Listening Even More

American Sign Language 2 has been a great continuation from my previous class.  I discovered more than I thought I would the second time round--the intricacies of the Deaf world just became more pronounced and I am aching for ASL 3.  Fingers crossed (toes as well).

May 2014

Coming in with some foundational knowledge on Deaf culture and American Sign Language (ASL) from ASL 1 class, I took this course to continue my efforts to gain fluency and receptive skills in ASL.  Class this semester has only strengthened my love for ASL and the uniqueness of it being a language nuanced in facial expression, symbols and gestures—nothing like any other language I had learnt before.  I guess I was also a bit unsure of what I wanted to use this skill for.  I was definitely intrigued and interested at the idea of considering a career or part-time job in interpreting but I had qualms about access to interpreting education in my country, Malaysia.  Nonetheless, I took this course in spite of my indecision because I had fallen in love with the language too much to not expand it further.  If ASL 3 is offered at Hampshire College in the future, I would continue my studies in ASL in a heartbeat.

In terms of performance, I do believe I have improved in speed and comprehension in comparison to the first time I started signing.  The novels were a huge part in forming my understanding of ASL—it was one of my favorite parts because it pushed me further to not just learn how to communicate but to learn why we communicate in certain ways and to understand all the intricacies of a culture different from mine.  It is this social and emotional component of the language class that kept me coming back for more and always excited to come to class.  The range in perspectives of the content in the novels were wider than the previous class. At first, it challenged my lack of empathy towards people who opted for cochlear implants but it  slowly made me realize that the Deaf world was as diverse as the hearing world—there was more than one school of thought and there are so many different stories that make it impossible to categorize Deaf people into one box.  I have come to learn to respect diversity and try to always look at the issue from perspectives different from my own before passing judgement.

Overall, it has been such a pleasure taking this class from a professor that seems to embody all the lessons I have grown to learn from this class—the respect, patience, persistence, and understanding Ruth shared with us students, I believe, does not just speak for her as a person but as what the bridge between the hearing and Deaf world should look like.  I hope to carry all these values into my future studies in educational psychology and inequity because differences among people in terms of communication, expression, and learning abilities will always exist even beyond the classroom.  But it is my hope to keep on bridging the gap in order for everyone to achieve their greatest potential—be it in ASL or education.