Universal Symbol for Deaf People?
I came across Ridor9th’s vlog about the importance of symbolism. (Source: YouTube) I agree with him; but don’t we already have symbols we can work with right now? According to Wikipedia, we have this:
What about another suggestion? The ILY handshape can be used as a symbol; I whipped up two mock-up’s, one multi-colored and one in a minimalist B/W setup. I’m sure someone savvy with Illustrator can come up with nice vector art. (The third example is the interpreting handshape/symbol. (Courtesy of the State of Hawaii.))
One thing I did notice was that the mainstream community was ‘misappropriating’ these ILY handshapes for the ‘You Rock’ themed advertisements. Two examples come to mind; One is from a 7-Eleven marketing campaign, “Rock The Gulp“.
The other comes from billboards that I’ve seen in South Florida. I think Hard Rock Hotel and Casino may have discontinued it, but they featured a mascot looking like blackjack card with sunglasses and ‘rocking’ the ILY handshape. After some searching, I managed to find one; (Courtesy of Lonesome Gambler at the BlackJackInfo.com forum.
The mere presence of these marketing campaigns suggest the need to protect the ILY handshape against misappropriation and to engage in a marketing campaign where there is an ‘internationally-recognized’ symbol for Deaf people.
Thoughts? Put them in the comments!