GROSSMONT COLLEGE — Griffin Center was transformed into a mini-mall on Saturday afternoon, May 5, to help people who hear better understand the world of the deaf.

About 60 people attended the ‘Deaf Deaf World’ demonstration, at which little stores represented such services and vendors as the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Post Office, a bakery, Wal-Mart, cell phone providers and others.

The idea was to navigate your way through them, using only American Sign Language (ASL).

Participants picked a card from a scenario box, going to whichever booth the card directed.  During the event you were not allowed to talk. If you did you went to “ASL jail.”

While I was there, I learned new ASL signs to help me through the game, using them for such words as “horse,” “excuse,” “chicken,” “charger,” “Sprint,” “fake,” “real,” “stamps,” “lock,” and “worried.”

I also had the opportunity to talk with three deaf people. I was able to understand them for the most part, but we didn’t really have a long conversation or exchange names.

I think from my nametag they could see that I was in ASL 1, and knew therefore that I was a novice. When I didn’t understand a sign they finger- spelled to me. They were more patient than I expected.

At this event facial expressions were important. Without the right expression,  someone watching you might not know if you were asking a question, or  just making a statement.

At one booth, I role-played as a student asking my teacher if she could excuse me for being late. While I was learning the sign, I was forgetting the facial expression that I needed to have with “excuse,” so the teacher kept having me re-sign until I remembered the correct facial expression.

Other hearing people also attended this event also, but you wouldn’t know it unless you read their nametags.

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Boyd is a general assignment reporter for the GC Summit.  She may be contacted at [email protected]