American Sign Language has been a part of my life since my junior year of high school. From the moment I discovered the culture and history of the deaf community, I didn’t want to stop learning. It has impacted my view of the world by helping me realize that not everyone comes from the same background. I want to make sure that I continue this passion of trying to understand deaf culture and further my knowledge of the deaf world.
When I moved to Tallahassee, Florida State University had given me the opportunity to stay connected with deaf community through the American Sign Language Club. It was difficult to find and not many people knew about it unless you were taking a class in the language. Eventually, I was able to find the club through a lot of asking around and searching around on the campus website. I never saw information about the club anywhere around or hear any announcements about events going on. There weren’t any flyers around campus for the club and they didn’t have a booth during Market Wednesday for promotion either. They do have club meetings are once a month, however; if you don’t understand sign language then there is no reason for going to a meeting anyway. The meetings are silent and announced through sign language out of respect for the deaf community hindering potential members from wanting to attend the meetings because they wouldn’t be able to follow along.
Fortunately, (through a lot of emailing) I was given the opportunity to interview the president of the American Sign Language club, Loren Stoller, and ask her questions on what she described was the club’s objective. I started the interview by asking her who she was and what the role of president meant. Stoller will be graduating in the Spring of 2018 with a degree in science and disorders. Her objective as being the American Sign Language President consists of coming up with events and planning them out with her executive board, keeping the social media websites updated, and keeping the club a part of the Tallahassee community as much as possible.
She went into detail about the events the executive board plans and puts together. With the club being a new organization, only two years old, they’re still finding it difficult to connect with the community outside of the campus. The city of Tallahassee doesn’t have a wide population of deaf people due to the area not having a lot of resources for the community to associate with. The club does attempt to reach out whenever possible to the deaf families who do live in the local area. They have been working with a specific deaf family who helps put on spaghetti dinners. Throughout the dinner, the only thing you’ll hear is people chewing their food because no one is allowed to talk. All the proceeds at the end of the night go to helping the family and the Tallahassee area become more resourceful to the deaf community.
Being able to interview the president helped me gain a better understanding of the club, furthering my interest in wanting to be a part of the community. I have a few ideas I’d like to propose to the club that I believe would help assist them in making the organization more successful. There is a resource center in Tallahassee that is strictly just for the deaf community. On their website, they have interpreters you can connect with to hire for events and they offer classes where you can learn sign language.
One of the big problems the club must deal with is being involved in the Tallahassee deaf community. There are not a lot of resources for a deaf community in Tallahassee due to the low population of deaf residences in the area. This could be a possible location to contact and ask about volunteering opportunities. The downfall of using this source however, would be that it is off campus thus making it harder for availability to students who don’t have a car.
Another struggle the American Sign Language club faces is through potential members getting involved in activities. If you don’t know sign language or aren’t taking any classes related to the language, going to the events are pointless because it is silent the whole time. Students who don’t know sign language won’t understand what is going on and will be lost the entire time.
The last problem I noticed that the sign language club is facing is they’re not offering workshops or tutoring sessions to help teach potential students in learning the language either. Therefore, the club gives off a seclusion that only people who know sign language can be a part of the organization, which creates the effect of people who can’t sign, can’t be a part of the club. I have asked Loren about this problem and she explained that this is something they’re planning on fixing for the next semester. I would suggest to the executive board to start giving their own tutoring sessions in basic sign language. They could even put on workshops that help educate students on the history of the deaf culture.
American Sign Language should be offered to anyone who is willing to learn about the community and appreciate the culture. My goal is to help the sign language club achieve this idea.
One of the events that the American Sign Language club puts on is called the ‘Signing Seminoles’. The purpose of this event is to have deaf socials around campus. The executive board plans out when and where to meet every two weeks, posts the date and location on the ASL Facebook page, and then members decide if they want to go or not. Unless you are a part of the Facebook page, you wouldn’t know when the socials are happening. Unless you were a part of the club, you wouldn’t know about the Facebook page.
I decided to attend one to get a feel what it would be like to be a part of the club. I hadn’t been to a deaf social since my senior year of high school and I was going to have to brush up on my signing before I went. Checking the Facebook page, I saw that the next meeting would be held at the Chick-fil-a on campus. There wasn’t any other information besides the location and time and I didn’t know what any of the executive board looked like besides Loren. That made it difficult when I arrived because I didn’t know who I was looking for.
