BRIDGEWATER - Whitman teacher Marianne Molinari signs to save lives.
She's a sign language teacher.
While Molinari illustrates the significance of sign language in our everyday lives, she also stresses its link to public safety.
A sign language teacher at the Conant Community Center in Bridgewater, her class is geared mostly toward EMTs and paramedics, with a focus on communication during emergency situations being her biggest concern at hand.
"I do a lot of emergency preparedness," Molinari said. "I train people to sign basic life-saving information, especially EMTs, in addition to sensitivity training."
Though sign language is the third-most-used language in the country, there is a statewide and nationwide lack of interpreters.
This lack of interpreters in turn has an effect on public safety, and is something that Molinari's class helps to bring attention to and hopefully rectify.
"The ASL (American Sign Language) alphabet should be posted in every ambulance, police station, fire station, hospital, and school," Molinari said.
If a person can finger spell and learn to count to 10, they can ask basic life saving information and give or receive any phone number, which is important during life-saving situations.
Molinari's class, a beginner's course, attracts everyone under the sun, from schoolteachers, to nurses, to students to state troopers, for so many different reasons.
Linda Robinson, of Whitman, a nurse who works with special needs children, has found the class so helpful that this is her fourth time taking it.
"A lot of my children learn to communicate through sign language and understand a sign better if they don't have verbal skills," Robinson said. "It's easier for them to grasp the concept of a sign."
Signing helps not only with her deaf children, who wear hearing aides, but it also helps those who are autistic understand her better as well.
Molinari, who received her certification in American Sign Language and Deaf Studies from Northeastern University, has been captivated by the deaf culture ever most of her life.
"When I was a little girl, I did a book report on Helen Keller, and I was just so intrigued by the deaf culture," Molinari said. "I found it so beautiful and interesting."
Embraced by the deaf community in her area, Molinari has been signing since she was 12 years old
"I was very close knit with the deaf community," Molinari said. "They knew I was very interested in their culture, so they took me under their wing which is how I learned."
Aside from the public safety aspect of the class, Molinari also stresses the importance of cultural awareness, which goes hand in hand with signing.
"Cultural awareness is important in learning sign language," Molinari said. "Unfortunately, sign language is misused and misunderstood by the hearing. A lot of people are misguided as to what deafness is and many sign incorrectly."
ASL is different from sign language. ASL is not something that can be written down. It consists of gestures and is based on concept, while sign language is based on vocabulary.
"It's offensive to a deaf person if you sign incorrectly, and it puts up a barrier between the deaf and us," Molinari said. "We are working to change that."
Molinari teaches all over South Eastern Massachusetts, including at the Cardinal Cushing School in Hanover, and various home school groups.
Thirteen-year-old Cyle Beall, of Bridgewater, who is home-schooled, thought the class would be a fun way to get credits toward his curriculum as a language.
"It's not a spoken language," Cyle said. "You have to use your hands, and it's interesting because not many people know it or would think to study it."
For Robinson, learning sign language benefits the whole community.
"The deaf are in our society everyday, it helps to learn to communicate with them," Robinson said. "It makes them feel included in society, rather then offending or secluding them."
Molinari added, "The one thing I hope people take from my class is the understanding that deafness is not a disability," Molinari said.
http://www.tauntongazette.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15980282&BRD=1711&PAG=461&dept_id=24232&rfi=6
She's a sign language teacher.
While Molinari illustrates the significance of sign language in our everyday lives, she also stresses its link to public safety.
A sign language teacher at the Conant Community Center in Bridgewater, her class is geared mostly toward EMTs and paramedics, with a focus on communication during emergency situations being her biggest concern at hand.
"I do a lot of emergency preparedness," Molinari said. "I train people to sign basic life-saving information, especially EMTs, in addition to sensitivity training."
Though sign language is the third-most-used language in the country, there is a statewide and nationwide lack of interpreters.
This lack of interpreters in turn has an effect on public safety, and is something that Molinari's class helps to bring attention to and hopefully rectify.
"The ASL (American Sign Language) alphabet should be posted in every ambulance, police station, fire station, hospital, and school," Molinari said.
If a person can finger spell and learn to count to 10, they can ask basic life saving information and give or receive any phone number, which is important during life-saving situations.
Molinari's class, a beginner's course, attracts everyone under the sun, from schoolteachers, to nurses, to students to state troopers, for so many different reasons.
Linda Robinson, of Whitman, a nurse who works with special needs children, has found the class so helpful that this is her fourth time taking it.
"A lot of my children learn to communicate through sign language and understand a sign better if they don't have verbal skills," Robinson said. "It's easier for them to grasp the concept of a sign."
Signing helps not only with her deaf children, who wear hearing aides, but it also helps those who are autistic understand her better as well.
Molinari, who received her certification in American Sign Language and Deaf Studies from Northeastern University, has been captivated by the deaf culture ever most of her life.
"When I was a little girl, I did a book report on Helen Keller, and I was just so intrigued by the deaf culture," Molinari said. "I found it so beautiful and interesting."
Embraced by the deaf community in her area, Molinari has been signing since she was 12 years old
"I was very close knit with the deaf community," Molinari said. "They knew I was very interested in their culture, so they took me under their wing which is how I learned."
Aside from the public safety aspect of the class, Molinari also stresses the importance of cultural awareness, which goes hand in hand with signing.
"Cultural awareness is important in learning sign language," Molinari said. "Unfortunately, sign language is misused and misunderstood by the hearing. A lot of people are misguided as to what deafness is and many sign incorrectly."
ASL is different from sign language. ASL is not something that can be written down. It consists of gestures and is based on concept, while sign language is based on vocabulary.
"It's offensive to a deaf person if you sign incorrectly, and it puts up a barrier between the deaf and us," Molinari said. "We are working to change that."
Molinari teaches all over South Eastern Massachusetts, including at the Cardinal Cushing School in Hanover, and various home school groups.
Thirteen-year-old Cyle Beall, of Bridgewater, who is home-schooled, thought the class would be a fun way to get credits toward his curriculum as a language.
"It's not a spoken language," Cyle said. "You have to use your hands, and it's interesting because not many people know it or would think to study it."
For Robinson, learning sign language benefits the whole community.
"The deaf are in our society everyday, it helps to learn to communicate with them," Robinson said. "It makes them feel included in society, rather then offending or secluding them."
Molinari added, "The one thing I hope people take from my class is the understanding that deafness is not a disability," Molinari said.
http://www.tauntongazette.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15980282&BRD=1711&PAG=461&dept_id=24232&rfi=6
