ABC Story

I swear this has to be one of the hardest things to learn in ASL. The ABC Story is a staple of Deaf performance art, but I think you have to be Deaf to be successful at this naturally.

From the Color of Language:

"A treasured part of the heritage of the Deaf Community is their language, ASL. It is, as with any culture, an important part of their identity. One of the fun and special traditions enjoyed and shared by the Deaf Community is signing stories using Alphabet hand shapes. In these stories, various hand shapes do not stand for the letters themselves, but are used as signs or gestures to convey concepts. They are signed in alphabetical order, and used in amazing ways to sign or act out a story."

I will freely admit that I can't do this worth dog doo-doo. I get hung up on the handshapes or trying to correctly form the signs. The last time I had to do an ASL story was in my ASL3 class a few years ago. It was scripted for us so all we had to do was memorize the gestures. Having to come up with this from scratch is a bit more challenging.

Maybe there is some coincidence with the fast that ASL ABC Stories are gesture-based. I can't do Charades worth diddley doo either, unless I can use real signs.

My luck (and a prediction) we will have to submit an ASL story on video tape for evaluation. Perhaps I should start practicing now knowing this is a weak spot for me.