Matt and Kay Daigle write a webcomic. It’s called That Deaf Guy.

My friend, Ken, writes a language blog. It’s called Mr. Multilingual.

I. . . have random encounters with Deaf people. And sometimes I blog about them.

This weekend I met a Deaf young man for the first time, purely by chance. I was staying with a friend who lived with his brother who was friends with Our Deaf Guy (see what I did there) and had invited him over. In fact, there was a roomful of us – including a rambunctious toddler and two avid gamers. While my friend’s brother chatted in JSL with Our Deaf Guy (let’s call him. . . Chris), I attempted to entertain a toddler who was far more interested in flinging himself at the ground than listening to me.

I have the attention span of a toddler as well, though, and since the JSL speakers seemed to be having so much fun I decided to join their conversation. Textually speaking. The laptop sitting in front of me was connected to a TV so I brought up MS Word and typed out a message to them. In no time, Chris and I had struck up a conversation about – of all things – locks. I could have laughed. I did laugh. He was hilarious and mean, a combination of traits I find most familiar, and we talked for almost an hour about everything from hair to school to future plans. Until Mr. Rambunctious Toddler unplugged the surge protector and plunged us into a relative silence.

Cuteness only goes so far, kid.

But despite it being cut short, I really enjoyed our chatty encounter. It goes to show that things like friendship and camaraderie can be found in all sorts of places with all sorts of people. You only have to say hello.