DEAFinitely Aware
About us:
Embedded Files
Ruby: My name is Ruby O'Brien, and I am a junior at Holliston High School. I do field hockey, indoor track, and lacrosse. I am also a part of the Global Citizens Program and an officer for the Words of Warmth Club. Those both focus on making an impact on our community, which is something that is very important to me. For service learning, I have chosen to focus on reducing audism, the discrimination against the deaf and hard of hearing individuals. Since Emme and I both chose to do this, we have been working together on our project to educate our community about audism through DEAFinitely aware.
Emme: My name is Emme Arsenault, and I am a junior in high school. When I am not working hard at school, playing soccer, or running track, I am at home spending time with my family, specifically my three younger siblings. I am extremely passionate about making the world a better and more inclusive place, which is why being a member of the Global Citizens Program has served me well. As an individual with hearing loss, I have used the Global Citizens Program to advocate for the deaf and hard of hearing community, especially through this Service Learning Project. Ruby and I happen to share this passion of reducing audism, the discrimination against the deaf and hard of hearing community, so we have chosen to complete the DEAFinitely Aware mission together. Due to my planning skills behind the scenes and her upfront people skills, we have worked extremely well together to complete our project, DEAFinitely Aware.
Community Need: Audism is our community need. Emme is an individual with hearing loss, who has personally experienced audism over the course of her childhood through bullying, lack of accommodations, and society doubting her abilities. Ruby's mom grew up with a best friend that was deaf and she learned sign language, so she taught Ruby about the deaf and hard of hearing community from a young age. This brought us together to work to end audism in the community. Most of the issues with audism today are caused by people lacking knowledge, understanding, and education about the topic. Many people are curious, but do not get the chance to ask questions, which leads them to making assumptions that can be harmful in some instances. Not all audism is on purpose, so many people do not even know when audism is happening. It comes in many forms, like denying accommodations, making fun of someone, assuming that someone with hearing loss may not be as capable, or by jumping to conclusions about them just because of their hearing loss. Through educating the community, audism could be greatly decreased.
PSA
Project Goals and Progress: For DEAFinitely aware, we have made it our goal to educate the community about audism.
On April 15th, we went to Miller Elementary School to and taught third and fourth graders about audism and some basic ASL
They learned what audism is, learned the alphabet and useful words/phrases, and they got to ask questions
On April 27th, we hosted a Deaf and Hard of Hearing awareness night at the Holliston Public Library
Our partnership, DEAF Inc, came and talked about their organization. They taught community about deaf culture as a whole and ASL.
We played fun and informative games including ASL BINGO and trivia
In ASL BINGO there was BINGO sheets with each square being a different letter in the ASL alphabet to get people familiar with the alphabet
In trivia there will be questions about ASL, deaf culture, and audism for a fun way to teach the community more about it
We created an instagram account (@deafinitely.aware) to further spread awareness and post different ASL signs
We post signs to encourage people to learn ASL
Through these two events as well as the instagram account, we hope to teach the community more about audism and the deaf and hard of hearing community to help raise awareness, stop audism, and keep Holliston more informed.
Community Partnership:
Our community partnership is a nonprofit named "DEAF Inc"
They provide services for people who are deaf and hard of hearing
They have advocacy resources and educational services (ARES) that work with people 1 on 1
They also work with a DeafBlind Community Access Network and (DBCAN)
DEAF Inc also has Inclusive Minds in Partnership for Accessibility, Collaboration & Training (IMPACT)
These programs are all a part of DEAF Inc and they help prepare people for independent living, get education, and healthcare literacy
We are partnering with DEAF Inc by them coming to our Library Night
The Executive Director, Darian Gambrell, will educate the community by teaching about what DEAF Inc is as well as more information about Deaf culture and audism.
Getting an expert in the topic to present at our library night will be extremely beneficial, for it is an excellent way to educate the community
How can the community help?
By learning about audism
Being conscious about their actions to decrease discrimination
Do not make assumptions or jump to any conclusions about people with hearing loss
Try to learn a little bit of ASL
Provide people with the correct accommodations
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