Asl in schools

aweet_princess198925

aweet_princess198925

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So I decided to start a voting poll on getting ASL in schools as a high school electives. Just like they have French Spanish German and Latin why have ASL. Being bilingual is good when it comes to getting jobs where you can have people from different cultures come into your business. The most common language to be bilingual in Spanish because is a lot of Spanish people in the US that need to be able to communicate. So why not have the same accommodations for someone who is deaf or HoH.

I am hard of hearing based on accident that I had when I was 21 years old and now that I am profoundly deaf in one ear and moderate to sever in the other ear and now I have to learn ASL to communicate at a late age.

When I used to work in fast food before the military whenever we would have a deaf person coming in we just gave them a pen and paper to take their order but when a Spanish person came in we just spoke Spanish so why not have the ability to speak to a deaf person in their language as well.

My sister took 4 years of Latin and my best friend took 4 years of French and neither of them can use their language because my friend doesn't even know a French-speaking person nor has ever been to France.

So do you think Asl should be added to the high school foreign language ?
 
Many high schools already do offer ASL as part of their foreign language curriculum. It's not new.
 
It's probably need-based as far as the high schools go. If a high school is very rural, not as many kids are likely to take ASL classes if they won't use it outside of school.

Colleges .. it's not a requirement. If someone wants to take ASL, they will just have to search for the college closest to them. Same as anyone has to search for the right college for whatever major they pick.
 
But in the US what is the difference between French Spanish German Latin and ASL if we all live here America. How often do you meet someone on the street that only speaks German. Same as any other language you never know when you're going to need it. I was never expecting to lose any of my hearing.
 
Spanish is fast becoming the second language here in the U.S.

As for the other languages such as French, German, Latin, etc. they can come in handy for future jobs (translators at your local/state world centers or overseas, etc.) whereas for ASL, you're pretty much limited to using it on a communicating basis or an interpreting field, and not as many people are interested in that.
 
Well, I signed it in the affirmative, anyway......can't hurt, yanno?
 
AlleyCat said:
Spanish is fast becoming the second language here in the U.S.

As for the other languages such as French, German, Latin, etc. they can come in handy for future jobs (translators at your local/state world centers or overseas, etc.) whereas for ASL, you're pretty much limited to using it on a communicating basis or an interpreting field, and not as many people are interested in that.
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I don't think that is true since me for example I had a brain injury that cause my hearing loss so accidents can cause deafness. Hearing people having deaf babies, fast food places, stores/malls. Deaf people are around more than hearing people think but if they can't communicate with them they probably would never no it. Can't tell the future so hearies would never no if they need it. If a couple that can hear give birth to a deaf baby but they have no familiarization with Asl they are most liking going to look at a CI or they just may learn Asl. But a lot of hearies think a CI with fix deafness which isn't true and they may not have their child be apart of the deaf world meaning they won't even no Asl.
 
My niece took ASL class in high school when she was in sophomore. She's a senior now.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
How can 'American' Sign Language be a foreign language ???
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It's just terminology. It's just part of the whole learning a second language requirement for graduation. Maybe later they'll come up with a new term instead of "foreign".
 
aweet_princess198925 said:
I don't think that is true since me for example I had a brain injury that cause my hearing loss so accidents can cause deafness. Hearing people having deaf babies, fast food places, stores/malls. Deaf people are around more than hearing people think but if they can't communicate with them they probably would never no it. Can't tell the future so hearies would never no if they need it. If a couple that can hear give birth to a deaf baby but they have no familiarization with Asl they are most liking going to look at a CI or they just may learn Asl. But a lot of hearies think a CI with fix deafness which isn't true and they may not have their child be apart of the deaf world meaning they won't even no Asl.
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I understand your deafness came later in life. So, if you had taken ASL in high school before you became deaf, where would you have used it outside the classroom? You could not have foreseen that you would have had a brain injury.
 
AlleyCat said:
I understand your deafness came later in life. So, if you had taken ASL in high school before you became deaf, where would you have used it outside the classroom? You could not have foreseen that you would have had a brain injury.
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Exactly my point how would I have known. And I have had jobs where it is useful. Such as a police officer or EMT would find it useful. And my friend was just telling me how there aren't many deaf people in the US and I told him how would he know who is deaf. If a deaf person knows you can't communicate with them how would you know. It's not like I would just walk up to someone and try and let them no I'm deaf if I have no reason to talk to them. I'm sure if more people knew the culture and how to communicate deafies and hearies wouldn't be so separated.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
How can 'American' Sign Language be a foreign language ???
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Anything that is foreign is something that is not familiar to you. When I went to Haiti or when I went to France I was known as a foreigner. Or when a baby swallow something or a stick something up there nose the doctor says they have a foreign object in their stomach or in their nose.
 
aweet_princess198925 said:
Exactly my point how would I have known. And I have had jobs where it is useful. Such as a police officer or EMT would find it useful. And my friend was just telling me how there aren't many deaf people in the US and I told him how would he know who is deaf. If a deaf person knows you can't communicate with them how would you know. It's not like I would just walk up to someone and try and let them no I'm deaf if I have no reason to talk to them. I'm sure if more people knew the culture and how to communicate deafies and hearies wouldn't be so separated.
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But if you didn't know you would be using it, how are you expected to retain what ASL you learned? Most don't, after a period of time of non-use. I think you are looking to argue just for the sake of arguing. There is a reason ASL is not offered everywhere.
 
aweet_princess198925 said:
Exactly my point how would I have known. And I have had jobs where it is useful. Such as a police officer or EMT would find it useful. And my friend was just telling me how there aren't many deaf people in the US and I told him how would he know who is deaf. If a deaf person knows you can't communicate with them how would you know. It's not like I would just walk up to someone and try and let them no I'm deaf if I have no reason to talk to them. I'm sure if more people knew the culture and how to communicate deafies and hearies wouldn't be so separated.
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From Gallaudet. Your friend is absolutely correct.

Of the estimated 20 million persons with hearing impairment in the U.S., how many are considered to be deaf?

Since there is no legal definition of deafness comparable to the legal definition of blindness, 'deaf' and 'deafness' can have a variety of meanings. Table 2 gives the prevalence of deafness based on three possible descriptions. For example, if deafness is described as the "inability to hear and understand any speech," there are approximately 550 thousand deaf persons in the U.S. (1/4 of one percent of the U.S. population).
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http://research.gallaudet.edu/Demographics/factsheet.php
 
It is offered in 47 schools in the US and that's high school is only. Colleges sometimes have it but it is very rare and I'm not arguing no one on here is arguing. And its the same difference for learning French German and Latin know when even speaks Latin and often is it to go walk up to somebody on the sidewalk the start speaking in German.
 
But it says 20 million of the hearing-impaired people they only counted 550,000 people as being death so they did not include in that 1/4 of people being heard of hearing people so we could not say that there is only 550,000 deaf people in the US. Meaning it can be 2 million people that are hard of hearing and 550,000 people that are deaf but if you add all that together maybe all of those people is a combination need to know ASL.
 
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