CONNECTION THROUGH SIGN LANGUAGE: WHY PARENTS OF DEAF CHILDREN SHOULD LEARN SIGN LANGUAGE

Humans communicate through language, and sharing a language allows people to communicate and deepen their connections with others. Most people communicate through spoken language, but most people with hearing loss cannot effectively communicate through spoken language. In the United States, the most common language used by the Deaf community is American Sign Language (ASL) because its visual nature is accessible to those who are deaf. The Deaf community includes Deaf or hard of hearing individuals who are proud of their Deafness and share a rich culture, history, and language (ASL). Most commonly, deaf children are born to hearing parents, and most hearing parents have yet to learn ASL. Language deprivation is a pervasive issue in the Deaf community because most deaf children experience a chronic lack of access to an accessible language during the period of language acquisition. Encouraging and supporting hearing parents to learn ASL with their deaf children will reduce the occurrence of language deprivation within the Deaf community. Research to learn more about the real experiences of Deaf individuals with hearing parents and hearing parents with deaf children was conducted through interviews. Interviews were conducted individually, and the interviewees included three Deaf individuals and three hearing parents. Based on the experiences and insights shared by the interviewees, a discussion on the implications of the research is provided along with resources for families with deaf children to support learning ASL. Raising awareness about the Deaf community and ASL will support this linguistic and cultural minority.