Sign Language Quotes

“We watched Alex walking away.
"What just happened?" I asked him.
There are no words for it in sign language, he said.”
― Rick Riordan, Magnus Chase and the Ship of the Dead

“There must be something in here that can drill through eight miles of
solid rock.”
He considered a hand drill, a tape measure, a corkscrew, and the iron staff we’d almost died retrieving from Geirrod’s fortress. He threw them all to the floor.
“Nothing!” he said in disgust. “Useless junk!”
Perhaps you could use your head, Hearthstone signed. That is very hard.
“Oh, don’t try to console me, Mr. Elf,” said Thor.”
― Rick Riordan, The Hammer of Thor

“I flipped him a gesture that he wouldn't need sign language to understand.”
― Rick Riordan, The Sword of Summer

“He didn't think it possible to sign sewage-sucking-excuse-of-a-baseborn-bilge-rat but somehow Gurn managed.”
― Grace Draven, Master of Crows

“I would expect a significant development and elaboration of language in only a few generations if all the chimps unable to communicate were to die or fail to reproduce. Basic English corresponds to about 1,000 words. Chimpanzees are already accomplished in vocabularies exceeding 10 percent of that number.”
― Carl Sagan, The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence

“In addition to Ameslan, chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates are being taught a variety of other gestural languages. And it is just this transition from tongue to hand that has permitted humans to regain the ability-lost, according to Josephus, since Eden-to communicate with the animals.”
― Carl Sagan, The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence

“Thus we do not yet have experience with the
adult language abilities of monkeys and apes. One of the most intriguing questions is whether a verbally accomplished chimpanzee mother will be able to communicate language to her offspring. It seems very likely that this should be possible and that a community of chimps initially competent in gestural
language could pass down the language to subsequent generations.”
― Carl Sagan, The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence

“Believe it or not, my hearing loss does not have me in a constant state of FOMO (fear of missing out). JOMO, the joy of missing out,
is a better description.”
― Tiffany Storrs, Adaptability: A True Story About Transforming Pain Into Purpose

“Strong evidence for a genetic language ability comes from the observation that children who are not exposed to any speech, but are able to interact with each other, will invent their own language, which is complex in syntax and meaning. This has been seen in deaf children who were not exposed to sign language. Amazingly, as long as they had someone to interact with, they managed to communicate complex thoughts by inventing their own system of signing.”
― John J. Ratey, A User's Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention, and the Four Theaters of the Brain

“Do you ever wish you could hear?"
"I can hear. I just listen differently than you."
hardcover page 270”
― Kerry O'Malley Cerra, Hear Me

“Mr. Lazar says, "Hearing loss is just that, a loss. It can be just as traumatic as losing a loved one or a pet, and it takes time to move on. So I wonder, have you all really given yourselves, and especially Rayne, enough time to grieve her loss?"
Hardcopy pg. 287”
― Kerry O'Malley Cerra, Hear Me

“Attina- Ariel didn't spell out the sign; she moved her hand to suggest the robes of a goddess, the sign for Athena, for whom her sister was named. There was an implication of regalness and wisdom; Ariel was appealing to her oldest sister for her best values.”
― Liz Braswell, Part of Your World

“how good are you with sign languish?"
"Quite competent within a very narrow range, sir" said Bekker. "I'm certain I can communicate hostility and frustration with no risk of misunderstanding. More complex matter might exead my abilities.”
― Robert Lynn Asprin

“. . . and Homan learned a language of pointing and jabbing and fist closing and finger flicking, frowning and shrugging and waving and saluting, brow raising and eye narrowing and lip pursing and head tilting. His anger ran off, and happiness moved in.”
― Rachel Simon, The Story of Beautiful Girl

“Sign language is full of stutters.”
― Anthony T. Hincks

“There are many beautiful Auslan videos online showing how to sign various words & phrases, none more beautiful than the one with the boy in the big blue woolly jumper saying, 'I love you.' Point your forefinger at your chest, form a cross with your forearms while placing your palms over your heart, then point your forefinger at the person you love: I love you.”
― Trent Dalton, Love Stories

“I didn't decide to learn sign language, any more than I ever decided to enjoy a poem; it simply held me spellbound.”
― Susan Schaller, A Man Without Words

