Education

‘Talking Hands’ – Manual Forms of Communication

The word manual means ‘relating to or done with the hands.’ From this we can surmise that manual forms of communication refer to communication done with and involving the hands. There is often confusion around the differences between Auslan and other manual forms of communication that may be seen, known, or used throughout Australia. Firstly, let’s look …

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Sign for ‘Australia’

I remember some time back when a video was posted by Deaf Aboriginal Services sharing the ‘other’ sign of AUSTRALIA (which I’ll refer to as AUSTRALIA2 throughout this blog). I was so excited when I saw the beautiful sign that these two Indigenous women shared with us. Samantha Wilson (Muthi Muthi) and Joanna Agius (Narungga) explained that the …

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We are not the same: Australian Sign Language (Auslan) and American Sign Language (ASL)

Many countries around the world have their own sign language.  In Australia, we have Auslan.   Some people mistakenly assume that ASL might stand for Australian Sign Language – It is easy to see where the confusion may come from! However, ASL actually stands for American Sign Language which is used in North America (USA and Canada).  Australian …

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