ASL II students participate in Deaf for a day

If some of your classmates were walking around with earplugs or your best friend wasn’t talking to you on Oct. 26, don’t worry; they were just deaf for a day.

Students in American Sign Language II, or ASL, participated in an activity designed to give them an idea of what it would be like to be deaf for a day. The students were given earplugs to wear all day, without taking them out. Students were also not allowed to listen to music or verbally communicate in any way. Instead, they were encouraged to use the sign language they have learned in the course.

“It was difficult to communicate with teachers [and] the materials they were teaching,” sophomore Mahala Echols said. “Group work was challenging unless they knew sign, which they usually didn’t.”

The earplugs were used to simulate the background noises that become undetectable when you are deaf.

“It was more quiet and muted than normal, but probably not exactly what deaf people are used too,” Echols said.

Amanda Magruder, one of the ASL teachers, assigns the activity in hopes that “students learn empathy.”

“Being able to connect with and respect people who are different than you is one of the goals,” Magruder said.

Those in the Deaf community feel that they should be give a chance to prove their equality to those without hearing loss.

“No conversations, discussions, or research are equal to learning how to function with a sensory disability,” Magruder said.

The teacher, who is hard-of-hearing herself, hopes that this hands-on learning experience will also address stigmas that the Deaf community is hoping to fight.

“Most people focus on what a Deaf person misses out on,” Magruder said. “Being Deaf is a positive experience and there is pride in being Deaf.”