Working Together -
Royals, Court Heralds, and Sign Heralds
A guide by Maestra Suzanne de la Ferté,
Society Sign Herald Deputy
SCA Courts
The Royals of each kingdom gather their populace to hold Courts, give awards, make proclamations. and more. The Herald is the Voice of the Crown and/or any Noble.
Sign Heralds
Sign or “Silent” Heralds are the equivalent of Voice Heralds, but serve those members of the populace who cannot hear the Voice of the Crown.
A Sign/Silent Herald is useful to all members of the populace … not just those who are Deaf. Those who are Hard of Hearing or who have difficulty deciphering what is being said due to ambient noise or a quieter Voice Herald may find a Sign Herald handy.
The Sign Herald needs to be visible to the entire Populace
The best position for the Sign Herald is close to the Sitting Noble so that the Populace can see both the Sitting Noble and the Sign Herald at the same time.
Sign Heralds must be able to clearly hear the Sitting Nobles and Herald without visual assistance. They must be able to use their full facial and body expressions to help the populace understand what is going on in court.
(While a Hard of Hearing Sign Herald cannot be expected to sign for other Deaf or Hard of Hearing populace members, the Herald may choose to do so if it is within their ability.)
Sign Language is a visual language and includes the whole body.
Much like Commedia dell’arte, meanings of words are conveyed and can change based upon facial expressions and body language.
Like Voice Heralds, Sign / Silent Heralds are volunteers. Some Sign Heralds are professional certified sign language interpreters in the modern world. Others are not certified interpreters but are fluent from years of practice. Still other Sign Heralds are just beginning their journey and are not yet fluent.
Regardless of the Sign Herald’s proficiency or whether they are a certified interpreter, the Sitting Noble(s) should expect the same level of confidentiality from a Sign Herald as a Voice Herald.
Let your local group’s leaders - Seneschal, Baron/Baroness, and Herald know that you are available and willing to sign at meetings, practices, revels, etc.
Make arrangements with the Herald to stand with him/her, so you can sign what is being said.
If you are available for a Royal Court, contact your Kingdom Principal Herald so he/she can coordinate with the Royals’ Chamberlains and the Steward of the event.
I want to become a Sign Herald!
How do I volunteer (besides sending my information to my kingdom’s Principal and Sign Heralds)?
Just being able to fingerspell is enough to get started. For the Deaf or Hard of Hearing, some communication is better than none (as long as its accurate).
If you can point to the person getting the award and fingerspell “A” “O” “A”, then the primary information will have been conveyed.
Becoming a Sign Herald
Don’t let a lack of formal training stop you!
The members of the populace who need your services need to be able to see you. They won’t be able to see you if you’re hidden behind the thrones or by the people in the first row.
Be sure to wear a Herald’s tabard that contrasts with your skin. This will allow your signs to be seen easily.
Wearing a tabard is also a way to show that you are “on duty” and available to help with communication requests.
Sign Herald Visibility
You need to be able to be seen!
Attending will allow you to review the spelling of award recipients’ names.
If you have time, you can look up signs for awards you do not already know.
If you know the order of Court events, you will be better prepared for the live event. Part of the Sign Herald’s job is to convey the “audio” portion of the event and any “schtick” that may happen.
If there is a fanfare or music, you can sign “music” or imitate someone playing an instrument.
If “schtick” happens, you can be prepared to ham it up with your signs as well.
Sign Heralds and Pre-Court Meetings
As a sign herald, you follow the same confidentiality rules as voice heralds!
Don’t be afraid to ask the Court Herald and the Royals’ Chamberlain(s) to include you in pre-court meetings.
You will be able to concentrate on letting folks know what is happening instead of trying to figure it out as it occurs.
Use word-of-mouth advertising to spread the news that Sign Heralds are ready and willing to help out.
Send SCA event flyers to local Deaf community organizations or schools that emphasize the presence of volunteer signers at your event.
Consider having a “Sign Heralds’ Point” or an “Introduction to Sign Heraldry” class during the day of the event.
Post a sign at the Gate offering to assist the Deaf or Hard of Hearing while they wander around the event or cruise the merchants.
Is there Really a Need for Sign Heralds?
Do not become disheartened if the need for a sign herald is not immediately apparent!
