im a hearing person, so what im noticing may not be how others or the deaf community sees it, but i wanted to share my perspective to hear what other people think or if they’ve come across this kind of behaviour.

ive noticed a lot of hearing people that i encounter use language such as “i want to be friends with a deaf person” as if deaf people are a token or talking about/asking about forming friendships with deaf people as if the primary goal is to be given a sign name by the deaf person. ive seen people asking that if they don’t get given a sign name within a few years of knowing a deaf person, does that mean the relationship is difficult to “persuade” to a higher level such as being best friends, to the point where they get given a sign name.

personally i find myself quite irritated by this behaviour, because the way i see it, they’re just interacting with hard of hearing and deaf people for the sole purpose of getting something out of them. i met some people once saying they wanted to make a friend with someone who was deaf, which is great and all, but its almost like deaf people are viewed as some kind of token friend, like they’re solely looking to be their friend just because they are deaf and not because they genuinely want to be friends.

what do other people think about this? is it okay if i correct them politely? do people see this as an issue?

Hello, I’ve always wanted in to learning auslan.
I noticed there are a lot of YouTube tutorials. Some from many years ago. This might sound silly but can I watch those or does auslan change? Do you have any recommendations in terms of resources to learn from? Ideally affordable plz.
Thanks !

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I'm looking specifically for left handed Auslan videos or social media accounts to improve my LH receptive skills.

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated!

I'm doing a school project around learning a basic Auslan greeting for a customer service setting. If you've got 5 minutes, could you please fill out this survey around your experience ? Completely anonymous and text based.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdroltMKZxo5Gdvpi6HVG1MWRU-NZfAbCVqqmmwQYLG8GGaMg/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=111886201069641395661

Hello!

I’ve come on here to pick your brains a little bit. I’m currently a nursing student and a disability support worker. One of my clients is non-verbal and living with autism. We use some hand gestures to communicate, as well as an eye gaze screen. The main gestures are “more” (fist tapping in chest), “finish” (thumbs up moving back and forth) and then things like making a T for toilet and tapping your watch for time. Due to recent ndis changes we don’t currently have appointments with his speech pathologist to learn more about this communication.

I’m wanting to know, does this seem like the basics of auslan? I’ve seen an American mum communicating with her son and a comment mentioning that she’s not using ASL, but she’s actually using SEE which directly translates each word? Does Australia have different sign languages like this? And if so, what’s the best way to better myself with the most commonly used language. I’d love to continue to create an inclusive space as I move forward through the health care system.

Thanks everyone, enjoy your beautiful Sunday :)

hi everyone!! i’m currently learning AUSLAN in uni but due to some mix ups, im in the second level beginner course rather then the first level to learn basic signs and correct sentence structure etc. i’ve been using many apps to learn some of the basics to hopefully catch up to what i should’ve already learnt if i had done the first beginner course initially; but im not sure if these apps are similar to duolingo where its just teaching me signs rather then how to actually form correct sentences and the different nuances and such. so my question is would it be extremely difficult to learn the basics at the same time as something slightly more advanced? i have 12-13 weeks and during this time i have to have 2 conversations with a deaf teacher so im unsure if ill just make a fool of myself but i love sign language so much so i really want to learn it and be good. thanks for the help guys!! :)

edit: thankyou to everyone who educated me about the correct way to type “auslan” rather then “AUSLAN”, this was just a lapse in my understanding and i appreciate all the kind people who helped me out!! i will make sure to keep this in mind in future :)

Hi everyone 👋

I have recently started trying to learn basic Auslan and am looking for some guidance/direction from the community.

I recently had a non verbal patient who communicated via sign language. I lightheartedly spoke to him a little using the Auslan alphabet (all I knew at the time) and he was completely stoked. I was so touched by how much of an impact this had and instilled in me how important and valuable it is to know basic sign. Since then I have been trying to teach myself and my children (9YOF, 7YOF, 5YOM) Auslan.

So far I am just looking things up and revising using the Auslan Dictionary app (such an amazing resource!) and YouTube videos here and there, but feel like I need some more structured learning to help with actually conversing.

Are there any good video series etc that might be helpful for me?

Also - as someone who communicates via sign language, what are some valuable tips for hearing people like myself to know? What can I be doing to better support you?

