A woman is using a somewhat ableist form of revenge against her “bully” cousin — she refuses to use American Sign Language (ASL) around her despite knowing perfectly well how to.
She made the controversial confession in Reddit’s “TrueOffMyChest” subreddit, a place where users share their deepest secrets in a judgment-free zone.
She learned sign language recently but refuses to let her deaf cousin know.
The Reddit post began with the woman describing her cousin as a “nightmare” and a “bully” growing up.
“She didn’t change as an adult,” her disgruntled cousin adds.
“She’s the type of person where nothing is ever good enough. She always comes before everyone else, no matter what. She did nothing wrong, and even if she did, you deserved it. If you disagree, then you’re harming her and need to apologize immediately.”
The entire family avoids this cousin like she is the plague. There are only a few times when she is obligated to see her, and that is at Christmas or Thanksgiving.
Her grandparents of the family “hate” the way the cousin acts, but they are “peacekeepers” so nothing gets done about it.
For the last few years, the woman had been learning ASL since her girlfriend’s brother was deaf. She wanted to show her girlfriend that the people important to her are important to the woman as well.
“I’m not fluent yet, but I can hold and understand a conversation,” she wrote.
At her family’s Thanksgiving, she caught her cousin signing rude things about the family.
She says that now that she too understands ASL, she decided to keep her skill to herself until she could see her cousin’s true colors.
“My cousin acted like her usual self once we sat down. Since she can’t read lips well, she relies on her parents to tell her what’s going on,” the woman writes, explaining that her cousin communicates with her parents using sign language which, ordinarily, no one else at the table would understand,
“I finally felt confident enough to translate, so I snuck glances at her throughout the night.”
The first thing she saw her cousin sign was about her brother’s newborn baby, which she deemed as ugly.
The second thing was “how awful” a cook her grandma and aunts were.