[sdrothrock]

I don't use (or even know) ASL. My (hearing) mother tried to get me to learn it when I was younger and enrolled me in classes, but the age disparity and cliqueish community turned me off even when I was 6 or 7. I especially remember getting a list of restaurants that had accommodations for us, so we were encouraged to use them, and how that really rubbed me the wrong way (because my favorite wasn't on the list).

Rarely, ASL interpreters have been offered to me (high school, as an option to explore in college), but since I don't know ASL, it was never really an option for me. It definitely wouldn't be a realistic option here in Japan. (I imagine any Japanese-ASL interpreter could command a pretty penny for the very rare times that they're needed!)

[Sven7]

How did you end up in Japan, if I may ask?

I would assume daily life could be a little more complicated because of the foreign language. But thinking about it a bit maybe that helps when deaf. The local population I guess automatically make allowances assuming you don't know the language. I have deaf family members, and I constantly see them getting frustrated by people who assume the deaf person understands every thing they are saying, if that makes any sense.

[sdrothrock]

> How did you end up in Japan, if I may ask?

Majored in Japanese in college, but I couldn't speak it worth a damn. I figured that if I really wanted to be able to use Japanese in a reasonable way, I should just move here, so I got a job assisting with English education in public schools as an ALT.

> The local population I guess automatically make allowances assuming you don't know the language.

I look more or less Japanese, so they actually assume I do know the language -- it's a bit of a shock when they find that not only do I not know the language, I'm also handicapped. (Deaf people in Japan don't have very much exposure; the few that I've met have tended to keep very strongly to their own Deaf communities.)

It's actually worse in some ways; in America, if I don't hear something, I can say that and the other person understands that. Here, if I don't hear something, it's a 50/50 chance whether the other person believes me or simply thinks my Japanese isn't up to snuff (which I can tell because they resort to much, much simpler language to describe the word they thought I didn't "hear").

[Sven7]

I see. Sorry to hear that. I can imagine the day to day complications, but I hope other stuff in Japan more than makes up for it. Like the food :)