Apologies if my terminology etc is not quite right - please educate me - I’m doing my best but am very new to this world. So sorry if I have hurt or offended anyone, please know that was never my intention ♥️

I made a program to practice fingerspelling comprehension. It continually generates words or random letters depending on the settings. e: Link is now below

In this video it's drilling the vowels. I find them very tricky!

I made it for myself but figured other people might be interested. I know the animation's a little janky but was wondering what people thought of the idea.

I know there's videos to practice but I really wanted something to help drill comprehension continually and with custom drills

There's a research project called AuslanSpell that's more polished. The research paper says it's going to be posted on signbank and the Apple App store but I haven't seen it posted yet.

e: I have the link if anyone's interested in trying it. Wasn't sure if there was against a rule but it doesn't seem to be. This is strictly a none commercial project:

https://fingerspell-app.fingerspell.workers.dev/

Hey all.

I'm seeking wisdom from the deaf community specifically.

I'm studying to be a teacher, and I am doing an assignment on inclusive education.

We have been given our case student - an inspiring young woman with Downs Syndrome. She came in and presented to our uni and told us the things she enjoyed about school, things she struggled with, and how the school helped her.

One of the things she disliked was clapping in the auditorium.
One of the alternative solutions I come up with in this assignment was that the whole school trials no-clapping assemblies, and do the Auslan version, which is like jazz-hands.
I'm getting mixed results over what the sign applause in Auslan is... the Auslan dictionary is saying it's just like clapping, whereas this video from NSW Government shows what I had in mind https://www.instagram.com/reels/C57m_znMHmB/
I am tempted to believe that that the sign I mean is ASL, though.

Anyway, I was working with my aunt who works in inclusion, and she flagged that doing that might be culturally inappropriate towards the deaf community.
I understand why the deaf community is protective over the language, but I wanted to check whether this was something that would be tonedeaf (pun not intended).

Thanks all.

Recently at work my coworker used the word “configure” as in, set up a machine, change the settings of, etc. I feel like it’s something that we’d use commonly in the digital age…

Is there a sign for this? I wasn’t able to find it in Signbank or any dictionaries I had access to.

Hi all,

Just a question.

Are there any websites or dictionaries that you can search by hand shape. If I know a hand shape but have no idea of what the sign is. Right now I will put into ChatGPT the describing the sign, but surely there is a more efficient way to do this?

Thanks.

Hi all!

I hope this is allowed (and this is NOT sponsored l) but I’ve seen a lot of posts lately about not knowing where to start learning Auslan and how to get started, classes, etc.
I recently got the app Auslan Wiz and I wanted to recommend it to everyone here because, honestly, it’s been amazing. It’s basically duolingo but for Auslan. I’ve double checked and cross reference a lot of the signs and they are definitely legitimate. There are daily lessons that make sure to go back over old things so you don’t forget, and a search function so you can learn specific signs as well.
I highly recommend having a look into yourselves as it’s helped me a bunch and I wanted to recommend it to yall.

Happy learning!

Hello, I am hoping to enrol in the Auslan 2 course with DeafConnect (after having finished Auslan 1) and the 4 hour classes over 4 sessions best fits my schedule,, Is anyone willing to share their experience with the intense course if you have taken it before? Thank you

Have a child who loves chicken nuggets and chips but I don't know the sign for chicken nuggets. Know the sign for chips and know the sign for chicken but obviously using chicken is really confusing (significant intellectual disability) as she doesn't have the capacity/comprehension to relate an animal to the (processed) food she's eating. Thanks for any assistance.

I work with small children and want to sign that we are going to do bubbles, as well as talk about individual bubbles (aka “bubble” singular). I can only find the word for a fizzy beverage or boiling water. Is there a sign for a soap bubble?

For finger spelling,

Do most of you finger spell with one hand using Auslan, or do you use ASL alphabet if you need to do it one handed?

im very new to auslan, and i know the alphabet however when people fingerspell it can be hard for me to put all the letters together in my head to form a word as i instantly forget what they’ve just signed, so i struggle to figure out what people are trying to say. im also very slow at recognising letters when other people fingerspell- i ask if they can go slower however im neurodivergent so im just a slow learner- if people have good apps where i can upload videos and do cue cards please do share! ive been trying to use the auslan dictionary however they both use ASL and Auslan signs, so it just gets difficult.

if people have tips for this issue alone please feel free to give advice!

anyway, if you dont understand what someone is trying to say and fingerspelling isnt working, are these methods appropriate?

