Introduction
Welcome to the Helping Hands website. I'm Devon, the maintainer of this website. If we haven't seen eachother before, nice to meet you!
This website is a resource that collects together all of the work our Deaf community has put together for helping people use sign language and learn Deaf culture in VR.
Before using the site, please understand the following things:
-
This website is always evolving. Over time you may see things change, especially as our ability to use sign language in VR improves.
-
While we do our best to ensure that things are accurate and up to date, there is only so much time available. Sometimes information might be out of date or need correction. In particular, if a trusted deaf or hard of hearing person tells you that something here is wrong, trust them over this resource, and please contact me on Discord (
@gorialis
) to let me know it needs to be fixed. -
And in general, for information on when lessons are being hosted, or for help if you don't understand something, join the Helping Hands Discord. There will always be someone around to help you out.
Now that we've got that out of the way, let's talk about setting up your preferences.
There are two main things that affect how you use sign language in VR: your controller type and your dominant hand. Your controller dictates the kind of gestures you can perform, and how they're performed. Your dominant hand changes which hand you use for each part of a sign.
Before I go into detail, though, let's actually get you set up. Select your controller type and dominant hand below. If you're the kind of person who has equal ability in both hands, just choose the one you prefer - but be consistent! Switching hands while signing is confusing - pick a hand and stick with it!
Select options
HTC Vive
Oculus Rift CV1
Oculus Rift S
Valve Index
Windows Mixed Reality
These settings will allow pages to adapt to your choice. You can come back here at any time to change it.