Hello :)

[mothcat]

Hi, I'm mothcat. I've wanted to learn BSL for a long time, and have been considering it more seriously for the past year. I finally decided to do a course!

When I worked in a coffeeshop, one customer came in who signed their order. I couldn't understand what they were saying vocally, and I knew no sign language, so they ended up having to write down their order. It felt really wrong and horrible at the time, and now I know that the word for it is audism. Since then, I've started a job where one of my coworkers is Deaf and lipreads, and while she doesn't strictly require BSL, it gave me the final push to learn it anyway. As a disabled person myself, I know how frustrating it is that abled people demand everyone to conform to their way of doing things, and as a society we should strive to embrace the diverse ways folk navigate this world.

As a side note, I am autistic and have really been enjoying the structure of BSL as a language. Its structure and clarity are really accessible.