<story><title>Underdog no more, a deaf football team takes California by storm</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/15/us/riverside-california-deaf-football-team.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>apeace</author><text>I am a hearing person. Me and some friends have made learning ASL one of our hobbies over the last couple years. I highly recommend it, it&amp;#x27;s very fun! It also opens a window into the deaf world that I find really fascinating.&lt;p&gt;There is a joke in the deaf world that hearing people are emotionally repressed. I don&amp;#x27;t think it&amp;#x27;s taken seriously, but it&amp;#x27;s because speaking ASL requires you to be so expressive with your face and body. For example, instead of raising the pitch of your voice to indicate you are asking a question, you raise or furrow your eyebrows (raised for a yes&amp;#x2F;no question, furrowed for an open-ended question). You also don&amp;#x27;t say things like &amp;quot;I REALLY like it&amp;quot;, you just say &amp;quot;I like it&amp;quot; and show the REALLY part with your face and body. It&amp;#x27;s understandable how hearing people could look like a bunch of emotionless drones with that context! Learning to be visually expressive is one of the most fun parts about ASL.&lt;p&gt;As with the football team in the article, using ASL around hearing people can feel like a super-power. Imagine saying to your friend, &amp;quot;This place sucks, let&amp;#x27;s get out of here,&amp;quot; while the bartender is right in front of you! Probably not the most polite thing, but useful. It&amp;#x27;s also great if you&amp;#x27;re somewhere crowded and&amp;#x2F;or loud. You can really zone out the noise and have a conversation.&lt;p&gt;Also, doing simple things like spelling people&amp;#x27;s names can be a fun party trick (for hearing people).&lt;p&gt;Anyway, I just wanted to emphasize that as a hearing person, there was so much more to learn about ASL and the deaf community than I thought there was. I can&amp;#x27;t recommend it enough.</text></comment>
<story><title>Underdog no more, a deaf football team takes California by storm</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/15/us/riverside-california-deaf-football-team.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>tmnstr85</author><text>My youngest daughter has CP and global traumatic brain injury from bacterial meningitis at birth. Its a brutal as it sounds. She is 2.5 and knows about 60 signs. This article warmed my heart and brought tears to my eyes. Two thoughts:
1. Loneliness is real. Special needs children are often overlooked. Take the time to recognize them, let them know they are seen. 
2. Someone should fund a jumbotron for this school.</text></comment>