Protactile Linguistics: Discussing recent research findings

[@MsArtfullife]

This is so informative and it is so exciting that there's research happening in this area. Thank you for the filming technique, it will make it easy to point out parts of the conversation to my ASL students to help them learn all the nuances of Protactile.

[@dillon5670]

I'm so thankful for those involved in making this video!!! It is so well-made, understandable, and it answers (and indeed raises) so many questions. I wonder how deaf-blind people have been feeling on the whole since Covid started, I imagine it must increase their sense of isolation to be unable to use Zoom or similar applications.

[@a-ju7464]

I recently found out about protactile languages and they are actually so cool. Hope that there's more research about it!

[@jaimemarshall818]

Brilliantly made! Love, love, love! So very informative.

[@davedempsey3956]

This was insightful. I think that it gets a bit technical at times which it may be beneficial to have towards to the later part of the video rather than the beginning to help with viewer attention retention. The information on addressing some of the barriers and challenges may invoke more of an empathic response from viewers in a separate video all together and have more of a technical video in another. Thank you for this and I enjoy this information as I want to become more familiar with PT.

[@RobbieSchroederComedy]

your comment gave me the motivation to continue and finish the video. I appreciate the information.

[@zolazola777]

I actually, I found it all engaging on a level I've never had as a seeing and hearing person. As they touch each other and I can somehow also hear the translations in a new way in my own body. This transference/ exchange of information feels so grounding...indigenous as they 'say' and the closeness is just so comforting on such a deep fundamental level. All our communications need to have this tactically as we receive information mostly from body contact....sho...Im feeling so much from this interaction. I actually just want to watch it again and again. Or rather feel it again...feel this connection. Thank you for posting.

[@TheSignPolyglot]

Brilliant! Thank you for explaining the research from multiple areas of expertise (linguistics, anthropology, etc.)

[@RobbieSchroederComedy]

Very informative. I hope we can create programs for d/Deaf-blind people to teach other d/Deaf-blind children and people. This makes sense.

[@dtgbsl90]

That. Was. Fascinating!!!!

[@rpitanga]

5:20 "we *feel* language. this is a profound difference."

[@jjthepikazard212]

v interesting & helpful

[@senortilapia446]

i wonder how this form of communication has been impacted by the covid pandemic

[@silvanagarbarini7594]

Me intriga la forma de enseñarlo a una persona multi impedida...

[@proapocalypse1448]

What if you are deaf blind and also have no arms?

[@yltraviole]

So, I think you're joking, but I'd guess people like that would become very agile with their toes and other body parts

[@zolazola777]

And also it would be assuming tjat communication only happens with hands...Which ofcourse is not the case.

[@signer16]

Fas-cin-a-ting!

[@ldskjfhslkjdhflkjdhf]

The idea that people can't internalize protactile without themselves being DeafBlind strikes me as an incredibly vulgar form of linguistic relativism. Great video though!

[@H.hipster]

Can you explain what you mean?

[@ldskjfhslkjdhflkjdhf]

@@H.hipster Sure. Linguistic relativity, strongly stated, is the idea that the structure of a person's language determines how their thought is structured. My issue with the claim that non-DeafBlind people can't internalize protactile is that it implies a connection between perception and language that I don't think exists. As far as I understand DeafBlind people are just as capable of internalizing and understanding conceptual categories related to sight and sound as non-DeafBlind people are of internalizing and understanding conceptual categories related to their absence. Obviously someone who is DeafBlind will perceive the world differently than someone who isn't, but I don't think the conceptual structures of their respective languages will generally reflect that difference in perception. To use an analogy: colorblind people are able to understand that there's a difference between red and green despite themselves not being able to perceive a difference. tl;dr the structure of language and the structure of perception are different things, and imo it's wrong/bad to imply that people with disabilities understand the world in a way that is somehow fundamentally different than those without disabilities.

[@H.hipster]

@@ldskjfhslkjdhflkjdhf oh! Thanks

[@avalonbredlin1502]

@@ldskjfhslkjdhflkjdhf This is an interesting perspective. I think there's a difference between understanding conceptual categories on a cognitive level, and how your personal experiences inform your processing of information. As mentioned in the video, it's not that hearing and/or sighted people can't understand and communicate in contact space, it's that DeafBlind people live in contact space. I believe that languages we are exposed to can shape our understandings of the world to some degree, but I don't think that's really what this conversation is about. Typically, if you are hearing you instinctively communicate orally and aurally, if you're sighted and Deaf you instinctively communicate visually and spatially (airspace), and if you're DeafBlind you instinctively communicate tactilely (or in contact space). I encourage you to learn more about the history of Deaf and DeafBlind education to learn more about why the experiences of DeafBlind people are unique and provide valuable and irreplaceable perspectives, especially in teaching DeafBlind children. I would also encourage you to see the difference in signing of native Deaf signers vs. non-native hearing signers. There are non-native Deaf signers and native hearing signers (or hearing signers with near native level fluency), but generally, the difference is night and day. Native Deaf signers are highly adept at communicating visually because of their perspectives navigating life though visual information. DeafBlind people are the same, and the emerging patterns in language use as Protactile develops come from the tactile intuition of DeafBlind people.

[@zolazola777]

@@avalonbredlin1502 great answer.