ADVERTISING: Hands That Sell

At first it looks like just another commercial. Then the young woman on the screen smiles as her fingers begin to move fluidly through the hand signs of the deaf. "Hello," she signals, "I'm Carol McEvoy, an interpreter. I'm using sign language to help those with impaired hearing understand this message from Western Air Lines." As an unseen announcer goes into his voice-over pitch, McEvoy's hands signal the message: "There is stretch-out comfort of first-class leg space at every seat." Scenes of passengers stretching out in flight materialize on a screen just over McEvoy's left shoulder. This word-sign and...

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