I was starting to get tentative about going because I didn’t have anyone who went with me and I was still a beginner at conversation signing. With my body beginning to sweat and my hands getting clammy, I made my way over to the Chick-fil-a, searching around the area for a couple minutes before I found their group. They were difficult to find because the group was not a lot of people. There were only about five to seven members there and they were all bunched up in a corner of the restaurant. They were also in a small corner of the area, secluding themselves from the population. I found walking up to them more difficult than I was expecting because I didn’t feel as though I would be accepted. It was like walking up to the clique in high school where your first impression either gets you rejected or accepted. This was confusing to see because from my understanding, deaf socials were a way for the deaf community to comfortably sign in public to meet people without being stared at or judged. I ended up standing a few feet away from them just staring at everyone signing to each other until I gained enough courage to walk up. I was sweating the whole time and my anxiety was starting to get the best of me.
Eventually, I gained enough courage to tap one of the members on the shoulder, getting her attention and introducing myself in the process. She was friendly (which was comforting), signing that her name was Sara and she’s a sophomore. Her signing was faster than mine and she knew more of the vocabulary than I did. The most I was able to pick up was her age and that she had a dog. I ended up having to interrupt her in the middle of her signing, asking her to slow down so I could keep up. She slowed down, and we were able to sign back and forth for a while.
After a while, Sara introduced me to another girl, Madison, who was also new to the socials. She had only been to one other deaf social before this one. Madison was still learning to sign as well, making it easier to go sign at the same level with each other. The only downfall, however; neither of us could go beyond small-talk conversation. No one else in the group paid attention to us or attempted to come over and sign and both of us being new couldn’t go up to the others without hesitation. Madison had to leave for class, bringing me back to square one with trying to sign to someone. Everyone seemed to already be in a conversation and I had to stand awkwardly in the middle, just staring. It would’ve been an easier time if more people were a part of the event, however; it wasn’t a terrible first experience. The socials typically last an hour, but I only stayed for half that time. With everyone else being in their own conversation, I didn’t feel comfortable being there and my anxiety was making me take a break. As I was leaving, I did attempt to get someone’s attention to let them know and I waved goodbye. I do want to go to more deaf socials in the future, however; I will need to work on my signing before I go back.
Another website that I discovered through my research, is designed to go through lessons teaching the user sign language. The man that created the website, William Virac (a.k.a Dr. Bill), teaches sign language in his everyday life as a professor at California State University. Dr. Bill has decided to live in a fully deaf world; that means his wife is deaf, he teaches ASL, and works in a deaf field of studies. He has over twenty years of experience and qualifications in teaching American Sign Language and an advocate for research on audiology. He decided to create the Lifeprint website to assist anyone who wanted to learn American Sign Language without having to pay for lessons. I want to show this website to the executive board of the sign language club as another way to help teach potential members beginners sign. The club can set up tutoring lessons and go over the lessons throughout the session. The website provides follow along videos that show the viewer what and how the sign is done. The benefits of using this website for students are that the lessons are easy to keep up with. The print out worksheets have ten to fifteen signs for you to practice. There are also sentences that have the words you learned and can practice signing full sentences. The downfall of the club using this website can be that because the website is easy to use, the students who use it can do it on their own and not become a part of the club. This is where the club can put on the tutoring sessions and the workshops for the students who want to improve on their signing.
My high school principal, Johnny Bush, was very involved with the deaf community before he became an administrator, teaching English to deaf students. A couple of weeks ago, I was given the fortunate opportunity to sit down with him and ask him some questions about his time working with that community. Mr. Bush graduated from University of North Florida with a degree in deaf education. Out of all the colleges in Florida, UNF has the biggest programs for American Sign Language. After Mr. Bush graduated, he went on to teach at the school for the deaf and blind. While teaching there, he was able to meet his wife, Lauren. She was there to teach for the blind. After he left the school, this is when he moved on to teaching at a high school in Tampa, Florida. He worked strictly with the deaf students and helped teach them grammar and speech. Mr. Bush says that this was one of the happiest times for him. If he could go back to teaching deaf students, he would. During his times of working with so many different colleagues who were a part of the deaf community, he was able to meet Stevie Fenton-Reynolds. Stevie is the official interpreter for the state of Florida and works with the government. Whenever there is a hurricane warning/safety issue, she is the women you’d see on the television signing on the side. Whenever the president comes down to Florida, she is the official interpreter to do all the signing during the event. Mr. Bush was kind enough to provide me with her contact information, so I can later plan a time to meet with her and ask her some questions about her experiences.
Being able to interview the president of the American Sign Language club, research different volunteer options, and realize what I can do to better my signing are all important references to remember later when I’m deciding on my continuation with joining the ASL club. The American Sign Language club lacks opportunities for potential new members and volunteer options are slim, however; bringing up the websites I was able to find and talking to Loren about ideas they could use, I believe the club could end up being more successful. No matter what happens, I been able to find multiple ways to stay connected with the deaf community. Discovering American Sign Language and having the fortunate chance of being a part of it has forever changed my life. I have a better understanding of a different life deaf people live and I want to continue helping in any way I can.
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