The Deaf community has this prevailing thought: “If they want us to come, they will already have signers or interpreters available. If they are not available, they must not want us to attend.”
Often, Deaf or Hard of Hearing folks do not go to Court BECAUSE they cannot hear what is going on and there were no signers present in past Courts.
The World Federation of the Deaf website states there are “... about 70 million deaf people who use sign language as their first language or mother tongue. It is also the first language and mother tongue to many hearing people and some deafblind people (tactile sign languages).”
Some Facts
According to the Gallaudet Research Institute (now known as Gaullaudet University’s Office of International Affairs), approximately 14% of people in the United States are functionally deaf or hard of hearing. This means that about one out of every seven people need assistance understanding auditory information.
Source: https://wfdeaf.org/
Source:
https://www.gallaudet.edu/office-of-international-affairs/demographics/deaf-employment-reports
Body language and non-verbal communication studies have shown that only seven percent of learning is derived from the words themselves. (Mehrabian, 1972) Sign-supported speech reading assists in understanding.
The Hearing Loss Association of America’s website states “Speech reading is using what you see on the speaker’s lips as well as facial expressions and gestures to understand. … Everyone, even those with normal hearing, uses visual cues. … In a very noisy room, notice how carefully everyone watches as well as listens to understand.”
More Facts
Sign Heralds use facial expression, body language, lip movements, and signs to convey meaning.
Sign Heralds smooth the way for and encourage communication wherever they go.
Source: https://www.hearingloss.org/
The National Association of the Deaf says … Learning American Sign Language (ASL) takes time, patience, practice, and a sense of humor.
Individual signs are relatively easy to learn.
Like any spoken language, ASL is a language with its own unique rules of grammar and syntax.
To learn enough signs for basic communication and to sign them comfortably, can take a year or more. Some people pick up signs more slowly than others, and if that is the case with you, don’t be discouraged. Everyone learns sign language at their own speed. Be patient and you will succeed in learning the language.
The rewards will be well worth the effort!
Learning Sign Language
You can start learning ASL by attending a sign language class.
Sign language classes can be found at community colleges, universities, libraries, churches, organizations/clubs of the deaf, and lots of other places.
You can also expand your knowledge of ASL by practicing your signs with people who are deaf or hard of hearing and also know ASL.
Generally, people who know ASL are patient about showing new signers how to sign different things, the correct way to sign something, and usually, they will slow down their signing so that you can understand them, too. They are also willing to repeat words or statements if you do not understand them the first (or even the second) time.
Source: https://www.nad.org/resources/american-sign-language/learning-american-sign-language/
Sign language is not a universal language — each country has its own sign language, and regions have dialects, much like the many languages spoken all over the world.
Does Everyone Use the Same Sign Language?
If you were to travel to another state and have an opportunity to sign with a person who knows ASL, you may notice that s/he will use some signs differently than you.
These signs are known as “regional” signs, and you can think of them as the equivalent of an “accent.”
It does not mean that people in your state are signing incorrectly. It is just a normal variation in ASL, and such regional signs add flavor to your understanding of ASL.
Source: https://www.nad.org/resources/american-sign-language/learning-american-sign-language/
Apps for Learning ASL
https://deafchildren.org/knowledge-center/asl-resources/learning-asl/
ASDC suggestions to support family learning of ASL.
The ASL App
ASL for the People is about teaching conversational ASL. It includes over 1,000 signs and phrases for adults as well as ASL with Care Bears for kids to learn ASL.
ASL Apps List
https://www3.gallaudet.edu/Documents/Clerc/LearningASL.NMSDAppsList.pdf
from the New Mexico School for the Deaf List of apps to teach signing developed at the New Mexico School for the Deaf. It includes apps for children, adults, and low vision/blind children, to teach the manual alphabet and support literacy, and books to download.
Four ASL apps
https://www.healthyhearing.com/report/47829-The-best-apps-for-learning-sign-language
links you to four popular apps to learn ASL: iASL, ASL Pro, Sign 4 Me, and ASL Dictionary
Resources for Learning ASL
Provided to Gallaudet by the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center
Marlee Signs
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/marlee-signs-learn-american/id566054855?ls=1
highlights video demonstrations of Marlee Matlin teaching the basics of ASL, including the signed alphabet, basic vocabulary, and common expressions in everyday life.
