Audrey Arndt
New Member
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2014
- Messages
- 18
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Hello! My name is Audrey Arndt, I'm 33 years old, and I live in Nashville, TN. Currently, I'm in the interpreter training program at Nashville State Community College. The program is the only official interpreter training program in all of west and middle Tennessee, but it's being shut down. When the last of the students in the program graduate, the program will officially be over. I'm really sad about that. Currently, I'm in ASL 4 and Sign-to-Voice I. Afterthought his semester, I need to take Interpreting 1 & 2 and Sign-to-Voice 2 to graduate with an associates degree. After that, I want to go to a 4-year college. I think Gallaudet would help make me the best interpreter that I can possibly be, so that is an option. I work very hard to learn the language and the Deaf community means a lot to me.
Many Deaf ask me why I got interested in learning ASL. I don't have any family members who are Deaf and I didn't have any Deaf friends before I started ASL 1. For my final semester of earning an Associates Degree in computer science, I saw that ASL 1 was offered. After going to my first event, I fell in love with the people and the culture. There's more to it than that, though. I'm transgendered (I was born a boy, now I'm a girl) and I've suffered through humiliation, discrimination, and persecution just for being who I am. It sucks. When I started getting involved in the Deaf community, I saw how awful Deaf were treated by hearing people and it reminded me a lot of the pain and anguish that I have felt. So, I've used that as motivation to try to educate hearing people as best as I can. I encourage everyone I meet to learn ASL, I correct people when they do or say ignorant things (like that ASL isn't a real language ), and I continually try to educate myself so that I better understand the differences in culture and perception between hearing and Deaf. Really, I just want to see Deaf treated as equally as everyone else and treated like human beings.
Anyway, I hope you all don't mind that I'm here to read, comment, and contribute to the conversations.
~ Audrey
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Many Deaf ask me why I got interested in learning ASL. I don't have any family members who are Deaf and I didn't have any Deaf friends before I started ASL 1. For my final semester of earning an Associates Degree in computer science, I saw that ASL 1 was offered. After going to my first event, I fell in love with the people and the culture. There's more to it than that, though. I'm transgendered (I was born a boy, now I'm a girl) and I've suffered through humiliation, discrimination, and persecution just for being who I am. It sucks. When I started getting involved in the Deaf community, I saw how awful Deaf were treated by hearing people and it reminded me a lot of the pain and anguish that I have felt. So, I've used that as motivation to try to educate hearing people as best as I can. I encourage everyone I meet to learn ASL, I correct people when they do or say ignorant things (like that ASL isn't a real language ), and I continually try to educate myself so that I better understand the differences in culture and perception between hearing and Deaf. Really, I just want to see Deaf treated as equally as everyone else and treated like human beings.
Anyway, I hope you all don't mind that I'm here to read, comment, and contribute to the conversations.
~ Audrey
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
to AllDeaf Forum. Just enjoy reading and posting here. See you around here. I am glad you are having fun. 
