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Find out how people who are blind are able to read.  Find out how people who cannot hear are able to communicate.  Tell your Circle about what you found out.  Show them some examples if you can.

People who cannot see:

People who cannot see use Braille to read.  Braille is a system of making raised dots on paper.  These dots represent letters and words that are read by the blind with their fingertips.   People learn Braille by feeling the different dots in each Braille “cell” and memorizing what the different combinations of dots stand for.

The Braille system of reading and writing was developed by a Frenchman named Louis Braille when he was just a boy.  He became blind through an accident, and he discovered that trying to read raised letters was much too slow.  He wanted a faster way for blind people to read and write.  He modeled Braille after a system of codes used by the army.

Learn the ABC's in Braille HTML  or  PDF

People who cannot hear:

People who cannot hear use sign language to communicate.  In North America, deaf people use American Sign Language.  In other countries, they use different types of sign language (ex:  British Sign Language in England and Auslan Sign Language in Australia).

American Sign Language (ASL) is a complete language that uses signs made with the hands and other movements, including facial expressions.

ASL is said to be the fourth most commonly used language in North America.

Sign Language is a natural choice for deaf people to communicate.  Try this game to see what I mean:

Pretend you cannot speak and you cannot hear.  Take a deck of cards and put them in the living room.  Now, without telling what's going on, convince mom or dad to go to the living room, get the cards, take them to the kitchen and place the 3 of hearts on the kitchen table. 

(you may want to use just 5 or 6 cards instead of the whole deck to make the game go faster)

Remember!  You can't use your voice to get your parent to complete the task.

You can also do this with your Brownie Circle!  Talk to Brown Owl before the meeting to ask permission to lead the group in this game.

After the game is over sit back and think about how you communicated what you wanted.  You likely pointed at things, held up three fingers, pointed to your heart or made the shape of a heart with your fingers.  Basically, you have invented your own sign language! 

This activity shows how natural it is to use your hands to communicate when you can't use your voice.  It doesn't show what it's like to be a deaf person.  Deaf people have years of training and experience.  It isn't be any more difficult for them to ask for the 3 of hearts than it is for you to do it with your voice.

Learn the ABC's in American Sign Language with these fun posters/coloring pages.  Print the letters in your name or the whole alphabet and make a booklet to share with the girls in your troop.