Audism and Discrimination
ASL has been systematically oppressed and seen as inferior to English for hundreds of years. In recent memory, many artificial systems for signing English have been invented and forced onto the Deaf community. The Canadian Association of the Deaf notes that "Several varieties of sign systems (pseudo sign "languages") have been developed by non-Deaf people ... These are systems rather than languages, because they were artificially invented instead of naturally developed. They deform the true Sign language in order to make it conform to the grammar and syntax of a verbal language." and "considers such sign systems to be a form of cultural oppression." Because of this, using English words to represent ASL signs strengthens this false equivalence between ASL and English, and continues to privilege English-based sign systems over conceptually accurate ASL.
Currently, in order for a Deaf person to communicate over the internet, they must choose between switching into English to represent their thoughts, or recording a video in ASL, which may take a long time to record and to edit, and cannot be skimmed through or navigated easily. This means that Deaf people who do not feel comfortable using English or recording themselves are unable to comment on the internet, which is one of the main avenues of conversation and community in the the 21st century.
Proponents of ASL writing systems point out that the ability to write ASL without resorting to English characters or words will help the Deaf community, as well as students of ASL to break from English and pay attention to ASL form, and may give Deaf children pride in their language as distinct from English. The ability to write in ASL allows ASL users to discuss variations of signs without needing to meet in person or exchange videos, to record their sign names and to legitimize ASL and other signed languages in the eyes of governments and general society.
Currently, in order for a Deaf person to communicate over the internet, they must choose between switching into English to represent their thoughts, or recording a video in ASL, which may take a long time to record and to edit, and cannot be skimmed through or navigated easily. This means that Deaf people who do not feel comfortable using English or recording themselves are unable to comment on the internet, which is one of the main avenues of conversation and community in the the 21st century.
Proponents of ASL writing systems point out that the ability to write ASL without resorting to English characters or words will help the Deaf community, as well as students of ASL to break from English and pay attention to ASL form, and may give Deaf children pride in their language as distinct from English. The ability to write in ASL allows ASL users to discuss variations of signs without needing to meet in person or exchange videos, to record their sign names and to legitimize ASL and other signed languages in the eyes of governments and general society.