Approximately 15% of the United States population reports trouble hearing, hearing impairments, or are completely deaf. American Sign Language is commonly said to be “the fourth most-used language in the United States,” according to Gallaudet University, a deaf college in Washington D.C. Close to 2 million people use sign language. This would fall behind English, Spanish, and Chinese.
From a very early age, I was taught simple sign language. I was taught how to sign more, all done, food, please, thank you, and sorry. Before I was even able to talk, I was communicating with my parents using these signs. As I got older, I continued to learn practical sign language to add to my vocabulary.
When I came into college, I was eager to take the classes that my mom had taken here because of how much she had talked about them. I had heard so many great things about what she had learned and how they had influenced her career, ultimately encouraging her to become an interpreter for many years.
This skill allowed her to communicate with deaf individuals, including a woman in Target struggling to find her size. Because of my mom’s background in sign language, she was able to help this woman who was incredibly grateful, yet surprised, that my mom was able to communicate with her in sign language without much trouble.
However, when I started to look for courses at EMU that would allow me to catch up to my mom’s skill level, I found that they were no longer available. I was surprised that with EMU’s emphasis on diversity and inclusion, they didn’t offer the fourth most used language as a course.
In talking to students on campus, I have found that there is more of an interest in a sign language class than I thought there would be. Senior Maia Garber said, “Having a sign language course could potentially diversify our study body and even attract students to EMU, which would help bring up our enrollment.”
Senior Katie Wenger echoed Garber’s thoughts. “I feel like it would make campus more inclusive and give people the opportunity to learn more about that language,” she said. Wenger highlighted the community aspect of adding this course. “Language and identity are very connected and adding [a sign language] class would help students to get to know that community on a more personal level.”
Bridging the gap between the deaf and hearing community by creating an inclusive space is important in order to create this more unified culture, Wenger said. Learning the basics of sign language, such as numbers and finger-spelling, would allow some communication between the hearing community and the deaf community. Knowing how to treat a deaf individual could also make their life easier and is another skill that would come along with a sign language course. We should be teaching the stereotypes and misconceptions about deafness so that we know how to both interact with them and ease communication.
A sign language course should be offered here at EMU for those who are interested in learning more and making those strong connections with a community that is different, yet equal to our own.
