I remember walking around, looking for a club to join – any club – all I knew was that I just wanted to get involved at my school. I saw the American Sign Language (ASL) president standing next to their colorful booth with a smile on her face as she passed fliers around asking people if they wanted to sign up. I made a bee-line straight for their booth, introduced myself, and signed up.
The president of ASL, Katie, was very passionate about sign language and the culture. She came up with club activities and scheduled deaf community events for us to volunteer at. When I met her during the first club meeting, she was friendly and welcoming to everyone who was there. She walked around, asking what everyone’s name was and why they joined the club. I introduced myself to her, telling her how I was interested in learning sign language and she could not have been happier. She had told me that she had been practicing sign language everyday for the past couple of years attended deaf events to help better her signing and understanding of the culture. I remember thinking to myself, ‘I picked the right club.’
From then on, I made sure to go to every meeting and the after-school tutoring the club held twice a week. During the tutoring sessions, Katie would review what we had learned at the last meeting and give us new signs to try. I practiced signing every day, eventually being able to have basic conversations in sing language with another person. I also started volunteering at a deaf literacy center with Katie about once a month. We would babysit deaf children and help around the center, trying to make things easier for the parents and staff.
Katie invited me to go with her to a deaf social that was held on Friday nights at the mall. I was nervous about attending because I didn’t want to embarrass myself or accidentally offend someone because I was still a beginner. The purpose of a deaf social is for (mostly) deaf people to meet and mingle with other deaf people in their community, however; anybody can go to them. The social was held in the food court and they were easy to spot because there was just a huddle of people signing around a table. I was sweating so much I had to keep my arms down so no one would see the stains (which is not easy to do while signing). I had Katie there with me for support, but she was just as hesitant as I was. The amount of time it took me to gain enough courage and introduce myself to someone was ridiculous looking back on it. I thought to myself, ‘You got this. You know how to sign your name, walk up to someone and do it.’ That’s what I did. I walked up to a girl who was by herself, signed ‘hello’, and everything went smoothly from there. I have only been to a couple deaf socials since this one, but I will never forget my first one.
In my senior year of high school, I became the president of the American Sign Language club and was able to run the meetings myself. I would spend a lot of time trying to just as exceptional as the president. I made creative poster boards during club sign up and talked to everyone that passed by, asking if they wanted to join. I spent a lot of weekends coming up with ideas that we could do as a club to all learn sign together. I taught the members basic sign language and I would every now and then teach them a little bit about the history of the deaf culture. I still planned trips to go to the deaf literacy center but only members who wanted to do events outside of school would go. I always made time to go at least once a month to volunteer any way that I could.
The ASL club made me who I am today. I had never felt like I belonged anywhere before this club. When I was president or even just a member, I felt heard. Being able to attend deaf events and socials and understand what the culture represents has expanded my view on the people around me. The culture has helped me see that there are other communities besides my own in the world and they go through different experiences.
I am not deaf; I only know a couple of deaf people from school or the literacy center. I can not advocate for what a deaf person goes through or how they feel about certain issues, however; I do try to learn as much as I can about the culture and understand the struggles they face to keep up. This gave me the motivation to keep volunteering and help a community that not a lot of people knew about.
Being able to experience what it was like to run a club and teach other students ASL, showing them how interesting this entire culture is and how it has helped an entire population of people live an easier life, has made me passionate about something. Most deaf people don’t even see being deaf as a disability but as part of who they are. They understand that some everyday functions are harder for them than if they were hearing, but just like anybody, they figure it out and work with what they know.
American Sign Language has been a big part of my life for the past couple of years now and it has shaped me into a better person. I’m in college now and I’m trying to become more involved while I’m here. I want to be able to learn and help a community that I am passionate about. There is an American Sign Language club on campus that I want to be a part of. Hopefully I can make a difference while I’m here.