Page 136 - Reading Between the Sign Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters

American Deaf Culture 121

expected, therefore, that one will answer inquiries regarding how
much money one earns, what one paid for a car or house, why
one is getting a divorce or does not have children. To take one
example, buying a car is different from the purchase of any other
consumer good in that the price on the sticker is not final. Some
Deaf people may not be aware of the negotiation dance one is
expected to do with a car dealer. Sharing these details means that
one is concerned about one’s friends (or those Deaf people who
have grown up with more limited access to information).
Even so, Deaf people do not always wish to answer every ques-
tion posed to them. One good reason may be that they know the
answer will set them apart from (or above) others (e.g., earning a
much higher salary than most other Deaf people). Some polite
ways to avoid answering a question involve responding with a
humorous retort (e.g., Q: “How much did you pay for that car?” A:
“More than I should have.”), indicating that the price one paid
was within a certain range, or changing the subject.
One Deaf friend told me of the time she was out with a group
of girlfriends and the conversation turned into a comparison of
whose ex-boyfriend was the worst. As each woman around the
table told her tale of increasingly offensive behavior, my friend
decided she did not want to be compelled to do the same. She
thought to herself, “How am I going to avoid spilling the beans?
Certainly not by saying, ‘Sorry, that’s private.’” So when her turn
came, she subtly changed the direction of the discussion by chid-
ing her friends, “Hey, that’s enough negative talk. Let’s talk about
something positive now.”

How to Pass through a Signed Conversation
When two people are having a signed conversation, it sometimes
becomes necessary for others to pass between them, thus “inter-
rupting” their dialogue. This happens all the time in the Deaf world,
especially at crowded parties, and goes unnoticed. For a hearing
person unfamiliar with the ways of the Deaf, however, it seems
like a daunting task to walk through a visual conversation. Hear-
ing people, in consciously trying not to be rude, often end up
interrupting far more than they would have, had they walked right
between the conversing parties without a second thought. The
polite way to handle such a situation is for the person walking
through the conversation to bring as little attention to him- or
herself as possible. One moves quickly between the conversing

05 MINDESS PMKR 121 10/18/04, 12:00 PM