Peer Post:

In this video, it showed the many ways our body language and facial expressions can be just as meaningful, or as powerful as words spoken may be. The video showed a man who appears to be completely “normal” and a woman who also appears “normal” like you and I. The man showed his interest in the woman by his body gestures and his facial expressions. Even when he asked her about using her pen and she pointed to her earphones, it didn’t appear to me that maybe she was deaf. Why? Because she seemed completely “normal.” Even though in the entire video, they did not communicate through words to one another, they communicated to each other through writing on post it notes, they had a way of communication. They both appeared happy through their smiles and body language. 

This video shows that effective communication is important because there are many people we may encounter who may not be able to talk or hear us through spoken language but to be able to figure out “how can I effectively communicate with this person” would be most important in how we can talk to someone who may not be able to use spoken words. Some of these ways could be through writing, pictures, sign language, etc.

Recently, while at work, we had a patient come through and he was deaf. He said to me “I cannot hear you but I can read your lips, so please go ahead and speak to me.” I found it so fascinating that although he was unable to hear us, he was able to talk to us like a completely normal person and knew exactly what we were saying to him by reading lips. I thought to myself, how truly amazing. 

I believe body language and facial language speak just as loud as spoken words do, if not, more. How we express our body language is the first impression we have on others. For example, if I went to the clinic and the front desk person was slouched over in their chair, not using eye contact, not smiling or greeting me, I would assume right away that, that person was unhappy with their job or was having a bad day. Even before we say a word to someone, the first thing someone notices is how we appear, how we look, our BODY LANGUAGE, and FACIAL EXPRESSIONS. 

Ineffective communication may lead to misunderstandings and misinformation which could result in stereotypes about a particular group of people. 

This video changed the way I also viewed people. Because while we all may look the same or appear “normal”, there may be things about people I may have not known. Just like as shown in this video, the woman appeared normal and you would have never thought she was nonverbal. Never judge a person by their appearance as we never know! 

Respond meaningfully to one peer post considering the following: 

1. How was your peer’s experience with nonverbal communication the same as your own?  How was it different?

2. Contrast their input on facial cues and body language to your own. 

3.  State something specific the peer discovered about the video’s message or presentation that you did not notice.

Please be sure to validate your opinions and ideas with citations and references in APA format.

link to the video:   https://www.youtube.com/embed/XVY4DeAvnfI