VL2 Storybook Apps
https://vl2storybookapps.com/research
developed by the Visual Language Visual Learning Center (VL2) at Gallaudet, providing interactive stories in both American Sign Language (ASL) and English.
ASL Connect
https://www.gallaudet.edu/asl-connect
is an online resource for learning American Sign Language and Deaf Studies. ASL Connect provides both free and paid learning content, as well as language learning services designed for businesses and families.
ASL Deafined
is a subscription-based website provides ASL video lessons. The content is for anyone who wishes to learn ASL, regardless of age. It has been designed to instruct deaf students, parents of deaf children, and the community-at-large. You may cancel your subscription at any time. Nationally certified interpreters teach all lessons.
Resources for Learning ASL
Provided to Gallaudet by the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center
ASL University
Dr. Bill Vicars has been teaching American Sign Language for over 20 years and is passionate about it. He is Deaf/hh, his wife is d/Deaf, and he holds a doctorate in Deaf Education / Deaf Studies. His day job is being a full-time tenured ASL Instructor at California State University (Sacramento).
Start ASL
The Start ASL team created a full curriculum that includes everything you need to learn the language completely and with total flexibility. Why use Start ASL? Their website says "Unlike most American Sign Language classes, we don’t just go over a bunch of random, boring little signs – we get you communicating right away."
Not on the Silent Heraldry Page (yet), but still an excellent resource …
Gallaudet University’s ASL Connect
https://www.gallaudet.edu/asl-connect/asl-for-free
Gallaudet's free ASLConnect gives you access to basic ASL vocabulary and free online ASL lessons. For more in-depth learning of ASL, sign up for college credit ASL online courses at Gallaudet.
Resources for Learning ASL Online
Provided by the SCA Society Silent Heraldry Page
Source: http://heraldry.sca.org/signheraldry.html
Want to know more general information about sign language and deafness? Go to the SCA Society Silent Heraldry Page (link in the footer below) for subjects like:
Resources for Learning ASL Online
Provided by the SCA Society Silent Heraldry Page
Articles about learning sign language and deafness in general:
Sign Language Dictionaries:
Source: http://heraldry.sca.org/signheraldry.html
Deaf History Resources from Gallaudet
Damned for Their Difference
The Cultural Construction of Deaf People as Disabled
Jan Branson
and Don Miller
Dancing Without Music
Deafness in America
Beryl Lieff Benderly
Deaf Heritage
A Narrative History of Deaf America
Jack R. Gannon
Gallaudet Classics in Deaf Studies, Volume 7
IA Constant Struggle
Deaf Education in New South Wales Since World War II
Naomi Malone
Controlling Our Destiny
A Board Member’s View of Deaf President Now
Philip W. Bravin
Foreword by I. King Jordan
Crying Hands
Eugenics and Deaf People in Nazi Germany
Horst Biesold
Introduction by Henry Friedlander
Source: http://gupress.gallaudet.edu/deaf-history.html
Deaf History Resources from Gallaudet (continued)
Deaf Identity and Social Images in Nineteenth-Century France
Anne T. Quartararo
The Deaf Mute Howls
Albert Ballin
Introduction by Douglas C. Baynton
Gallaudet Classics in Deaf Studies, Volume 1
Deaf People in Hitler’s Europe
Donna F. Ryan and
John S. Schuchman, Editors
Published in Association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Deaf History and Culture in Spain
A Reader of Primary Documents
Benjamin Fraser, Editor and Translator
Foreword by Sam Supalla
The Deaf History Reader
John Vickrey Van Cleve, Editor
Deaf History Unveiled
Interpretations from the New Scholarship
John Vickrey Van Cleve, Editor
Source: http://gupress.gallaudet.edu/deaf-history.html
Deaf History Resources from Gallaudet (continued)
A Fair Chance in the Race of Life
The Role of Gallaudet University in Deaf History
Brian H. Greenwald and
John Vickrey Van Cleve, Editors
Fighting in the Shadows
Untold Stories of Deaf People in the Civil War
Harry G. Lang
Forging Deaf Education in Nineteenth-Century France
Biographical Sketches of Bébian, Sicard, Massieu, and Clerc
Ferdinand Berthier
Edited and Translated by Freeman G. Henry
Deaf President Now!