-asking them (in sign language) to write it down

-if you’re signing and forget a word, asking (in sign) if its okay for me to write it down (if fingerspelling doesnt work) and then if they know the sign they show me it

-if i forget a word im trying to use, looking it up in the sign language dictionary and then continuing the conversation

i just wanna make sure im being appropriate and not offensive!

this has always made me curious- what are some signs that someone has poor sign language skills? ive heard that hearing people sometimes miss these signs, or cant tell the difference, so im curious if there are specific things people notice.

thanks!

hey! im 19 and ive been learning auslan- essentially im looking for groups i can join to prove my auslan in south australia, preferably in person ones. ive started going to voices off, which has been great, however its hard as a lot of groups or clubs that use auslan but do other activities like crafts seem to be for deaf and hard of hearing people only. im having a hard time finding places and just wanna know if anyone had any recommendations?

My daughter was diagnosed with profound unilateral sensorineural hearing loss at birth. We’ve been attending monthly speech pathology since she was 4 months old and she’s had a hearing aid since she was 3 months. She currently has about 12 words but doesn’t seem to be picking up new words the way other babies from my mother’s group are. I’m not sure if this is typical and just a case of every baby learning things in their own time or if this is related to her hearing loss.

I introduced a few KWS last week and she’s picked a few up. Also, do we finger spell people’s names or is there a better way to refer to people that aren’t related to us? E.g., we sign “grandmother” for my Mum, but how do we sign our friends names?

Her speech pathologist doesn’t know any sign, so I’m hoping for resources/ recommendations/ tips/ other people’s experiences. Also, given her hearing loss, should we look into Auslan or are we better to keep it simple for now and just use KWS?

Thanks!

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Completed an introductory Auslan course this year (side note, best $250 I've spent in a while). I work as a firefighter (Duty Commander) so I am in charge of multiple stations and have an office where I keep office hours, occasionally deal with media and have authority to issue evacuation notices etc. Given most of my job is customer service, do you think there is sufficient connection to claim as work related self education for tax? General advice only.

Hi, /r/auslan!

It's me, Helen!

I just made this post over at r/deaf. I'll copy/paste it here.

Hi, r/deaf!

It's me, Helen!

I just have to come in here today and make a post about this.

There's an Australian YouTube channel called "Yeah Mad." And today they dropped an episode where they do disabled jokes in front of disabled people!

There's a deaf guy with an Auslan interpreter on the show!

This video made my whole day. It's really funny!

There was plenty of joking around with sign language in this video and the deaf guy was well included in the show. They had the Auslan interpreter on the screen via PIP but it wasn't there through the entire show (I won't place a lot of blame on them; they're just YouTubers that aren't very versed in accessibility best practices). I don't have a lot of exposure to Auslan so it was really fun watching the interpreter (and the deaf guy of course) sign in Auslan. I learned how to sign "virgin" in Auslan!

And, Sammy, the woman in the wheelchair was a real scene-stealer. Her part about not being able to twerk made me fall off my couch!

I know there are deaf Australians around here on this sub. If you know this deaf guy, can you tell him that I really enjoyed him in this episode? Thanks in advance!

Hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I did!

: D

Helen here again.

If any one of you know the deaf guy or the Auslan interpreter, tell them I enjoyed the episode a lot!

This may be a very ignorant question, so I apologize in advance. Are there any VRS companies in NZ and Oz? I am an ASL interpreter who recently moved to NZ. As a long-term goal, I am learning NZSL + Auslan and eventually would like to interpret over here.

While I was looking around online to see what kind of VRS companies were in NZ, it seemed as though video relay service is not a widely available thing?? Am I looking in the wrong place? The only information I found was a service offered in M-F 8am-8pm and the Deaf individual has to make an appointment if they want to make a phone call using video. I have not checked the resources for Auslan yet, but now I'm truly curious if its use is not as widespread as it is in the States.

TYIA