The SignWriting Literature Project
The project provides employment for signing Deaf adults.
What is their job?
Skilled signers from the Deaf Community are hired to:
1. Learn to read and write Sign Languages in SignWriting
2. Write and preserve Sign Language literature that is originally composed in Sign Language by Deaf authors
3. Translate spoken language literature into written Sign Languages, including textbooks in Science, Math, Social Studies, and other school books, plus famous literature that hearing people take for granted, such as religious texts, well-known children's stories, and so forth.
4. Prepare Sign Language documents for publication in SignWriting, using our latest software: SignPuddle and SignBank
5. Prepare web postings of the written documents free for download.
6. Prepare lessons in SignWriting for educators and students.
Why hire Deaf adults to prepare the books and lessons?
1. Skilled signers are necessary for the work
2. Deaf adults need work
3. Deaf children will see the Deaf adults as their role models and will be proud that the books are prepared by other Deaf people...
4. The training we provide for our Deaf staff helps them succeed in life as well and gives them a feeling of accomplishment
Why is SignWriting necessary?
SignWriting can raise literacy levels of the profoundly born-deaf who use sign language...
1. It has been proven through two statistical research studies, in 2002 and 2007, that the literacy levels of signing deaf students improve, if they learn SignWriting and use it in the classroom (documentation available upon request).
2. Profoundly-deaf children have trouble learning to read and write a language they have never heard. Oftentimes, hearing aids are not enough. Most are still deaf, even when using hearing aids. So learning a spoken language can be a struggle for profoundly-deaf people.
3. Sign Languages, used by millions of deaf people around the world, are not international. Each region in the world has a different Sign Language, because Deaf cultures are different around the world. Each Sign Language is rich in vocabulary and is as sophisticated as any spoken language. But sign languages, before the advent of SignWriting, were not written languages.
4. Now with SignWriting, any Sign Language in the world can be written with the same writing system. SignWriting is a "visual spatial alphabet". It writes the way the body looks while signing, so it is generic and can be used to write any signing experience. When Deaf children learn to read a story in SignWriting, for the first time they really understand what is written in the book, and they become inspired to translate the story into the spoken language of their parents and friends, and their literacy levels in spoken languages improve. Plus their self-esteem improves as well, for they feel pride in their accomplishments. Learning to read and learning languages become fun, rather than a struggle.
5. Most born-Deaf students without SignWriting, go through school not understanding three-quarters of what other hearing students understand, not because they are unintelligent...They are just as intelligent as anyone...The only reason is because they are Deaf and cannot hear the teacher, and struggle reading English, since they have never heard English...English is their second language, and Sign Language is their first language. With SignWriting books, they have written literature in their first native language, and from that new understanding and information, they can then improve their test scores in their second language, English (or whatever spoken languages are used in their country).
Non-Profit Organization
The SignWriting Literature Project is founded by, and sponsored by, the Center for Sutton Movement Writing, a 501c3 educational non-profit organization located in La Jolla, California. The Center was founded by SignWriting inventor Valerie Sutton in 1974, receiving California tax-exempt status in 1976 & Federal exemption in 1978.
