Please read through the following websites/blogs/resources!

American Deaf Culture - Tom Holcomb [website]

American Deaf Culture - Sign Media, Inc. [website]

American Deaf Culture - Coursera (free course, starting January 16th, 2021) [Class]

"Introduction to American Deaf Culture" - Tom Holcomb, 2013. [Book]

QUESTION: Is there such a thing as "American Deaf Culture"?

ANSWER: If we look at the definition of "culture" according to Merriam Webster:

1. Customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group

   • also : the characteristic features of everyday existence (such as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time

2. The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization

3. The set of values, conventions, or social practices associated with a particular field, activity, or societal characteristic

4. The integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations.

All of the bold characteristics above apply to Deaf Americans*! They have certain beliefs about their place in their communities, how the world works (both for and against them), and concepts about themselves as Deaf Americans, which are quite different than that of hearing Americans. Deaf Americans follow certain social forms (that is both inherent in ASL, as well as protocol and etiquette for holding social interactions in ASL). And as for material forms, there's no doubt that technology molds and shapes all of us, but much so for those Deaf/Hard of Hearing who wear hearing aids, use microphones/receivers, have cochlear implants, and other daily tech-use that provides access and connection to the world around them!

Deaf Americans also have predominant shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that distinguish them from hearing Americans. Growing up deaf (unable to hear) shaped their communication practices and goals amongst hearing people. They may value visual art, manual (hand-made) endeavors, as well as their other senses, instead of putting so much priority on musicality, the "sound of things", or the fact that sound is important.

Social practices for Deaf Americans is more collectivist and group-oriented than typical hearing American individualistic tendencies and approaches. Similar to African-American, Asian-American, Latinx-American, and Native-American/Indigenous cultures, looking out for the family, the group, is more important and required, so that continuity and future generations may benefit and flourish.

As such, Deaf American human knowledge and being able to transmit that knowledge to future generations is valued and cherished, since the wisdom and experiences of the elders and previous generations cannot be found elsewhere, except in ASL storytelling, fables, folklore, jokes, and anecdotes. With the advent of cheap and plentiful video-recording, being able to archive and save elders' stories is now more feasible.

(If all of this seems very familiar to you, it's because many minority groups and marginalized communities that are accepted as "cultures" also display these characteristics. Deaf do as well, earning them the right to be seen as an American minority cultural group.)

*Note that "Deaf" is capitalized when it refers to the cultural minority of those who live in America, primarily value ASL as their native/fluent language, adhere to ASL and Deaf norms, pass down such cultural values and beliefs to future generations, and take pride in their wholeness/humanity/self-reliance as Deaf individuals making their way through a majority hearing world. This is similar to the convention of capitalizing "African-American" or "Italian-American" or "Chinese-American", as proper nouns for distinct cultural groups.

• 0 - Note how the 0 (zero) looks just like the letter "O". How do you know the difference? Context. If someone is spelling a name, I'm sure the "O" will make a lot more sense than the quantity "zero". Similarly, if someone is signing their phone number or number of children, or amount of books they have, etc., go with "zero".

• 1 - "1" can look like "D", but again, context and the sentence in which this number is given. If you can count it, it's 1. If you see a word or something Fingerspelled, it might be "D". (Then again, maybe they're signaling for you to look up and beware falling grand pianos or anvils, a la "Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote"!)

• 2 - "2" or "V"? Only you will know. And so will the signer, and all of the other viewers. Get over your indecision. Choose number and see if that makes sense in the sentence signed to you!

Typically 1-5 are signed with the palm in (to you). Note also that THREE has a THUMB sticking out, which is probably quite different from how you've shown the # "3" for your entire lives. Sorry to switch things up now, but you can't touch your thumbtip to your pinkytip "W" and expect other signers to know you mean "3". Now in ASL, "3" has a thumb!

3 - Thumb + Index and middle finger. Hard habit to break, but break it and replace it you must… if you expect to excel at ASL!

4 - All four fingers are shown (palm in to yourself, please!). Ignore the picture above.

5 - All four fingers and your thumb, palm in (still).

Here, the palm should be shown to the viewer while you Fingerspell/produce these numbers.

