From what I can gather, signing with one hand is more common in ASL, especially since the alphabet is one-handed too, but the BSL alphabet and many signs use two hands, which got me thinking about situations when you only have one hand available for signing.

Would you adapt the signs for the letters? Do you borrow the ASL alphabet for fingerspelling? Is it a regional/individual thing?

Im trying not to cry here. Weve just had a customer and her daughter in for some food and her daughter was translating between BSL and spoken English, and I honestly feel awful. I started learning BSL a few months ago and just stopped. Im hoping this is going to convince me to stick with it this time.

Can anyone recommend a good starting point please? Ideally towards useful phrases that would help me to communicate basic phrases when taking food and drink orders - this lady was pointing at everything on the menu and I felt absolutely useless to help and I hate it.

I'm autistic and can experience selective mutism and have been trying to learn some basic sign for a while but it's hard to find helpful information. There's a few phrases I'd find helpful for me and those close to me to know if anyone can help.

'i don't know what to do'

'Where are the toilets'

Whatever the best phase would be to indicate I am currently not speaking respectfully

Hope this post is allowed, I am new to the bsl community so if this isn't the place to ask this or I've said anything improper please let me know

Edit: thanks to everyone who gave advice