Communicating with a deaf person if you don't know how to sign

A person who is deaf relies on vision when communicating with a person who can hear. S/He watches every visual clue: lip movement, facial expression, body language, pointing, signing, fingerspelling, etc. In other words, the deaf person functions in a visual-gestural mode. Here are some hints that will help you communicate with any deaf person you may encounter.

1) Be sure the person is looking at you before you try to communicate.
2) Get his/her attention by gently waving within the person's line of vision or with a light tap on the shoulder.
3) Use any or all of the following:
A: Clear mouth movements for easy lipreading.
B. Natural gestures
C. Pointing
D. Environmental clues using objects
E. Facial expression
F. Head nodding
G. Eye gaze references
H. Note-writing,keeping it simple
We normally use many of these methods of communication every day.

Here’s a trick that may help you when you want to “speak” to a deaf person and you don’t know how to sign: Just pretend that you are in a foreign country and you do not speak the common language. You will automatically switch into your “visual-gestural” mode!