• 6 - Here's that dread "W" or hearing English "3"! Nope, it's not either, nor a bird or a plane. It's 6! The thumbtip touches the pinkytip, and you have 5+1. Practice switching between "3" (thumb) and "6" ("W"). This will help you to differentiate the two numbers more readily.

• 7 - Thumbtip touches ring fingertip. Note how we're moving from the smallest finger, up to the largest finger! (There's a method to this madness!)

• 8 - Thumbtip touches the middle fingertip. When learning to count in ASL, it's typical to get confused with "7" and "8", since they both fall in the middle fingers, you may not see the point of contact (thumb to either right or middle fingertip), and if you practice the numbers out of order and random, you're not always 100% positive that you saw what you saw! Some ASL Teachers will suggest you look for the gap between fingers instead of the point of contact with the thumbtip. If the gap is closer to the pinky, the number you thought you saw was "7". If the gap is closer to the thumb, then the number was "8".

*Maybe that technique will help you! Maybe not. Try it and see.

• 9 - Palm out, thumbtip touches Index fingertip. Is it "9" or "F"? Use context. Sometimes the pads of the thumb/Index will touch, so it's less "tip-to-tip" and more "flat pad-to-flat pad". There should also be a double-tapping motion of the index finger onto the thumb pad/tip.

• 10 - Stick your thumb UP, like you're gesturing "All Good!". But slightly wiggle your hand side-to-side. That's 10.

• 11 - Make a fist with the palm/thumb facing in, towards you. Loosely allow the index finger to 'flick' off of the pad of the thumb 2x, until it's pointing upwards.

• 12 - While the middle finger is slightly held back by the thumb, gently 'flick' the index and middle fingers (#2) off of the thumb pad 2x until they're both pointing upwards.

• 13 - The idea is similar to 11 and 12, but this time the thumb sticks out and the index finger/middle finger are next to each other. The combined index/middle will gently gesture/beckon downwards 2x (while the thumb just sticks out to the side).

• 14 - Like 13, but pull the thumb inside, against your palm. Don't allow the viewer to see it. Use all four fingers (connected, as one "digit") to gesture/beckon downwards 2x. They should point directly up as you start this number, then fold down over the thumb; repeat.

• 15 - Like a mixture of 13 and 14. The thumb sticks out while the combined four fingers (connected, as one "digit") gesture/beckon downwards 2x.

• 16 - Just like some Romance languages, 16 is broken down into its Tens and Ones units = 10 + 6. So start forming #10 (thumb up), then your throw your thumb down/palm out to the viewer, and touch the thumb tip to the pinky tip (#6).

• 17 - Again, start forming #10 (thumb up), then your throw your thumb down/palm out to the viewer, and touch the thumb tip to the ring fingertip (#7).

• 18 - Again, start forming #10 (thumb up), then your throw your thumb down/palm out to the viewer, and touch the thumb tip to the middle fingertip (#8).

19 - Start forming #10 (thumb up), then your throw your thumb down/palm out to the viewer, and touch the thumb tip to the index fingertip (#9).

20 - As described above, start with the "L" handshape, then slightly pull to the side and form a "thin" 0 (where just the index fingertip and thumb tip touch).

Here's the good part - Area Codes are so predictable as the first three numbers of all phone numbers, you can usually guess correctly the second someone starts to Fingerspell their full phone number to you! ...at least you can easily guess the area code.

• 213

• 310

• 323

• 562

• 626

• 714

• 818

These are all common Area Codes for people living in the Southern CA/Los Angeles metropolitan area. Occasionally you'll see weird Area Codes—like "513"!—where does that strange Bob think his phone number belongs??? Cincinnati, OHIO? Unpredictable and odd!!!

The next bit is a little tougher: You know you'll see a series of three numbers, then four numbers. So if you can just survive those last 7 digits, you should be able to correctly decipher and remember someone's Fingerspelled phone number!

Question: I always confuse 7 and 8. How do I produce them and "see" them correctly?

Answers: Practice, practice, practice! Focus on calmly, clearly, and accurately making the 7 and 8 handshapes, getting a feel for the muscle movement of your fingers. Some instructors will tell you to look for the "gap" above the knuckle (is the gap closer to the signer's index finger? Then it's an 8. Or is the gap closer to the signer's pinky? Number 7!

