Fingerspelling

At sign class I was delighted that I was able to remember some of the signs we used last week. The ones I can remember are accountant, addition, subtraction, accident, help, Christmas, see, access, and after. Yes, there are a lot of 'a' words in there!

We played the Fingerspelling Game. I was on the slowest setting. My first attempt was a pitiful 5 words in 2 minutes, but I was having problems with the touchscreen device. My second attempt was a much better 18.

Over the last 25 years, when I have had a cold, throat or chest infection, my voice disappeared. First I taught fingerspelling to the Beloved, and then later to the children. It has been a really useful way to communicate when my voice has gone. Unfortunately, this means I got to be quite good at signing the letters, but not so good at reading what someone else was signing. 

A great, and more fluid means of communication was one of my reasons for wanting to learn BSL. I could learn, and then teach my family the signs I would most commonly use. But, now I stop to think about it, the last time I lost my voice was Easter 2018. My doctor put me on a hefty dose of steroids. Whilst it brought my asthma under control, cleared the chest infection, and brought my voice back, it also did weird things to my taste buds. Everything tasted metallic and saccharine. It was horrible having everything tasting so sweet.

As I was weaned off the steroids, the first things I could taste, and enjoy were vegetables. We ended up buying a large fridge to house all of the vegetables. Our tiny fridge was no longer sufficient. It was at that point we started eating more vegetables. In September last year, this was kicked up a notch when white carbs all but disappeared from our diets. Our weight started reducing, and our health improved. My original reason for learning BSL seems not to be needed any more. 

However, it is interesting, it's fun, and I'm enjoying myself.  If more people had a basic understanding of BSL it would make life a great deal easier for those who are deaf and use BSL to communicate.