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My Thoughts on ASL and Deaf Culture

 This semester, I am taking a course in American Sign Language. I've wanted to learn ASL for years but never had the opportunity before now. Taking this class, I have generated several opinions that I will now share.

1. The amount of facial expressions required in ASL is utterly impressive. I can't lie, I'm extremely timid with my expressions as I'm in an online class with about fifteen people that I've never met signing for the first time in our lives. However, it truly is astounding the difference that facial expressions make. Like the intonation of someone's voice, they can indicate a question, emotion, sarcasm, etc. Watching experienced people sign is mesmerizing, and I think that someone that signs well will always impress me.

2. Learning to sign is criminally underrated. ASL is a language, so of course it takes some practice to learn. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't be learning it. In the U.S., approximately 600,000 people are deaf and only about 250,000-500,000 know how to sign. That is STAGGERING. I can't even imagine not being able to communicate with such a large percentage of the population in the language I'm accustomed to, especially when people work so hard to learn other languages that they will have less interactions with. People will learn how to say "one more beer, please" for their trip to Cancun but can't learn simple signs for people they might meet here. I really wish that we tried harder to include these individuals and show that we care.

3. Deaf culture should be taught in schools. I feel like we as a society just kind of act as though deaf people don't exist or that we'll never encounter them. That is absolutely untrue, and we should be making a bigger effort to accept them and learn about their culture. People should know the proper way to get the attention of a deaf person and key phrases like "hello" or "excuse me". It is honestly baffling how ignored deaf culture is, and I really hope that changes. Places like Starbucks have started implementing services to help deaf people have the same experiences in drive thrus as hearing people do. I know that seems menial, but it is a step.

I truly implore you: get informed about these things. I don't think we can ever understand what being deaf in a primarily hearing society is like, but we can certainly try to make it easier. Learn a few phrases, and just put in the effort. It really isn't difficult, and you never know when it might come in handy.

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