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Sign language pilot program is a good start

The University community often overlooks hearing impaired students due to the lack of awareness and understanding of this disability. This has been a direct result of the lack of emphasis the University places on teaching students sign language to allow hearing impaired students to communicate effectively with the rest of the campus community. But in the upcoming fall term, this situation will change when the University will begin offering a semester of American Sign Language in a pilot program run through the linguistics department. This is a step in the right direction for the University in a long overdue process. The University should take advantage of this opportunity and offer the student body ASL as a four-semester class, enabling students to fulfill their foreign language requirements with ASL.

In the past, hearing impaired students have been forced to use lip reading to understand professors in classes. This is difficult and ineffective. Trying to cope with the pressures in class is already a tough task. It makes it many times more difficult to understand the material through lip reading when a more effective method - sign language - is unavailable.

It has taken such as long time for the University to introduce this pilot program due to the lack of commitment the University has towards this issue. This idea was first proposed three years ago by LSA junior Rachel Arfa, who is hearing impaired, and LSA senior Ryan Friedrichs, a former Michigan Student Assembly representative. When Arfa was a first-year student, she realized there was no method for students to officially learn sign language at the University. This made it near impossible for students to gain a proper understanding of those with hearing impairments. Thus it limited the communication between hearing impaired students and the rest of the student body.

Since the idea was first initiated, the proposal has been welcomed with enthusiasm by the campus community. But it has taken such a long time due to the lack of commitment from departments. As a result, this idea has been passed back and forth between the linguistics and American culture departments during the last three years even after the LSA dean's office guaranteed money for the program.

Hearing impairment has always been a disability that students have overlooked in the past because of the lack of commitment from the University. It is now a time for the University administration to act and develop this ASL program from a course that is only offered for one semester into a full four-semester program. The University needs to take this opportunity to increase the understanding and awareness of the student body.

02-19-99