to face each other while conversing - to see the gestures and the signs clearly. They also maintained a certain distance. It was to face each other. So positioning seemed to be naturally an important element.

Would it not be lovely if everyone could and would learn sign language?

When we think of enhancing communication skills why would we miss out on this opportunity?

Sign languages also have grammar and lexicon. In Oman the Arabic sign language is taught. But when it comes to studying certain professions such as medicine then one has to learn sign language in English. We would have thought in English language there would have been just one sign language but the fact remains that there are three - American, British and Australian. Little bit more research revealed French and Spanish too. Actually this is how the history goes - a Benedictine monk first used sign language in 1500s to help him educate deaf Spanish students who were deaf and this lead to further development and in 1700s the first formal sign language was developed by Charles Michel de l’Eppe.

In sign language instead of the spoken words hand movements, gestures and body language are used and probably facial expressions are important.

Why do we communicate?

To let others know what we are thinking or what we want.

Today we text and we have even brought words to mere alphabets.

But if we actually look at people talking, depending on culture, we can see the use of body language and hand gestures varying. The reserved people tend to use fewer hand movements. Some feel calm and confident people also tend to use their hands less.

Body language comes under nonverbal communication and it includes facial expressions, eye contact, body movement, nod, space, and the proximity, posture, touch and pitch of the voice.

We make our initial judgement by the nonverbal communication even before words are spoken and that is when we listen to the pitch of the voice. If the pitch is high we tend to become restless and conscious, because there is an indication of nervousness and if the speech is rapid we become restless and tend to look away and is difficult to focus in the conversation.

Clarity is important in conversations and speech needs to be conveyed with clear thoughts. Even the clothes we wear make an impact. When we are involving so many factors in our communication, what about the members of the society who cannot hear or speak? Experts say they would be good at analyzing the nonverbal details.

While these are unspoken signals, sign language uses the fingers to shape the signs. This naturally commands full attention of the people spoken to and that means it requires eye contact and the positioning is important.

On the other hand, learning a sigh language leads to cognitive development and some experts say it can even fight against Alzheimer’s.

When we are in the process of bringing awareness on being inclusive, is it important that we become more agile by learning something new and make speech and hearing impaired individuals at ease by taking the steps for us to be compatible and amiable?

The best part is that there are many free sign language courses available online.

But would it not have been lovely if there was one universal sign language?