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Lead With American Sign Language

Why Is It Important to Learn American Sign Language (ASL)?

Communication

The benefits of learning sign language at an early age are numerous. American Sign Language (ASL) is one of the most widely used languages in the United States, and the fourth-most studied second language at American universities. At least 35 states have recognized ASL as a modern language for public schools, and hundreds of colleges and universities in the United States are offering ASL classes.

ASL is primarily used by American and Canadians who are either deaf or hard of hearing. There are approximately 250,000 - 500,000 ASL users in the United States and Canada, most of whom use ASL as their primary language. In addition, ASL is used by:

hearing children of deaf parents,

hearing siblings and relatives of the deaf,

hearing adults who are becoming deaf and are learning ASL from other deaf individuals, and

a growing population of hearing, second-language students learning ASL in elementary, secondary, and post-secondary classrooms.

Being proficient in ASL allows you to communicate with a wide range of hearing, hard of hearing, and deaf individuals-including students in mainstream and deaf school or university programs and deaf or hard of hearing residents and business people in your community. In addition, ASL improves the quality of family communication for hearing people with deaf or hard of hearing family members.

Culture

ASL is deeply rooted in the Deaf Community and Culture. Studying ASL promotes better awareness of and sensitivity to the deaf and hard of hearing community. As someone proficient in ASL, you will develop a strong appreciation for deaf culture, and you can promote understanding and acceptance of the language among others.

Career Opportunities from Learning American Sign Language

One especially exciting career path open to bilingual hearing professionals is interpretation. There is a great need to increase the availability of qualified ASL interpreters in the community and mainstream programs in schools and colleges/universities. Some places interpreters are in demand include hospitals, courts, governmental agencies, community activities, and local, county, and state legislatures.

Likewise, professionals in public and private agencies and educational settings-such as teachers, counselors, consultants, therapists, and specialists-use ASL to serve the deaf and hard of hearing. Law enforcement and emergency response workers also benefit from a knowledge of ASL.

Deaf and hard of hearing people proficient in ASL may be interested in becoming ASL teachers. Qualified ASL teachers are certified by a national professional organization, the American Sign Language Teachers Association (ASLTA).

Beauty

We find ourselves drawn to many languages for their beauty and the emotional responses they trigger in us. While perhaps not as vital as the reasons listed above, this is clearly true of ASL. ASL is a visual language with its own grammatical rules and semantics. It is unique in that its beauty, unlike spoken languages, is seen rather than heard.
Adapted from the North Carolina Chapter of the American Sign Language Teachers Association (NC ASLTA) and the North Carolina Association of the Deaf (NCAD) Ad Hoc Committee
How Will You Lead with ASL?

American Sign Language Scholarships and Grants

The Society offers scholarships to students majoring or minoring in ASL, Deaf Studies, Deaf Education, or Interpreter Preparation from campuses with an active chapter.

MRID offers several scholarships to help offset educational costs incurred by future interpreters.

AMBUCS awards yearly scholarships to college students pursuing a future career in therapy - including speech language pathology and hearing audiology.

RID offers numerous scholarships to Registry members seeking to complete interpreter preparation or certification.

Videos

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Benefits of Learning Sign Language at An Early Age | Lead with Languages

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Communication The benefits of learning sign language at an early age are numerous. American Sign Language (ASL) is one of the most widely used languages in the United States, and the fourth-most studied second language at American universities.

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It is quite often necessary to clarify the facts after an article about the deaf, such as ''Signs for the Hearing, Lessons From the Deaf,'' Dec. 21. The article quotes a University of Connecticut linguist as saying, ''It's a very useful language because students who learn it can then communicate with a segment of the population that is right here in this country: the deaf and the hearing-impaired.''

This needs clarification. If students learned American Sign Language they could communicate only with the half-million deaf who already know A.S.L. The major group with hearing loss, the 27 million who comprehend speech with amplification, do not know or need to know A.S.L., so the students couldn't ''sign'' to them. And they certainly couldn't communicate either with the rest of the United States population, or most of the rest of the world.

To teach American Sign Language in our public schools as an equivalent to a foreign language makes no sense. The profoundly deaf numbered 892,000 in 1991, according to The Hearing Journal. This makes it by far the smallest of the major disabled groups: the 27 million hearing-impaired who can hear with amplification, the 16 million wheelchair bound, the 6 million blind.

No doubt ''signing'' is dramatic in its visual aspects compared with hearing with various amplifying devices, compared with wheelchairs, compared with black glasses and a cane. Hence th endless articles. But let's not get carried away. A.S.L. in public schools? Why?

BRUCE AND ROSINE MIMS

Newtown

The writers are members of the Newtown Persons With Disabilities Committee specializing in the problems of the hearing-impaired.

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It is quite often necessary to clarify the facts after an article about the deaf, such as ''Signs for the Hearing, Lessons From the Deaf,'' Dec. 21. The article quotes a University of Connecticut linguist as saying, ''It's a very useful language because students who learn it can then communicate with a segment of the population that is right here in this country: the deaf and the hearing-impaired.'' This needs clarification.

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How many deaf people are there in the United States

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This seemingly straightforward question does not have a simple answer. The answer is not simple because various definitions of deafness are used, depending on where you look for answers, each leading to a different estimate for the number of deaf people in the United States.