Po

[AlwaysMyself]

@heartathome @Bunniekins  I am an Auslan user. 😊 I am not Deaf or an interpreter or family-to-Deaf, but use it socially. I've been socially fluent since ~2011. However I a have always been terrible with reading fingerspelling - but feel better about that because I know so many Deaf who are also terrible at reading back fingerspelling too. 🤣. It's a matter of practice, and when I was studying I was much better at it (because I used it more!) but since I became more fluent in knowing the signs for most words I don't use fingerspelling much apart from Names or very specific words that we don't have/know signs for.

[heartathome]

That's wonderful @Bunniekins! That was great you learnt Auslan for your son! You sound like a very caring person! I used to meet up with the Deaf community where I use to live. It was great practice and Auslan was good with my partner because we could sign instead of yell at each other. 😄 I also loved volunteering for a respite organization for kids 5 - 18 with disabilities. Signing was a huge success there as well! 🙃 

[AlwaysMyself]

@heartathome do you have a favourite sign?

I think my favourite is the multi-purpose sign for 'empty/cancel' because of how it can be used informally. I can say my "mind in blank" by saying my mind is empty/deleted, for example. I love how Auslan as a visual-spacial language can do things like that. 😊

[heartathome]

Wow 😲 That's great  @AlwaysMyself !  I'm impressed! Who would have known that you could have a conversation with someone in Auslan! Fingerspelling was very slow for me, too! My Deaf friends used to laugh at how slow they would have to fingerspell for me! I could never understand the one-handed style. I've lost a lot of signs because I don't use it anymore but still know the basics. 🙃

[Bunniekins]

@heartathome   thank you re caring person i need to hear that 🙂  .  Auslan is such a great language to learn.  i remember teaching my kids words for pig, dog, cat bird rain etc one thing i am not good at is the facial expressions that are meant to go along with sign language i was always concentrating too much on what i was doing lol!

[AlwaysMyself]

Difficulty with learning/implementing facial expressions is really common with students, from my experience, @Bunniekins . You are not alone in that. 😊

I also love it when I hear of people who have learnt Auslan because of a deaf family member or friend, because I know too many deaf whose families have never learnt any Auslan and expect the child to either lipread or miss out on conversation. 😢. Learning languages are not easy for most people (I am lucky that it is a notable skill I have, to learn languages) - and Auslan is so different from a spoken language because of visual-spacial elements as well as grammar, and the variety of the community and generational signing differences.

I know a few people who sign without facial expressions; some due to other compounding reasons like dementia or autism. But they are still accepted and understood. 😊

[REDLINEZ750]

hey @heartathome hope you had a good day

@AlwaysMyself you too

too hot here i done telehealth psycho;ogist in car for an hour cam back in room and woke up in the eveining, must of got too hot in car i was very sweaty anyway can only sleep like that if need it

[heartathome]

@REDLINEZ750 

Do you work of a day? I hope your telehealth appointment went okay! I wish people would tag me into a conversation! I feel left out! 😔 I won't go into a conversation unless I'm tagged. I'm fighting my mind that thinks nobody likes me, which is why I'm not being tagged. I'm getting the idea most people who are on regularly have known each other for a while. Maybe they did the recovery program together. I've applied to do that and am getting a phone call this afternoon. I haven't had any coffee for a few days and am feeling a bit flat. 🙃

[heartathome]

I'm grateful to have spent my early childhood in the bush with my family. There were six of us kids

@REDLINEZ750 @AlwaysMyself @Bunniekins @Appleblossom @tyme @ENKELI @avant-garde and everyone else I've forgotten!

Growing up Aussi Style

My dad's my mate; he's taught me lots

Beginning from my birth

He worked hard shining floors

as he paced back and forth

Oh, my mum; she had it good

She stayed at home and played

She liked to play mummies a lot

because she played it everyday

She cooked and cleaned and mucked around

While my dad; he went to work

He'd give her lots of money too

But she wouldn't share... jerk!

Growing up was hard you know

With my mum lurking round

We couldn't burp or let one rip

Oh man, she'd get real wound

My dad would laugh or crack a joke

Then see mum's evil look

Our eyes would lower and look around

We'd laugh behind our books

Oh yeah, we'd get sent to bed

But it was all worth the stir

My dad: he'd come and sneak us treats

No matter where we were

I hated school, just like my dad

Mum sent me everyday

I'd pretend I was sick and stay in bed

But she'd send me anyway

My mum would say you shouldn't lie

She'd get upset and yell

But my dad would tell me I would be 

A great actress: he could tell

When I was older and drank too much

My dad: he gave a lift

He warned me good. Steer clear of mum

In case she gets a whiff

My dad's my mate. My mum's a witch

It's always been that way

My dad didn't mind me going out

Ask mum, he'd just say

My mum, she'd ask questions; lots

It used to get me mad

My dad: he'd smile and roll his eyes

When caught, he'd suffer bad

Now I've left and big myself

I often wonder how

She lived with him, the kid he was

Though we laugh about it now

It was good to grow where I did

With the feral cat and cow

Mum thinks the kids have grown and gone

But the biggest is with her now

My family and the Aussie life

A funny kind of way

But I thank the Lord for what I had

Each and everyday

[AlwaysMyself]

Hi @heartathome ,

Im sorry you are feeling a little left out. *hugs*

Certainly not my intention. 🙂 

Ive been abit busy lately and less time online, so ive mostly just been doing direct replies to comments I am tagged in. Im not much of a general tag-everyone person, but I will keep in mind you like to be tagged more in general chats and update posts 😊. 

Ive only been on the forums perhaps 2 months? End of August I think. So less than 2 months, wow!

I haven't done the SANE programs, so I only know people through their forum posts. 

But yep a few people have known each other on forums for even 10 years!! 😮