“What if sign language was just as mainstream in education as any other language?”
― Tiffany Storrs, Adaptability: A True Story About Transforming Pain Into Purpose

“When I climb into bed at night and remove my cochlear implants my entire world stops moving. It is in these quiet moments with myself at night that I find restoration.”
― Tiffany Storrs, Adaptability: A True Story About Transforming Pain Into Purpose

“When you see life’s unexpected events as divine teachers, you begin to notice the blessings and the miracles hidden inside each setback.”
― Tiffany Storrs, Adaptability: A True Story About Transforming Pain Into Purpose

“God kept me on this Earth so that I could be a light for Him, a warrior, a source of inspiration for people struggling. He also equipped me to be a bridge between the hearing and deaf communities.”
― Tiffany Storrs, Adaptability: A True Story About Transforming Pain Into Purpose

“Falitz began running seminars for the group, but she never understood why Terrace was hiring people who did not know ASL for an ASL project. Wambach's criticism went further. She thought that Nim should have been raised in a deaf family from infancy. Giving him to the LaFarges was like putting a child in an Italian family to learn German.”
― Elizabeth Hess, Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human

“Wambach's concerns raised questions about the impact that deaf signers could have on Project Nim, and perhaps inadvertently about how Terrace's study might compare with the work done by the Gardners in Nevada, who had expressly designed their experiments to include deaf signers. Simply having Falitz sign at the weekly meetings and interpret for Wambach in the discussions brought a new dimension to their work. Wambach was not particularly critical of Terrace, who was older and far more established than she, but she wanted the staff to have a better understanding of the world of deaf speakers—those who used ASL because they needed a language.
Thanks to Wambach, the chimp project began attracting deaf volunteers (including one who is remembered for having love and hate tattooed on his knuckles), who formed a small subculture within Terrace's staff. In an attempt to bridge these two worlds, one night the deaf volunteers arranged to plug up the ears of the hearing staff and take them out to a restaurant for dinner. They were instructed to communicate exclusively in ASL from the moment the plugs were placed in their ears on the way to the restaurant, during the meal, and all the way back to Delafield. The hearing group found the experience to be a terrible struggle. But what made an indelible impression on Johnson was the way that everybody in the restaurant spoke really slowly and loudly to them, treating them as if they were all mentally incapacitated.”
― Elizabeth Hess, Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human

“The English language is perniciously ableist. We speak in metaphor that constantly puts down disabled bodies, with phrases like "turning a blind eye" and "it fell on deaf ears" falling from our lips so easily. People often tell me it's not that big of a deal. But, of course, if you've been listening to your language make you sound stupid, ignorant, and useless for your entire life, when you've made a profession out of the craft of language, you cannot help but find pain in the ways that language cuts you to the quick.

ASL has its own barbs. All languages do. But English is troublingly ableist. (Page 42)”
― Elsa Sjunneson, Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism

“Did you know that Helen Keller created her own form of sign language to communicate with her family? (Page 32)”
― Elsa Sjunneson, Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism

“Most Deaf kids have home signs; they develop their own ways to get what they need. I have my own, too. My colleagues in the science fiction world who sign can get my attention, can communicate with me if they really need to. A lot of the signs we use aren't "real," but they're the ones I use, and that's why we use them together. (Page 33)”
― Elsa Sjunneson, Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism

“For many years, before ASL was recognized as a language in its own right, Deaf people described using sign language as "the way we communicate at home." (Page 81)”
― Diane P. Chambers, Communicating in Sign: Creative Ways to Learn American Sign Language (ASL)

“Once she's tucked under her covers, which I damn wished I did myself, I open my laptop on the kitchen counter and search for the sign she made after our dance. The one I didn't get.

Clicking on a video, my jaw drops to the floor, and my heart tightens at the same time, so f*ckin' much it hurt.

Mine.

That's what she said as she was signing on my chest.

Mine.”
― Cassie Kellergan, Whispers of Fire

“The language of the hands and the language of the page are the same to me—they both bring silence to life. Reading gives me worlds, and Sign Language gives me connection. Both are necessary forms of light”
― Abdiwahab Yussuf