When people notice my daughter and me signing in the street, they often stop and comment: “You know,” they say, “there’s this thing called the cochlear implant.” As if the mother of a deaf child could’ve missed that news.

Or they offer some hopeful anecdote: “I met this deaf woman with hearing aids from Queensland when I was on holiday in Fiji and she’s a really good plumber – I mean really good.”

Because this week is National Week of Deaf People, I feel it’s a good time to talk about the nature of Auslan (Australian Sign Language) and the deaf community. I’ve only been studying Auslan for four years, but I’ve come a long way from that first community course.

You see, I used to be one of you, one of those people who thought sign language followed English grammar. And I thought there was just one sign language – the same in every country – though if I’d thought that through for more than a minute I would’ve realised those two assumptions were mutually exclusive.

I also used to assume all deaf people would prefer to be hearing.

The deaf community is no utopia, but it does offer an alternative language, culture and social life to those who choose to be a part of it. In fact, signed languages can do many things spoken languages can’t. In fact, here’s a list of ways in which visual languages are superior to the spoken word:

10. You can carry on a complex conversation in the loudest pub or club, while people all around you scream into each other’s ears, trying to convey something as simple as, I’m going to the toilet now.

9. Visual languages are more accessible, not only for people who are fully deaf, but (in theory) for the 1 in 6 Australians who have a hearing loss.

8. You can ask your partner to pick up the mail from the balcony when he’s standing in the parking lot, four floors down, without disturbing the neighbours.

7. You can talk underwater.

6. Storytelling is more engaging and detailed in visual languages. Because they are visual-spatial, signed languages are particularly adept at describing space and movement.

5. You can talk through car windows. It’s easy to give directions to a signing friend driving behind or in front.

4. Deaf people who sign have been proven to be more “multilingual”. In a fascinating study lead by UK academic and researcher Sabaji Panda, it was found that if you put two deaf people in a room, who have no shared language, it’s only a matter of hours before they find a way to communicate (imagine trying that with hearing people.) Because signed languages have shorter histories, their grammars typically share certain features, which means that even if two deaf people have no common vocabulary, it takes short time before they can figure out a way to communicate.

3. You can critique a terrible lecture/performance/reading without anyone in the audience hearing you.

2. Unlike Esperanto, that failed international spoken language, International Sign has taken off since the advent of social media. Deaf people often learn and use IS when they travel overseas, skype, and/or present at international deaf conferences and events.

1. A signed language, often referred to as the “natural language of the deaf”, offers deaf people a sense of belonging and a positive identity.

I can’t speak for the deaf community – I’m not deaf – but I can share what I’ve learned from my daughter’s experience. She speaks clearly, but she doesn’t hear well. She loves Auslan and is proud of her deaf identity. What’s more of a loss for her than any hearing loss is the fact that she has so few peers to sign with; the majority of deaf children in Australia have no exposure to Auslan.

Auslan is not taught in government schools or early intervention programs.

Over 95% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, who are often told not to sign by medical professionals and speech therapists—they claim it will impede spoken language development, though studies show the opposite is true. And my six year-old proved this in a speech competition last month. It feels appropriate to end with her words.

My daughter’s art teacher recently asked her to paint what she most loved about herself. “What’s that?” I asked.

“That I’m deaf!” she said as if I was stupid. “I painted myself signing.”