The deaf dudes wouldn’t stop talking!

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I asked the Housing Council if they could provide an interpreter for their landlord workshop, and when they said yes, I put out the word on DeafROC.com to encourage other deaf people to sign up.

I hate being the only deaf person in that situation. I feel guilty about someone spending all that money just for me, and I don’t like having an interpreter staring at me relentlessly for hours on end.

It worked; four other deaf guys signed up. But I ended up having mixed feelings. Why? Because throughout the two-night, six-hour course, these deaf dudes wouldn’t stop talking.

There were two tables with about 10 hearing people who were quiet and respectful when the teachers were talking, and then there was the table with four deaf guys who all thought that what they had to say to each other was more important than what the teacher was trying to say.

I guess what happens is that the teacher says something that makes one of the deaf guys think of something, and unlike their hearing classmates, who also think of things but for the most part keep their thoughts to themselves, the deafies must instantly share their thoughts with others.

So they will launch into their own conversation, and when they finally stop, one of them will ask the teacher a question, and it will probably be something that was covered while they were blabbering.

Even worse, on the first night, one of the two interpreters took an active role in these conversations. She was sitting right next to the working interpreter, so I had two people in front of me signing different things.

You would think an interpreter would know better, that she would remind the deafies to pay attention instead of being a willing participant.

The flurry of movement in the corner of my eye was a constant distraction, but imagine how the teacher must have felt with all this signing going on and all these people obviously not paying attention.

It is one thing when hearing people whisper asides to one another in class, but don’t these deafies realize how obvious and annoying and rude and disrespectful and embarrassing it is when they yak-yak-yak throughout a class that people are paying good money to take and the sponsor is paying good money to interpret?

Perhaps this kind of behavior is accepted and even expected in the deaf classroom, but when we venture out into the hearing world, a certain amount of decorum is required, don’t you think?

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