American Sign Language (ASL) is something that many people don’t take too seriously. Some people start learning simple signs like “eat” and “thank you” for fun, but not many take it farther than that. It’s looked at as a hobby or something only deaf people use to communicate.
ASL is much more important than people realize. It’s the third most-used language in America, behind English and Spanish. Hundreds of thousands of people depend on it because they’re hearing impaired and can’t communicate using verbal language like the rest of us. And hearing impaired people aren't the only ones who use ASL.
Kids with special needs, like autism, often use sign language to better communicate what they're feeling. It's been found that they can better express themselves through ASL than words and it acts as a bridge to language when kids don't feel comfortable using verbal speech.
But ASL doesn't even just end with people. Even animals like chimps were taught to use sign language to communicate with us. Koko, the 44-year-old gorilla at the San Francisco Zoo is famous, for her use of ASL. She communicates with humans using sign language, and because she was taught using modeling of the hand signs as well as verbal English, she knows both ASL and understands many English words. Sign language helps her match physical signs with English words to better understand and communicate with humans.
There are also TV shows that include ASL as a part of the plot line to inform the public of how important sign language is in our society. "Switched at Birth" is one of these TV shows. It's about two girls who were switched at birth. One is deaf and the other is hearing. Ultimately, their families end up merging when they find out that the girls were switched at birth, so both families learn sign language so that they can all communicate with each other. The show educates viewers on what it's like to go through life as a deaf individual while the rest of the world doesn't understand ASL or that being deaf is not a handicap — it's just something some people live with.
Yet there are still many people in our society who view ASL as a hobby. ASL is not a hobby — it's a language. ASL has its own language structure, just like any other language. Instead of saying "What's your name?" you'd sign "Your name, what?" in ASL. When physical words aren't sufficient for communication, hand signs can be used instead.
Anyone can benefit from learning sign language. It's a good skillset to possess for any profession and is easily transferable to every day life. Hearing impaired people are all around us in society, and learning ASL simply allows for more learning about deaf culture as well as presenting the opportunity communicate with humans and animals that we wouldn't otherwise be able to talk to.
American Sign Language can benefit so many people other than just the hearing impaired and deserves to recognized as more than just a hobby.
