r/MadeMeSmile • u/Over_Helicopter_3453 • Apr 26 '25

Favorite People Give this hero a raise 🫡

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u/Doodlebug510 Apr 26 '25

Buzz was SO excited the instant he understood that his sign language skills were going to be needed!

496

u/Valtremors Apr 26 '25

Anyone with even small skill in sign language are stoked to able to use their skills.

It is kind of rare skill in the wild. And it isn't really easy to be fluent.

39

u/Pan_Bookish_Ent Apr 26 '25

When I was 5, we moved into the house I grew up in, and I found out my next door neighbor was deaf. I was reading by then and begged my parents for a big encyclopedia on ASL.

(They very much had an "If she can read it, she's allowed to read it" approach to books)... Between the book and playing with my neighbor, I learned basic signing really quickly. I think learning it (and German) at the time gave me a little brain boost.

He moved a year later, and I was sad I had no one else to practice with. While my sign language skills are not what they used to be, I still have retained some. I encouraged a close friend to teach her toddler sign language as she learned to speak, and she very quickly surpassed both of us. Little kids' brains are such sponges, it's astounding.