The 1988 Revolution at Gallaudet University
John B. Christiansen
and Sharon N. Barnartt
Edmund Booth
Deaf Pioneer
Harry G. Lang
Elements of French Deaf Heritage
Ulf Hedberg and Harlan Lane
Forward by Yves Delaporte
Source: http://gupress.gallaudet.edu/deaf-history.html
Deaf History Resources from Gallaudet (continued)
The History of Gallaudet University
150 Years of a Deaf American Institution
David F. Armstrong
History of the College for the Deaf, 1857-1907
Edward Miner Gallaudet
Lance J. Fischer and
David L. de Lorenzo, Editors
Illusions of Equality
Deaf Americans in School and Factory, 1850-1950
Robert M. Buchanan
From Pity to Pride
Growing Up Deaf in the Old South
Hannah Joyner
Gaillard in Deaf America
A Portrait of the Deaf Community, 1917
Henri Gaillard
Bob Buchanan, Editor
Translated by William Sayers
Gallaudet Classics in Deaf Studies, Volume 3
Get Your Elbow Off the Horn
Stories through the Years
Jack R. Gannon
Source: http://gupress.gallaudet.edu/deaf-history.html
Deaf History Resources from Gallaudet (continued)
A Mighty Change
An Anthology of Deaf American Writing, 1816 – 1864
Christopher Krentz, Editor
Gallaudet Classics in Deaf Studies, Volume 2
Never the Twain Shall Meet
Bell, Gallaudet, and the Communications Debate
Richard Winefield
A New Civil Right
Telecommunications Equality for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Americans
Karen Peltz Strauss
In Our Own Hands
Essays in Deaf History, 1780–1970
Brian H. Greenwald and
Joseph J. Murray, Editors
Let’s Go In
My Journey to a University Presidency
T. Alan Hurwitz
Managing Their Own Affairs
The Australian Deaf Community in the 1920s and 1930s
Breda Carty
Source: http://gupress.gallaudet.edu/deaf-history.html
Deaf History Resources from Gallaudet (continued)
Signs and Wonders
Religious Rhetoric and the Preservation of Sign Language
Tracy Ann Morse
Silent Life and Silent Language
The Inner Life of a Mute in an Institution for the Deaf
Kate M. Farlow
Introduction by Kristen C. Harmon
Gallaudet Classics in Deaf Studies, Volume 11
Sounds Like Home
Growing Up Black and Deaf in the South
Mary Herring Wright
Introduction by Joseph Hill and Carolyn McCaskill
A Phone of Our Own
The Deaf Insurrection Against Ma Bell
Harry G. Lang
Pictures in the Air
The Story of the National Theatre of the Deaf
Stephen C. Baldwin
A Place of Their Own
Creating the Deaf Community in America
John Vickrey Van Cleve
and Barry A. Crouch
Source: http://gupress.gallaudet.edu/deaf-history.html
Deaf History Resources from Gallaudet (continued)
Through Deaf Eyes
A Photographic History of an American Community
Douglas C. Baynton, Jack R. Gannon,
and Jean Lindquist Bergey
The Week the World Heard Gallaudet
Jack R. Gannon
The Spanish National Deaf School
Portraits from the Nineteenth Century
Susan Plann
Telling Deaf Lives: Agents of Change
Kristin Snoddon, Editor
Foreword by Anita Small
Introduction by Joseph J. Murray
Source: http://gupress.gallaudet.edu/deaf-history.html
Questions?
Maestra Suzanne de la Ferté,
Society Sign Herald Deputy
SilentHerald@heraldry.sca.org
Ask your kingdom’s Sign Herald or Principal Herald
Contact the Society Sign Herald Deputy about starting a Sign Heraldry Program in your kingdom!
Quotes for illustration purposes only
"6 Things to Know About Silent Heraldry for Those Holding Court"
By Alexandra Vazquez de Granada (called Shandra), Kingdom of Calontir, © 2014 J.L Ackerman.
“So You Want to Become a Silent Herald?”
By Maestra Suzanne de la Ferté, Kingdom of Calontir, © 2014 S.C.Booth
“Why a Sign Herald?”
http://heraldry.sca.org/signheraldry.html
Resources