Signs and Symbols

Yes, there’s been a break from the BIS blog – but no sabbatical was this absence. We’ve been hard at work! We’re happy to say that we’ll be serving more folks than ever, which us great news for the communications access industry.

Yesterday the BIS Facebook page posted an article about Nyle DiMarco, Dancing with The Stars’ newest and first deaf cast member. The story talked about how DiMarco misconstrued a cue from his partner. What’s more interesting is that DiMarco is taking signed cues – but not from sign language.

He and his partner, Peta Murgatroyd, have spent hours on end creating their own sign language for their routines. Furthermore, DiMarco’s twin brother, also deaf, taught him to dance when they were kids!

It’s amazing how many different organizations use symbols to communicate. From an airport runway-man’s use of semaphore, to a baseball coach’s signs to a batter. It’s safe to say that it’s inherent to our way of communicating, and sign language is the avant garde of such quiddity.