This will no doubt offend people, but I find signed performances of Shakespeare (and other old-language style) plays among some of the most embarassing and mortifying things I have ever had to watch - experienced transliterators struggling with the prose, having to reword famous speeches to "modern language", and often failing to keep up with the performance. Also, it is not easy to keep looking to and fro, to see the action AND the signer simultaneously. They do try, I cannot fault that, and I admire them for trying, but I find it very embarassing to sit and watch them struggle with a text that could so easily be Cued flawlessly. You cannot hire a local transliterator and expect them to be able to handle Shakespeare just like that. I feel that if you want to do signed performances, you should have a member of the troupe who learns the sign language version of the play beforehand, so that they can do the transliteration fluently, with ease, instead of someone called in from locally who hasn't had a chance to practise beforehand.
But I digress...
Cued Speech is my choice. Sign language is a complement to Cues, but they should not be compared to each other. It is like trying to compare oranges and apples."
—BLOTTOSTREET
"I learned Cued Speech at a young age. I was born deaf. It's very succesful because it helps deaf kids learn language. I read on grade level. Without Cued Speech I would probably be on Third grade reading level at best. Cued Speech helps me to be able to communicate with hearing people because I can read lips. But I miss information when I have to read lips. Because Cued Speech is based on phonetic sounds and it can be used in every language. I wish that more people knew about Cued Speech. Because Cued Speech is good choice for communication with a deaf person and also good for their education. I learned Sign Language for social reasons. For academic reasons I would choose Cued Speech. But before Cued Speech I didn't know any language at all. But when I learned Cued Speech I started learning language. I think i was lucky that someone who knew Cued Speech. I learned cued speech when I was two years old, but the problem was that my mom didn't cue all the words so I missed important information until I was nine years old. I was struggling in the mainstream in the Third grade and a Cued Speech Interpreter saw that I was struggling and took me out of the Mainstream classroom, and put me into a self-contained classroom. Then in the Sixth grade I was in the mainstream classrooms again. I have been in the mainstream program since then."
—CUEDSPEECH20
"Hello, both my children & I are deaf & we all have Cochlear Implants. I already knew signs since a teen. I learned cued speech after my first child has his Cochlear Implant. It was successful. We loved going to Cue camps. I continued using it after my second child received her implant. Now they are doing well & talking, Cued speech evently faded away. I still use it like when they take a bath or when we're in the pool. It is up to them if they want sign language. They like sign language for fun. I still use sign language & I also love to sign songs. My husband has a Cochlear Implant also, he knows signs, but is mostly oral. I recommend everybody to learn everything they can...Cued Speech, sign language, everything. You just never know who you meet ... deaf child depending totally on Cued speech, a deaf person who's oral & has good speech, a deaf teen with ASL. You'll be glad to know them all. It's a challenge. Nothing is boring!"
—4MY2KIDZ
Hi, for everyone out there, have you been paying attention to the writing skills of those who are D/deaf and know Cued Speech? Just want to remind everyone of the easy with which one who is deaf can write in English if they used Cued Speech in the academic settings. As for me, I am not deaf, but my big brother is. We all learned Cued Speech at camps. We grew up in Fairfax county. All the deaf people that used Cued Speech in school I've ever met have a better grasp of the English language than those I've met who grew up on ASL.
