I was in my junior year of high school when I joined the American Sign Language (ASL) club. I had always been interested in Sign Language and the culture, however; I never got the chance to learn about the language until I joined the club. 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 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. Throughout the day I did sign up for more clubs but none of them would stick with me the way ASL did.
The president of ASL, at the time, who oversaw every event and activity the club did was passionate just about sign language as I was. She was practicing sign language everyday for the past couple of years and going to deaf events to volunteer to help better her signing and understanding of the culture. She was the person that I wanted to get to know because I knew she would help me get to the same position she was in.
I made sure to go to every meeting and the after-school tutoring the club held twice a week. With enough practice I became efficient enough at signing to where I could have basic conversations with another person. Eventually, I started volunteering at the same literacy center my president was going to. We would volunteer together, babysitting deaf children and helping around the center to make things a little easier for the family members that were apart of the deaf community.
I also started attending deaf socials on Friday nights with my club. Deaf socials are a good way to interact with other people who know how to sign or are starting to learn how. The purpose of a deaf social is for (mostly) deaf people to meet and mingle with other people in their community, however; anybody is allowed to go to them. The common courtesy is to stay silent and only sign while you’re there.
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.
I taught my parents how to sign as well. I was a cheerleader in high school and had to cheer at every football game. My parents came to every football game to watch and support me. While I was down on the field, I would sign to them up in the stands whenever I was hungry or thirsty. I would sign “hamburger” or “water” and they would go down to the concession stand to get it for me and I could eat my food during half time. I also ended up teaching my friends how to sign as well and we would have conversations in class without the teacher noticing.
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, like my opinions mattered. 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 what they go through and the struggles they go through in order to keep up. This gave me the motivation to keep volunteering and helping a community that not a lot of people knew about. I became good friends with some of the deaf people that I met at some deaf events who would sometimes come to the meetings and they would teach the club about their story.
I got 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 be able to live an easier life. Most deaf people don’t even see being deaf as a disability and as just 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 here. I want to be able to learn about 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 as well. Hopefully I can make a difference while I’m here.
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