Learning ASL – American Sign Language

by Jennifer Patterson on October 3, 2021.
Featured Photo taken from The Scranton School website

American Sign Language also known as ASL is a very interesting and important language. It is for those who are hard of hearing or who are deaf.

I have always been fascinated by sign language and found out something new about it and that is that each country has its own version of sign language. The United States and Canada use American Sign Language.

As someone who has been involved in technology and design, I have always been personally interested in the way technology and design has helped those with disabilities. I would love to learn more about how my skills in design can help those with disabilities or bring it into my work.

Learning ASL has been a lot of fun. I spent about an hour learning a few phrases and the alphabet. Gallaudet University has free ASL courses that I did online to learn a few things. I absolutely recommend their coursework!

“Today, Gallaudet is the go-to source on the deaf and signing community — a rich source of history, knowledge, achievement, and inspiration. But we are even more than that. Gallaudet is a global agent of change— a hub of the signing ecosystem, preparing students to flourish, and helping society value and appreciate all that deaf people have to offer. ” – Gallaudet University website.

Learning sign language has been a lot of fun and is definitely a new way of expressing oneself as well. I am so used to using words to speak but using gestures definitely was a change and I felt like I was using a different part of my mind to do it. It is a lot of fun and definitely a beneficial skill that you never know when you will need to use it.

I’m looking forward to learning more American Sign Language as time goes on!