ASL instructors play a significant role in their students’ educational experience of Deaf culture. However, the authenticity of your learning experience about Deaf culture will highly depend on wether the instructor is Deaf or hearing.
So what’s the difference?
🧏🏽 Deaf ASL instructors live and breathe ASL as they live their daily routines in silence. There are some hearing folks who can come close to this way of life but it’s rare.
🔊 Hearing ASL instructors experience the world with sound. From the moment their alarm goes off in the morning to their favorite TV show playing in the background, hearing instructors live in a noisy world. They switch to ASL mode when entering a class space like any other foreign language instructor whose native language is not the language they teach.
The reason many people want to learn ASL is to immerse themselves into the silent world and learn about Deaf culture. Wouldn’t it be more authentic to cross over with the guidance of a Deaf person? 🌈
🔗 Learn more about our Deaf instructors at Visually Speaking and register for a class!
Donations may be allocated to support Certified Deaf Interpreters, DeafBlind interpreters and support, ASL interpreters from marginalized communities, as well as fund requests for event access for Black Lives Matter (BLM) and various marginalized community events.