Whatever tip or trick you use to memorize and recognize the numbers/letters you see, make it work for you. And that takes PRACTICE! Producing and receiving ("seeing") Fingerspelled letters and numbers takes practice and focus at first. Eventually it becomes easier...but only if you practice as often as possible, and with different signers. So practice with each other, then double-check.

Even though you might want to follow "hearing" norms in how you chunk your numbers, it doesn't always work that way in ASL.

Phone Numbers in ASL

You might say your phone number in English: "My phone number is two one three, four oh seven, twenty-five, thirty-five." = (213) 407-2535.

This makes sense to you to say zero as "oh" and to chunk 2-5 as twenty-five.

But phone numbers in ASL should be the expected 3-digits for Area Code, 3 digit exchange, then 4 digits (all as separate numbers.

ASL Fingerspelling of the phone number: (213) 407-2535 = two, one, three <slight pause> four, zero, seven <slight pause> two, five, three, five. Ten distinct numbers.

Using Phone Numbers you know (or creating practice numbers), sign it to a "study buddy" and swap numbers. (Try chunking weirdly to confuse each other. See how it's unpredictable to chunk unnecessarily!)

Addresses in ASL

Similarly, you'll want to provide the individual numbers in ASL, one by one. Then pause slightly before fingerspelling the name of the street, city, state, and ZIP Code.

Choose the address of a place you like to eat. Or a family/friend's address. Practice fingerspelling it to a classmate or study group. Make sure everyone writes down what you fingerspelled, so they can show it to you. Then swap and they fingerspell, while you watch and write. Always verify. (You can even have them fingerspell it back to you.)

It's important to learn to fingerspell whole words and syllabically, voice off! Don't even try to whisper or quietly voice while you fingerspell/sign. Voice is unnecessary to ASL.

Social Security Numbers in ASL

Depending on where you encounter Deaf people who sign, either asking for their SSN/Medical Record Numbers or other HIPAA-protected Personal Identifying Information, it would be good to at least practice and expect the form xxx-xx-xxxx (chunk of 3, chunk of 3, chunk of 4).

Create a fake SSN and practice with a partner or study group. You fingerspell your SSN to them, in its entirety, and see if they can fingerspell it back to you correctly. Go in a circle or "popcorn" random style to practice both producing fingerspelling and receiving/"seeing" it. Be kind to yourself and have fun!

Tips for Fingerspelling Numbers (same as for letters)

1. Keep using the hand you write with. (In rare cases, your writing hand may not be your dominant hand. If this is true for you, discuss this with your teacher first!)

2. Keep your hand (palm out, towards the viewer for 0-9, 16-20, 23-and-on; towards yourself for 10-15) in front of your shoulder, using the shoulder as background. (21 is a special case.)

3. Do not pull the hand in close to your shoulder; it should be between 8"-12" away from your shoulder; comfortable but not fully extended.

4. Produce single, individual numbers. Don't unnecessarily "chunk" things, as that will be confusing. (Ex. My phone number is (562)

5. Work at improving the clarity of the handshape first. If you keep your number handshapes at clear, obvious angles (i.e. 1 is produced with an index finger pointing straight up, with the thumb wrapped around the other fingers), your number clarity will be greatly improved.

6. Study each number (both printed on the paper and as you fingerspell it). Don’t force your hand. Teach your hand that that shape is natural and relaxed and easily formed.

7. Close your eyes and feel the muscle movements in your hands as you fingerspell. Notice the overall movements of your fingers, thumb, and hand. How does each number feel? How does the transition feel between different numbers? (Use your own phone number or SSN to start!)

8. Keep a regular rhythm when fingerspelling and divide your numbers by "chunks". Form each chunk clearly, and lightly mouth the numbers in the chunk. (i.e. My phone number 562 320 4550) DO NOT OVER-MOUTH OR EXAGGERATE EACH NUMBER! This will really throw off the viewer, and create really bad habits you'll have to break later on.

9. Finally work on speed. NEVER RUSH! Once your hands and muscles are used to doing the movements, speed will come. Don’t force it—you’ll just sign sloppily, no one will understand you, and you will probably be forced to FS the word/phrase again. (Don’t be overly slow, either!)

Finally–Don't sweat it if you're not perfect for your first, second, or third class! It may take you 1-2 years of continuous, daily practice to fluidly fingerspell small words. This is not a race or a competition. Speed isn't your goal… yet!