BREAK THE SILENCE
In American Sign Language (ASL) some signs are iconic, meaning the sign represents the concept in ways where the form shows some aspect of its meaning.
“I made the decision to ‘turn off my voice’ when I returned home from school. When I came out to my family with this declaration, I felt most powerful”
The ASL sign for baby is transparently iconic – one goes through the motions of cradling a baby to signify baby. The ASL sign for power is iconic also. You hold up one arm as if to flex your bicep and use the other hand, shaped like a claw, to outline the shape of the bicep. That’s how one signs power and I see it as an immediately iconic physical sign that aligns with my initial thoughts about power. I immediately envision physical strength. Superheroes. Warriors. People with an army, with muscle, with strength that is extraordinary. That’s the easy, concrete definition of power.
But actually, power comes
