About Us

Our Story

Our names are Kacey Yip and Kayli Yip, and we are two high school students who decided to create a brief booklet of emergency medical signs in various Sign Languages around the world as part of a capstone project. One year ago, neither of us would have known that there was a variety of sign languages. Like many others, we would have assumed Sign Language was a universal language. Learning sign language had always been an interest of ours, but we never took initiative—that was until last year when an interpreter at our school sparked our interest again. Not long after, we were introduced to the Deaf culture and learned more than just a language. The interpreter offered to teach us sign since we coincidentally had the same lunch period. Through the ASL (American Sign Language) club at our school and online resources, we were able to dive deeper into what sign language is about.

When our capstone project was given, we knew we wanted our project to help others through the use of sign language. We recognized the need for equal accessibility everywhere, but especially in medical settings. This is when we decided to create a booklet of essential emergency medical words and phrases in five different sign languages. Since we once immigrated, we understand how difficult it is to adapt to a new culture and learn a new language. We realized that the immigration process is twice as difficult for Deaf and Hard of Hearing immigrants, for they have to learn sign language in addition to English. This is why we included five languages in our booklet; we wanted to have a global approach and allow immigrants to feel a sense of comfort in a stressful time. The five languages include ASL (American), BSL (British), CSL (Chinese), LSE (Spanish), and LSF (French).

Deaf Community Action Network

We are partnering with Deaf Community Action Network (DeafCAN!), an organization in Pennsylvania dedicated to helping Deaf and Hard of Hearing immigrants, is helping us distribute our booklets because of their close relationships with that population. They invited us to their annual service showcase, and we presented our booklet to the West Chester community. We also had the opportunity to meet some of the Deaf immigrants DeafCAN! are supporting.

The Impact

We have distributed over 650+ copies of our booklet after fundraising over $1,000! Some of the areas that these booklets have reached are the Philadelphia Refugee Health Collaborative, within DeafCAN!'s immigrant network, various fairs, and sign language classes for beginners.

You can view DeafCAN!'s website here.