Why I Sign

Article by Mati Anonson Bodwell

Why I Sign is a story about two hearing individuals and why they chose to use American Sign Language to express themselves. Throughout the story there will be spotlight stories, to view them simply scan the QR code!

This article is based off a company #WhyISign. I was first introduced to #WhyISign in February of 2023 at a conference called Explore ASL, where their founder was the keynote signer. #WhyISign’s website states that their mission is “Families are still not given resources or support about including signing with their DDBDDHHLD or Deaf, DeafBlind, DeafDisabled, Hard of Hearing and Late-Deafened children. Families often feel alone in their signing journey. For most, their baby is the first deaf person they meet. They often are nervous and scared to connect with the deaf community. Our diverse communities often desire to connect with hearing families, but lack knowledge of where families are & how to reach out. Through sharing #whyIsign narratives, people can: connect with deaf & hard of hearing children to other families, connect to Deaf, DeafBlind, DeafDisabled, Hard of Hearing and Late-Deafened & the diverse communities within, connect with the signing communities (CODA’s, students, friends, community members, etc.), share resources and information about resources of raising a deaf and hard of hearing child, understand that sign language is a right, not an option.” This company really interested me and I immediately knew I wanted to cover something relating to it.

tion the quote “For Deaf children born into hearing families being proud and saying

- Jackie Wan, Community Mental Health Nurse, August 2017, was brought up multiple times and it stuck in my head. I met with Felicity Frisch, a student at the University of Northern Iowa and O’Brien, the American Sign Language Instructor at the University of Northern Iowa, to ask them some questions about themselves and why they chose to pursue American Sign Language. I also wanted to share my opinions and thoughts as well.

When asked “Why did you initially learn American Sign Language?” Felicity stated that she started learning American Sign language Because she loves languages and as a future Speech–language Pathologist, being able to sign with patients will be really beneficial. When the same question was asked to O’Brien she answered,

If I were to answer this question I would say that I was initially drawn to American Sign Language because my best friend knew some words and I thought it looked really cool. Then when I found out UNI, the University of Northern Iowa, offered American Sign Language classes I jumped on the opportunity to really learn ASL.

Vocabulary

DDBDDHHLD: Deaf, DeafBlind, DeafDisabled, Hard of Hearing, Late-Deafend.

Five Parameters of ASL: handshape, palm orientation, movement, location, and expression/non-manual markers (NMMs).

My Next question for Felicity and O’Brien was “What was the biggest challenge for you when you were learning ASL?” Felicity answered by saying, the hardest part was probably just remembering all of the words, especially those that are similar to one another, and trusting what I know. I would definitely have to say the same thing. American Sign Language is a very complex language. In American Sign Language, we use the five Parameters of ASL to describe how a sign behaves within the signer’s space. The parameters are handshape, palm orientation, movement, location, and expression/non-manual signals. If even one of the parameters changes the word’s meaning will change. When I asked the question to O’Brien she said “Meeting Deaf people and having friends to practice with. I was 15 when I started classes and the next youngest person in the class was 22- 25? I met my friend April when I was 17 and that really helped a lot. We became best friends, she lived with my family one summer, and she is still a very, very dear friend!”

Non-manual Markers (NMM): non-affective facial expressions, head positions, and body positions that provide crucial grammatical context to the manual signs.

Simultaneous communication: SimComming, SimCom, or sign supported speech (SSS) is a technique sometimes used by deaf, hard-of-hearing or hearing sign language users in which both a spoken language and a manual variant of that language (such as English and manually coded English) are used simultaneously (This is very difficult to perform, never ask someone to SimCom unless absolutely necessary).

“Why did you stick with it?” was the next question. O’Brien answered

“Katie, I don’t know ASL so you’ll have to voice, but try using your hands to talk to me.” So I started SimComming and, all of a sudden, I could speak. I realized I could express myself with ASL in a way that I couldn’t with English.”

SimComming or Simultaneous communication, SimCom, or sign supported speech (SSS) is a technique sometimes used by deaf, hard-of-hearing or hearing sign language users in which both a spoken language and a manual variant of that language (such as English and manually coded English) are used simultaneously (This is very difficult to perform, never ask someone to SimCom unless absolutely necessary). I chose to stick with learning ASL because my best friend was taking the classes with me and I felt like the community welcomed me with open arms. It truly did feel like home, although I didn;t always fully understand what was being said, people would stop and explain to me what a word ment or would slow down. Felicity responded to the question by saying she stuck with it because of the experiences I was getting that I never could have before, in and outside of school settings.

The final question I asked was “How has ASL changed your life for better or worse?”. Felicity said “It has definitely changed my life for the better. I’ve met so many people I never would have otherwise and became an ally in ways I wasn’t before. I’ve gained humility and respect as well.” O’Brien had a similar response saying, “For the better, and it changed my life COMPLETELY. I wasn’t planning to go to college, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life... I found ASL and fell in love with the language so much I decided I wanted to teach it. I met my wife at an ASL social event. If it wasn’t for ASL, I don’t know where my life would be or what else I would have done!” Lastly, I would say ASL has changed my life for the better one hundred percent. Because of my first ASL class I applied for a position on the Deaf Cultural Experience, a student organization on the University of Northern Iowa’s campus, officer board with my best friend. We both got positions and I ended up meeting some amazing people including one of my best friends. I have become closer with the Deaf community in the Cedar Falls/ Waterloo area and I even have an independent study where I am working with the Iowa Association of the Deaf to rebuild and redesign their website. Learning American Sign Language benefitted my life in so many ways I couldn’t imagine my life without it.