Are you interested in American Sign Language? Do you have a friend or family member that is Deaf or Hard of Hearing? Do you want to learn ASL for them? Or for yourself? Read below for resources for learning ASL and tips about Deaf culture.
Deaf Culture
What is Deaf culture? It's a set of social beliefs and behaviors and values that are influenced by deafness. Sign language is the main means of communication in Deaf culture. It can include art and literary tradition that highlight sign language and deafness.
I'm SO glad you want to learn! To start, here are some important things you need to understand.
ASL is not a universal language. In fact, there are more than 138 sign languages in the world! Many of you think it may be easy to look on Google to learn ASL signs. It's not that simple. When you type in ASL sign for a specific word, it can pull off a ton of results. While you may happen upon a correct illustration of the word you're looking for, most times your results range from incorrect signs to even different sign languages - not ASL. And, even more importantly, ASL has different signs that mean the same thing that changes based on context, so even if you do the correct sign for one sentence, it could be misconstrued due to your sentence meaning something completely different.
Another example - my mother-in-law wanted to learn ASL for me and went online to learn, not realizing that there were lots of different sign languages. It turned out, she learned vocabulary from BSL - or British Sign Language. That is completely different - even the alphabet - from ASL.
The best way to learn ASL is from Deaf teachers! Below I will list some social media platforms that have Deaf creators teaching ASL or explaining how life in Deaf culture looks like. The Deaf community believes that the best way to learn ASL is from Deaf teachers. This can seem controversial. Perhaps, a better way to word it is, learn from people who are INVOLVED in the Deaf community - whether that is a deaf or hard-of-hearing teacher or an interpreter who loves, values, and appreciates Deaf culture. This way, you can be sure to know you’re being taught proper grammatical structure, vocabulary, and cultural aspects, which includes conversations and slang. Additionally, below are some Deaf creators that use social media to teach ASL or illustrate life in Deaf culture. Give them a follow!
Instagram:
@Language priority
@58 creativity
@adjacent_space_bham
@Justinperezvv
@jeremry.lee.stone
@theasllab
@aslizeyourlife
@aslconnect
@lifethrulensoflele
@russellharvard
And many more Deaf creators!
For more information on ASL classes and websites please visit my resources page!
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