Did you know that March is Deaf History Month? At Camp ASCCA, there are many campers who are deaf. I have learned so much sign language from them. After my first time at camp in 2018, I took sign language classes and did some research to learn more about being deaf in more detail. What I found out about the history, famous people, and sign language was very interesting to me.
The first permanent school for the deaf was started in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1817. It is now known as the American School for the Deaf. The first college for the deaf was Gallaudet University in Washington D.C., named after the founder, Edward Gallaudet, in 1864.
National Deaf History Month started in 1996 when two deaf employees at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington D.C. taught their colleagues sign language and instituted a Deaf Awareness Week. The following year, the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) introduced the first National Deaf History Month, and the American Library Association partnered with NAD in 2006 to spread awareness even more.
There have been many famous people who are deaf, such as composer Ludwig van Beethoven, football player Derrick Coleman, baseball player William Hoy, actress Katie Leclerc, the Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin, and Helen Keller. Like many other deaf people, none of them let deafness stop their dreams.
Helen Keller is perhaps the most famous deaf person because of all she accomplished in her life and all she did for the deaf community. She was the first deaf-blind person to graduate from college. Her autobiography, The Story of My Life, is an inspiration to many people. However, that was not her only book. She wrote 14 books in all, as well as about 475 speeches and essays on topics such as faith, blindness prevention, and various social issues of her day.
As I mentioned, I started taking American Sign Language (ASL) classes in 2018. As part of my research, I found out that ASL has been used in the United States since at least the early 1800s, but it wasn’t until the 1960s that it began to be widely recognized as a language of its own.
Today, only about 200 universities in the United States accept ASL as a foreign language, including Brown University and Harvard. As for high schools, only about 1,000 schools in the United States offer ASL as a foreign language course, even though 45 states recognize ASL in their state laws. Five additional states recognize ASL for educational foreign language requirements, but not as a language in their state law.
I think all high schools should offer and maybe even require ASL as a foreign language. In the United States, about 11 million people are deaf or have serious difficulty hearing.
The child of a friend of our family had been taking ASL for only half a semester at our homeschool co-op when their family went to Disney World. The mom’s long-time friend who is deaf worked there, and this was the first time her son would meet him. He walked right up to her friend at Disney World and signed, “Hi, my name is…,” and her friend was so delighted!
I have heard of a few other instances where ASL students have come across deaf people, and they could communicate, which delighted all of them!
As for me, I will continue learning ASL so I can communicate with the deaf at Camp ASCCA and anywhere else I may be.
Located in Alabama on Lake Martin, Camp ASCCA offers campers a wide variety of traditional recreational and educational activities with a unique design for accessibility.
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