[VRChat] Nice to meet you, I'm Raphael, and I am hearing impaired

Hello! Nice to meet you, my name is Raphael and I am hearing impaired. I look forward to getting to know you!

I bought a Quest 2 because of an anime called SAO, and I played a game called "Zenith: The Last City." Do you know "Zenith: The Last City"? While it has the basic world-building of an adventure RPG (role-playing game), each player chooses a role such as a warrior or mage, embodies that character, and works with other players to clear quests (the story). As for representative Japanese MMORPGs, Final Fantasy XIV (FF14) and Dragon Quest X are famous, right? I played it with my younger brother and it was a lot of fun!

I was invited to VRChat by a real-life friend and started on February 15, 2022. I had known about VRChat before that. I saw the friend who invited me posting photos of VRChat on their LINE timeline. At first, I wasn't interested in VRC, but when I met a hearing-impaired American for the first time at my birthday party, I learned for the first time that you could use sign language in VR. At that moment, I became interested in VRC, and wanting to teach Japanese Sign Language to everyone as a sign language instructor, I decided to start holding Japanese Sign Language classes in VRC starting June 4th.

There are many hearing-impaired people who cannot hear and struggle with human relationships, leading them to quit their jobs or school and shut themselves away at home. Because of that, I want to teach sign language to everyone as a real-life and VRC sign language instructor, spread sign language in VRC and the real world, and make hearing-impaired people and those who are struggling happy.

It has been 1 year and 1 month since I started holding Japanese Sign Language classes. I have been teaching sign language little by little, and everyone is becoming able to use it. The number of times I have to communicate by writing has decreased compared to before, the opportunities to use sign language have increased, and I have been having so much fun teaching everyone in the Japanese Sign Language class and playing games while "chatting in sign language" that I haven't felt stressed lately.

Before I started VRChat, I didn't have any friends in my local area, so I spent every day alone without talking to anyone (I have friends, but they live far away and we couldn't meet often). When I started VRChat, there weren't many people who could use sign language, but since I started holding sign language classes, the number of people who can use sign language has gradually increased, and I am truly happy about that.

Some people are not good at communicating by writing, and if we spread sign language in VRChat, it will become easier to communicate with hearing-impaired people and those who don't use their voices, and I think VRChat will become more fun.

I intend to continue working hard on my sign language activities!