In the deaf community the term “The Finger” doesn’t mean the middle finger like it does to everyone else. The deaf community adapted the term to mean the index finger. Specifically when someone holds it up to say, “One second” while communicating with another hearing person (Bridges 1).
A man named Byron Bridges commissioned a deaf artist by the name of “Heather” to paint the “One second” symbol. He says he wanted the picture to remind him of the frustration, exclusion and just the feeling of being disregarded.
This piece represents an injustice that deaf people are presented with more often than one would think. The picture helps to raise awareness so hearing people won’t continue to unknowingly offend members of the deaf population (Bridges 1).
Dr. Bridges publicly released the painting once he had received it by posting a short video on his personal facebook group, filled with fellow members of the deaf community. It seems that Dr. Bridges was reaching out to anyone that follows him to bring them a little joy in the fact that they are not alone. This train of thought didn’t make sense to me right away but after learning more about the symbol it seems that it really isn’t as common (or at least as commonly spoken about) as “flipping the bird” for hearing people. The (index) finger is just something that all deaf people are familiar with and something they immediately understand on a level that someone who isn’t deaf would struggle to grasp.
The G Word 