About five years ago, I started my journey of learning American Sign Language (ASL). I didn’t know many deaf people growing up (except a deaf neighbor) but my best friend in middle school and I learned the ASL alphabet and some basic signs to be able to communicate during class without the teacher being able to stop or understand us. There was no pivotal moment when I decided to start learning ASL, no main reason why I wanted to learn the language (such as a deaf family member or deaf classmate) except for that I saw that it was beautiful and I wanted to know how to do it. Ever since I started learning, I’ve come to love the language more than I ever thought I would, and I’ve even considered getting a degree and certification in ASL interpreting after getting my Bachelor’s. Having a basic understanding of sign language is so important, even if you don’t know any deaf people, because it has many benefits besides just being able to know the language.
Being able to have a rudimentary understanding of another language, especially ASL, is beneficial in many ways. If you’re not already learning another language (or just want to learn another one), you should consider learning ASL as your second language. You can communicate with a vibrant yet marginalized community and have the ability to start a conversation with deaf people who aren’t always accepted into hearing culture. In addition, some of the words in ASL are technically the same in English, so if you can speak English, you already know some of the words you’re going to sign. This concept is tricky because ASL is its own language not related to English, but I have to admit that one of the reasons I love learning ASL more than learning Spanish is that most ASL signs have English equivalents. If you know how to “fingerspell” the English alphabet, then you know the ASL alphabet letters. It’s easier to make a connection in your brain with hand movements and English words than with English words and other spoken words in another spoken language. Muscle memory is a big part of learning ASL. For instance, if you’re signing something in ASL and you forget how to sign a specific word, you can just fingerspell the word with the English alphabet (providing you know how to spell) and the person you’re signing with will probably know how to sign it. You can learn so many new words from just having a conversation with a deaf person. If you’re speaking Spanish with someone (and Spanish isn’t your first language) and you forget a word, you can only say that word in English and hope they know what you mean. There’s no way to spell a Spanish word in English and expect a solely Spanish-speaker to understand you.
There’s always a chance you’ll meet a deaf person and since communication is such an important part of our lives, and just being able to say “hello” or “how are you?” to a deaf person is a big deal. You don’t know who you’ll meet who could be deaf: your mail carrier, your teacher, your barista, etc. Being able to communicate with someone who knows some of your language is a large help. Deaf people oftentimes go through the day without hearing people being able to understand them and though I don’t want to make it sound like hero worship, the deaf population is a minority that doesn’t have the same rights as hearing people do. We should be able to have basic communication with people who use other languages, and since American Sign Language is one of the most used languages in our country besides English and Spanish, knowing some beginning words in ASL can go a long way.
