Learning sign language: Signs of the times

Dubai: Communicating with Rubina was very different from interacting with others around me. While I made an attempt to learn her language, she played the role of a teacher to perfection. She displayed a remarkable ability to gently help a new learner through the period of initial hesitation and my success appeared to give her boundless joy.

The fact that Rubina is hearing impaired was hardly a barrier as soon as I, along with almost 100 other people from different walks of life, decided to break it.

The experience of learning American Sign Language (ASL) at the ‘Summit Silence' workshop, organised by Volunteer in Dubai at Rotana Arjaan Burjuman, was much more than merely an addition to our skills.

It empowered us, helped us bridge the barriers between our workd and that of the hearing or speech impaired and, most of all, enriched us with a feeling of unison with our fellow human beings.

We started with a video that showed Stephen Torrence rocking out in sign language to the tunes of Party in USA by Miley Cyrus. The first thing we learnt in sign was to clap — not the usual way of making sound by striking your palms together — but by raising both the hands and fanning our fingers comfortably with palms out.

This was followed by the knowledge of alphabet, colours and a lot more including critical points like keeping fingers away from one's body while signing and paying an equal attention to facial expressions and body movements, all of which our instructors Manjit Singh, Rubina and Suzanne, made quite interesting by their indepth explanations.

"I always wanted to learn and I am glad I have got this opportunity," an elated Mariam, a participant, said, making me realise that I was not the only one who had wanted to learn sign language; there were at least a 100 others who cared about a world that would remain silent to us if we never attempted to communicate with it.

"I learnt most of it from YouTube," said Singh. "It is your will to learn that matters, it is not difficult. Learning sign language has helped me in many ways including making some very dear friends."

As the workshop came to a close, Rubina placed her hand on her chin and brought it forward. This time, we knew it meant ‘thank you'.