The Second Memory That Made Me a Disability Advocate
“Why would someone, who is not disabled, be an accessibility advocate?”
— this is the unasked question I see in some people’s eyes when I talk about Accessibility.
I tell you why.
People with disabilities are quite busy with their everyday lives alone. It includes barriers that the majority of us wouldn’t think about. Even basic tasks might turn into a challenge, like taking notes at school, watching a movie online, fill in a mandatory form, order a pizza, or buy a ticket for public transport.
These shouldn’t be difficult situations, but they are for some. I saw these challenges and I chose to join the squad and be a Voice. I found it unfair that those who already deal with barriers on daily basis, are the only people who are expected to speak up and advocate for themselves.
There are so many stories that led me here, and I’d love to share more about the moments that made me to be a Disability and Accessibility Advocate.
I heard about Sign Languages the very first time in a university class.
I had mandatory seminar to complete for my MA in Spanish Philology, and I had to choose from a huge list of classes that were offered.
I chose a seminar about Bilingualism.
When later I read the curriculum, I saw that two entire sessions were dedicated to
“The Bilingualism of the Deaf Community”.
At that point, I became confused. I literally had zero knowledge about deafness. Of course I knew that it was about hearing loss, but I had never met anyone with hearing disabilities before — except for the family stories I heard about my grandfather who misheard the most unusual things.
I had a lot of question inside.
“So, deaf people ARE bilingual. Okay. But how? They speak Hungarian. But how do they speak if they can’t hear? And what is the other language that makes them bilinguals?”
(Now these questions might seem blunt, but this happened waaay before the time of Sign Languages becoming cool.)
This topic was niche, something quite unknown back then. I became extremely curious… and I also felt a bit bad about not being aware of something around me, that obviously existed and surrounded us in a way.
The classes about Deaf Bilingualism were extremely helpful and interesting.
The volunteer student speaker was well-prepared and she talked about things that I found mind-blowing back then. “How come I haven’t heard about these things before?!”
Some of the facts that were new for me back then:
- Sign Language is a thing, but there is no such thing as “The Sign Language”, as each country has their own. Some countries even have two official Sign Languages (like Canada, with American and Quebec Sign Languages), and some even have local variations (I was amazed that Hungarian Sign Language has 7 dialects)!
- The idea of “it would be easier if there was one unified Sign Language” doesn’t work. Would you be able to unify spoken languages of the world? Not really… It simply doesn’t work that way —Sign Languages also evolved locally and separately, in a natural process, to be different.
- Sign Language grammar is a thing. It is not just gestures in random order, but complex visual linguistic systems with their own alphabets, vocabulary and facial-manual-spatial grammatical rules. There are separate university departments and dedicated linguists specialized on the research of Sign Language Linguistics.
- “Signing” is the proper expression for “using Sign Language”.
- Sign Language Interpreter is an existing job. They are hearing people who understand the local Sign Language and they are fluent in it, they are the “voice for the deaf” and also the “hand” for those who don’t sign but want to communicate effectively with deaf people.
- Deaf Culture is a thing. It includes the language and unique cultural aspects and characteristics that the members of the deaf community share. Deaf people are proud of their language and their culture.
There was a lot more to hear in that seminar, but this was my main takeaway. My curiosity did not get fulfilled, but even started to grow, I decided that I wanted to learn more.
I started a research: reading articles, browsing the internet for more info about deafness and this wonderful visual language, Hungarian Sign Language. Eventually, I signed up for a beginner course first but couldn’t stop, and a couple of years later, I became a certified Sign Language interpreter.
Of course, a learning process is never an all-in fairy tale.
Learning a new language is hard, the immersion into a new culture is a bumpy road. Some people will support you and happy to see you try, while others don’t want to be “bothered by intruders”. But in general, I met lovely people and I found friends.
Besides the cool nature of sign languages, facing the real disability-side of deafness was also not easy to digest: struggles with limited infomation sources, communication barriers, ignorance, or misunderstanding. I started to understand my “hearing privilege”. I also realised that sharing information may help other privileged people to understand the same! This is one more reason that I’m here, writing this article.
All together, I’m grateful for life — and for the professor - for offering the seminar title that also motivated me to take steps on the long road.
This was one of the core memories also for me, that lead me to be more conscious about untold difficulties of people around me. But no, this was still not that top moment when I became a Disability Advocate.
We will arrive to that too, soon.
