Most of us will agree that sign language is the most magnificent blessing God has bestowed on deaf people. Here in this story a child had a hearing problem so would communicate through sign language. Read the story to know what happened when she used her sign language during a family gathering and let us know what you think of the situation.
Source: Reddit
I (29F) have a daughter (6F) from a previous relationship, her father has no contact with her and my husband of 2 years (30M) is the closest to a father she has ever known.
My daughter was born deaf and communicates via BSL. I am fluent, having learned alongside her and my husband while not fluent is getting there as he wants to be able to communicate with her fully and also help teach any children we have together to communicate with their older sister.
We went to his parents for an Easter Dinner, his siblings and nieces/nephews were all there and we of course brought my daughter. All the kids were very happy to get plenty of chocolate and play together, the issue rose however during dinner as my daughter kept putting her fork and knife down to sign with me and my husband to talk, it was causing her to eat slower than everyone else and my MIL asked me to tell her to not sign at the dinner table as the food was going to get cold plus it was setting a bad example and distracting for the other kids.
I won’t beat around the bush. I got angry, I told my MIL that this is how my daughter communicates and i’m not going to make her not sign, i did encourage my daughter to continue eating before her dinner got cold but to not sign? no…that pisses me off and makes me think of people who have tried to make my daughter play the “Quiet hands” game….aka not sign. I told my MIL the only way she could ask that of my daughter is if she told everyone else not to talk at all.
We ended up leaving a little early and my husband, while supportive of me, has tried to tell me that his Mother didn’t mean any real harm and she doesn’t get why this would be a sensitive topic. I’ve refused to speak to my MIL since that dinner and won’t until she apologises, my husband thinks i’m being a bit too harsh and I need to be the one to reach out with an olive branch on this matter but I can’t help but feel if this had been her biological grandchild who was deaf she wouldn’t have said something so insensitive or implied it was a distraction and bad example. I don’t know, maybe I’m too defensive as it’s my child and I’m protective, what do you all think?
Here are a few comments on the story where it was originally posted:
