Senior Honors Project Spring '23

Expressing Oneself using your hands, not your voice:

Teaching Future Generations American Sign Language

Christina L. Aguino

Ohkay Owingeh

Christina Aguino __ Expressing Oneself Using your hands not your voice_ Teaching Future Gen. American Sign Language.webm

Sharing one skin

The article was about the Okanagan tribe which is a part of British Columbia and their cultural beliefs. This was written in first person point of view on how Jeannete Armstorng sees her community and the environment she grew up in. It spoke about the clans she comes from, The four capacities of self, language, spiritual beliefs, traditions from earlier generations and the future that stands for Indigenous people. Based upon what I read Ms. Armstrong loves her community and all that comes with being indigenous ¨Without being whole in our community, on our land, with the protection it has a reservation, I could not survive¨ she expressed.

Citations:

Armstrong, Jeanette. “Sharing One Skin: The Okanagan Community,” in Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith (eds), The Case Against the Global Economy. San Francisco, CA, Sierra Club Books, 1996. Pp 460-470.

The Evolution of American Sign Language

In the article ¨The Evolution of American Sign Language¨ by David Leonhardt it was about his colleague Amanda Morris and her personal experience while using American Sign Language. Amanda is not deaf or hard of hearing but she does come from a deaf family that primarily uses American Sign Language. While conversating on a train ride with her mother using sign language a man joined in as he too comes from a deaf family. During there encounter the man had pointed out she uses outdated sign language and speaks as if she older that what she is. The reason being she was taught by the adults in her life that still use American Sign Language from their time. That encounter gave a perfect example of how much American Sign Language has evolved over the years.

Citation:

Leonhardt, David. “A Language Changed.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 27 July 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/27/briefing/american-sign-language-changes.html.

Native American Hand Talkers Fight to Keep Sign Language Alive

In the article ¨Native American Hand Talkers Fight to Keep Sign Language Alive¨ by Cecily Hilleary I found out their is a Plain Indian Sign Language that the people from the 1800s used to use. Although some tribes lost the language due to being sent to boarding schools and those that were deaf got sent to deaf residential school where they were forced to learn American Sign Language. ¨Hand Talk¨ as they called it is still used by a number of deaf and hearing people from plains Nations but theyre still trying to restore it. Not everyone that used the Plains Indian Sign Language was deaf or hard of hearing but had learned is a way to communicate with family and friends.

Citations:

Hilleary, Cecily. “Native American Hand Talkers Fight to Keep Sign Language Alive.” VOA, Voice of America (VOA News), 4 Apr. 2017, https://www.voanews.com/a/native-american-hand-talker-fight-to-keep-signed-language-alive/3794333.html.

Lanny Real Bird Demonstrates Plains Indian Sign Language

In the video Lanny Real Bird is telling the story and history of the Plains Indians Sign Language. In the video you notice hes using the sign language to communicate and we understand by reading the captions from the video. He uses alot of facial expressions so you can feel his emotions since you arent able to hear the tone in their voice. The story hes telling is called ¨The story about little big horn¨ and how little big hotn fought and scouted the soldiers.

Citation:

Voa, director. VOA, Voice of America (VOA News), 3 Apr. 2017, https://www.voanews.com/a/indian-sign-language/3794230.html. Accessed 24 Oct. 2022.

For The Deaf Community, Sign Language Equals Rights

The current issue that's being faced in this article is that hearing impaired people are being neglected by the state and big corporations. One example being when receiving services from the hospital a deaf client was giving birth to twins but was not told because the nurse didn't know how to sign. This led the mother to stop pushing while giving birth and she lost the second twin. Another example, A child had to move away from his family and area to receive a quality education that can be taught using American Sign Language. These issues could be resolved if only the public had accessible resources for people wanting to learn American Sign language and be educated on deaf etiquette.

Citation:

“For the Deaf Community, Sign Language Equals Rights.” Human Rights Watch, 23 Sept. 2022, https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/09/23/deaf-community-sign-language-equals-rights.

Challenges of the Deaf and Hearing Imparied in the Masked World of Covid-19

This article focuses on the Issues Deaf and Hard of Hearing people faced while also suffering with Covid-19. The hearing impaired were forced to accommodate to communicating without being able to see facial expressions and lip reading. Although majority of deaf people use American Sing language some still rely on reading lips for interpretation are now feeling a disconnect with the public. Facial masks are creating a barrier between non deaf people and hearing impairedpeople to communicate when receiving services in general areas. Another thing hearing impaired people were experiencing through the pandemic was the lack of interpreters on live TV or other streaming services. They weren't able to communicate like they had in previous years without facing more obstacles.

Citation:

Medicine, Department of Community. “Challenges of the Deaf and Hearing Impaired in the Masked... : Indian Journal of Community Medicine.” LWW, https://journals.lww.com/ijcm/Fulltext/2021/46010/Challenges_of_the_Deaf_and_Hearing_Impaired_in_the.4.aspx.

Deaf and Destined to Bridge the World

In this ted talk the man named Isadore spoke about his experiencing being deaf and the story behind his hearing loss. He comes from a small country with not much services provided therefore when he came down with a cold and loss his hearing he wasnt able to fix the issue. He adapted to his circumstances and when an opportunity arrived for him to go to a deaf school he agreed. Years later, he won Homecoming King at a University and it had shocked him because he was surrounded by so many incredible people that he never though he couldve won. In the current times he opened an ASL program to teach all people his beautiful language of ASL. Throughout the video he constantly reminds you that at any moment you could lose your hearing or eyesight so to always be grateful and admire the world as is in case of unfortunate vents.

Citations:

YouTube, 26 Jan. 2017, https://youtu.be/XLje7b52sfs.Accessed 18 Nov. 2022.

Action Plan I: Teaching Future Generations American Sign Language

On Monday October 17th, 2022 I visited Ohkay Owingeh Head Start where I taught and introduced Classroom #3 and #5 to American Sign Language during their academic day.

My goals were to spread educational awareness, create a memorable experience, and Photo documentation. I chose this action plan to broaden the minds of children at a young age which could be very beneficial in the long run.

The outcome was better than expected, I was under the impression the children would be easily distracted and lose focus after 15 minutes but the students were really engaged. They seemed like they had really enjoyed it especially when learning the animals in ASL. A teacher quoted saying ¨My students loved learning ASL, will definitely implement it more¨.

Action Plan 2: Implementing The Language At School