In the early years a German colleague who was deaf and I worked together and produced a hand painted ASL alphabet from a black and white alphabet which was originally found in a late 1800's publication. Our painted ASL alphabet formed the basis for his web site and the first Talking Hands Award, which did not have a background. It spelled out "Be an advocate for the deaf and blind." Anyone who visited either he or I received the animation.
Backgrounds were added to the award, while my colleague moved back to Germany and we eventually lost contact.
However the idea of an animation remained fixed in my mind as a visual method of conveying a desire to at least become aware of the special needs of our deaf and blind. Gradually more information was added to Lancasters Laughing Place pertaining to our disALBED friends and the internet continued to grow through this period.
After the loss of my Commodore 64, all of my graphic software and French Curves drawing software I purchased PSP and began to dabble in making revisions to the award.
In the late 1990's I found the Deaf Watch Gold Award, which regretfully is no longer in existence. After reviewing the requirements, I added what informational pages were lacking and applied for the award. At the time our Lancasters Laughing Place was one of a handful earning the award and I wanted to do my part to further the advocacy for our deaf and blind, so a more formal approach was taken and having a rated award program seemed like a good approach to bring more attention to advocacy.
In those early years after having received an initial rating by Award Sites (AS!) several years later I applied for a rating upgrade after asking for a peer to peer review in the AS! forum.
One of the many suggestions for improvement was to have an award graphic which met the specifications for upgrade. So I reluctantly abandoned my beloved animation and requested help from graphic artists within the AS! community.
Jennie M responded to my plea with an award graphic which conveyed what the Talking Hands award sought to advocate.
Copyright:1986-2009