4 ms·

I know this is well meaning, but you should know that in the disability community it's very common to have people invent tech for us without fully understanding

I know this is well meaning, but you should know that in the disability community it's very common to have people invent tech for us without fully understanding our needs. (Smart canes, for instance.) What your demo shows is a model understanding fingerspelling. Fingerspelling is ... a very small part of sign language. To make the claim you are translating sign language you need to understand facial expressions, hand positioning/motion (help you vs help me, same hand shape, different positions/motions), classifiers, and a ton more stuff. It's a really beautiful language, and I encourage everyone to learn it, but for your project I'd be very careful to not make a claim about translating sign language. In the mean time, it sounds like you've got some passion for accessibility work? We're always looking for more skilled engineers to work in the a11y space. It does require some humility and willingness to listen to others needs.

Ohentis 2mo ago
It's possible that the page has changed since you read it, but it doesn't claim to translate all of sign language. Ultimately there hasn't been enough resources put into the problem for full translation. There isn't really anything that a single dev can do to change that. Models take money.
- forestrywat 2mo ago
  It says right at the top of the description "Turns sign language (fingerspelling) into..." It should just say fingerspelling. Conflating these two is like writing "Translates Shakespeare (Sonnet XC) into ..." It's wonderful to try and experiment with this stuff, but it's very common for people to think fingerspelling is sign language. Even the claim of fingerspelling is perhaps questionable. Deaf fingerspelling is a) MUCH faster and b) doesn't always spell every letter. It's not uncommon to, for example merge two letters together (I+L+Y), be moving some fingers up while others move down as in JULY or even skipping letters as in JUNE (which may omit the N). Words like SOON will be signed S-OO-N where the O is dragged out to the right. The longer you drag the O the more o's are implied. SOOOON vs SOON is a matter of how far the O is slid. And non-manual markers are a part of fingerspelling. SOON? Vs SOON are different eyebrow and eye shapes. This very much feels like a student project, which I applaud. I'm assuming good intent here. It also feels like a young person knowing enough to be dangerous and furthering stereotypes and misconceptions unintentionally. I love the effort, but I'd encourage them to qualify the intent of the project quite a bit. I really don't want to discourage this person. Please don't misunderstand me. I'm critical because this is cool. If it was garbage, I'd move on and not say anything. I just think that when building for a disability community, you have a responsibility to not over promise.

Ohentis 2mo ago

It's possible that the page has changed since you read it, but it doesn't claim to translate all of sign language. Ultimately there hasn't been enough resources put into the problem for full translation. There isn't really anything that a single dev can do to change that. Models take money.

forestrywat 2mo ago
It says right at the top of the description "Turns sign language (fingerspelling) into..." It should just say fingerspelling. Conflating these two is like writing "Translates Shakespeare (Sonnet XC) into ..." It's wonderful to try and experiment with this stuff, but it's very common for people to think fingerspelling is sign language. Even the claim of fingerspelling is perhaps questionable. Deaf fingerspelling is a) MUCH faster and b) doesn't always spell every letter. It's not uncommon to, for example merge two letters together (I+L+Y), be moving some fingers up while others move down as in JULY or even skipping letters as in JUNE (which may omit the N). Words like SOON will be signed S-OO-N where the O is dragged out to the right. The longer you drag the O the more o's are implied. SOOOON vs SOON is a matter of how far the O is slid. And non-manual markers are a part of fingerspelling. SOON? Vs SOON are different eyebrow and eye shapes. This very much feels like a student project, which I applaud. I'm assuming good intent here. It also feels like a young person knowing enough to be dangerous and furthering stereotypes and misconceptions unintentionally. I love the effort, but I'd encourage them to qualify the intent of the project quite a bit. I really don't want to discourage this person. Please don't misunderstand me. I'm critical because this is cool. If it was garbage, I'd move on and not say anything. I just think that when building for a disability community, you have a responsibility to not over promise.