Universal ASL Education – Afterwards

Everything in my series of Universal ASL Education posts consisted of my presentation to my Communication class. We had to pick a topic and give a persuasive presentation. After we finished our presentations, people were free to ask questions. A few of those questions have been bugging me, and I would like to address them…

Universal ASL Education – To sum it up

Today’s educational system focuses on spoken language, isolating students who use visual language from what is going on inside and outside of the classroom. But if all the students and teachers had some degree of fluency in both ASL and English, everyone would benefit. Language barriers both inside and outside of the classroom would come…

Universal ASL Education – Existing Models

By now you may be thinking, “Well that’s a great idea, but how are we going to have teachers using both ASL and English to teach?” Thankfully we have existing education models: bilingual-bicultural classrooms. In the article "Addressing Students' Language Needs in a Bilingual ASL and English Classroom", three teachers share their experience at the…

And now for something…

Completely hilarious!

Universal ASL Education – Two Groups

There are two groups that we need to focus: teachers and children. Teachers would be the biggest hurdle at first. Colleges would have to include a specific level of ASL fluency in their graduation requirements. This also means that a standardized ASL curriculum must be agreed upon by all colleges. Colleges would have to work…

Universal ASL Education – Education Options

Today there are a wide range of options for educating an ASL-speaking child. They range from being in class with their English-speaking peers all day at a public school to living at a residential school with their ASL-speaking peers. The first three options are collectively called mainstreaming. All three have their pros and cons. All…

Universal ASL Education – Language

The biggest reason why children should be raised speaking ASL and English is education. When Deaf education began in America in 1817, the American School for the Deaf only used ASL and written English to teach the children. They were very successful doing so. Graduates went out into the nation and founded schools for the…

Universal ASL Education – Intro

Yesterday I gave a presentation for one of my classes and I would like to share it here with you. I'm going to break it up over a few posts so it's not one giant chunk. It is a topic that I feel needs serious consideration. According to the National Institute on Deafness, 9 of…

“Existance is its own justification”

One of my favorite authors went on a little rant recently, and I love it! It really fits in with what I'm talking about here. Enjoy!

I’m still confused

So what is this about? Thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Amendments Act of 2008, people cannot be discriminated based on ability, sex, race, or gender. This means that everyone in the nation is protected. But to me it says that no one is perfect and everyone has their differences.…