Signing Savvy, Your Sign Language Resource

Signing Savvy users love Switched at Birth and have submitted several questions to ask Lizzy Weiss, the creator of Switched at Birth. A big thank you to Lizzy for answering the fan questions and thank you to everyone that submitted questions...

You’ve probably seen many articles on Signing Savvy by the amazing Brenda Cartwright - she’s a seasoned interpreter, a master teacher, well known presenter, and author of several best selling sign language books. She came up with this great guide of what to pack in your interpreter bag, so when she told us she was giving the keynote address at the Illinois’ Annual Statewide Interpreter Conference, we wanted to show some love to the interpreters by sending a few fully stocked interpreter bags with her for giveaways.

Deaf Awareness Week this year is September 21-27, 2015. Deaf Awareness Week, also called International Week of the Deaf (IWD), is celebrated annually and ends with International Day of the Deaf on the last Sunday of September. Deaf Awareness Week is celebrated by national and regional associations of the deaf, local communities, and individuals worldwide. The purpose of Deaf Awareness Week is to increase public awareness of deaf issues, people, and culture.  Activities and events throughout Deaf Awareness Week encourage individuals ...

What’s that sign mean? Have you ever seen a sign and wondered what it was, but wasn’t sure how to look it up? Signing Savvy is a great resource for looking up signs, but you have to type in an English word and then you can see the sign(s) for that word. We don’t currently have the ability to type in a description of a sign and then tell you the English meaning for that sign… but we hope to in ...

Babies have thoughts and feelings they want to communicate with you much sooner than they develop the verbal skills to be able to express those thoughts through speech...

Check out this great sign language music video performance of Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off. The video was a collaboration between the Digital Media, Audio and Cinema Program and the Sign Language Interpreter Program at Lansing Community College (LCC). The production was student driven and took around four class periods to complete. The performer, Sam, just finished LCC’s Sign Language Interpreter Program this week and plans to take her state certification test soon to become a certified interpreter in Michigan. Sam originally performed ...

Next week, from March 22 through March 29, our Sign of the Days will feature iconic signs. Iconic signs convey the meaning of what is being signed. Look for the signs for HELLO, DRINK, EAT, AIRPLANE, CAR, BICYCLE, TYPE, and BALL. You can see more iconic signs by visiting the Iconic Signs wordlist from the soon to be released book Activities in American Sign Language published by the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) Press. The book by Brenda Cartwright and Sue Bahleda groups signs ...

When it was time for The Voice contestant Treeva Gibson to choose which coach’s team she wanted to be on, she responded, "I’m going to sign this, so my parents can see who I pick." Her parents were anxiously waiting backstage with an interpreter and her mom burst into a huge smile when the interpreter told her Treeva said she was going to sign. Her mom switched her focus from the interpreter to the monitor and watched Treeva sign (and voice), ...

NO ORDINARY HERO: THE SUPERDEAFY MOVIE is a family drama about a deaf actor who plays a superhero on a TV show who must look beyond the cape to inspire a deaf boy to believe in himself. Based on the internationally known SuperDeafy character, NO ORDINARY HERO, featuring Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin, is the evolution story in this fictitious family drama. John Maucere stars as Tony Kane who plays a superhero on TV, but in real life he’s just another ...

Not sure what you can do to participate in Deaf Awareness Week?  Try to find events in your local area, but if you’re having trouble finding a local Deaf Awareness Week event, a great thing to do is to learn something new about Deaf culture - read some articles, learn a few new signs, or watch a movie about a deaf story. There are a number of movies that feature deaf stories. Some of the most well known movies that feature deaf ...