can still remember what it felt like to start learning American Sign Language as a toddler.
鈥淢y world became much clearer and more colorful,鈥� Geeslin said through an ASL interpreter. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 black and white anymore.鈥�
Sign language opened up opportunities for Geeslin. When he was 3 years old, he enrolled at . After earning his bachelor鈥檚, master鈥檚 and doctorate degrees, Geeslin served as superintendent there until .
Now, though, Geeslin and other prominent members of the local Deaf community are concerned that a new master鈥檚 program at Butler University will result in fewer deaf kids learning to sign.
will train future educators how to teach speaking and listening to deaf children, particularly kids who have cochlear implants or use other hearing technology. The new program is funded through .
But community members are upset that Butler鈥檚 curriculum only includes one ASL class, that teaches basic signs and 鈥渟tories, poems and readings that exist in Deaf culture.鈥�
, director of the new Butler program, told Mirror Indy that the degree is designed to train teachers who can give children and families options, and that the curriculum鈥檚 focus on oral and spoken language does not prevent people from learning ASL separately.
鈥淭here will be deaf children who sign as their primary way of communicating and connecting with others, and there are deaf children who use hearing technology and use the spoken languages of their family鈥檚 homes and hearts,鈥� Voss told Mirror Indy. 鈥淲e need a workforce that can meet all of those needs.鈥�
on the best way to educate deaf kids 鈥� whether that be through , or a . What is clear, though, is deaf children are far more likely than hearing children to experience . That鈥檚 a communication disorder that develops when kids don鈥檛 have consistent access to a language 鈥� whether ASL or English 鈥� as babies and toddlers.
that teaching deaf children sign language helps them communicate naturally, even if they will eventually develop the ability to speak or hear using hearing aids or a cochlear implant.
Butler鈥檚 program, which launches this fall, comes amid changes to sign language programs at Indiana colleges. without a certain number of graduates, IU Indianapolis eliminated its and is no longer accepting new students. , similarly, is required to merge with other degrees before next school year.
After Butler announced the program in mid-January, to ask that the university add more ASL classes to the curriculum. was organized by the .
鈥淪ome (deaf people) speak better than they sign, some sign better than they speak,鈥� Geoffrey Bignell, director of advocacy for Indiana Association of the Deaf, said through an interpreter. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very diverse, so providing everything is best, rather than limiting a professional who is going to be working in this environment.鈥�
ASL as language, culture
Christine Multra Kraft became deaf when she was 4 years old.
Because she had already learned to speak English, Kraft鈥檚 parents encouraged her to keep that skill as the family adjusted. But she struggled 鈥� until she started signing.
鈥淚 picked it up so quickly,鈥� Kraft said through an ASL interpreter. 鈥淚 was able to be back to myself.鈥�
So when Kraft saw that Butler鈥檚 program would focus solely on spoken language, she was upset at what she saw as an attempt to force kids to speak rather than learn a language that comes more naturally to them.
鈥淭hat perspective out there is that it鈥檚 like, oh, they need to be fixed,鈥� Kraft said. 鈥淪ign language, there鈥檚 no failure there. It鈥檚 helping people grow as an individual, as a person.鈥�
For many deaf people, though, there鈥檚 a fear that spoken language programs are repeating history. , sign language was banned in many Deaf schools, and children were required to attempt to speak and read lips.
This mindset started to shift , when as a language. But an that banned sign language was not officially .
So, when Bonnie Conner heard about Butler鈥檚 new program, her thought was 鈥� 鈥渘ot again.鈥� While she鈥檚 not against deaf people learning to speak, she鈥檚 upset that future teachers of the deaf wouldn鈥檛 be required to learn ASL.
鈥淲hy don鈥檛 hearing people listen to deaf people?鈥� Bonnie Conner, who is chair of Vincennes鈥� ASL and Deaf culture program, asked through an interpreter. 鈥淲hy don鈥檛 they listen to what they already know, their experiences? How can hearing people ever live in our shoes?
鈥淭hey can鈥檛. They never will, so at least they could understand our experiences and what we know from our experience.鈥�
Access to spoken language
As with the research, parents too are often split on whether teaching sign or spoken language to their deaf children is the correct approach.
Perhaps that鈥檚 unsurprising, given that over are born to hearing parents. According to a from Gallaudet University, the nation鈥檚 preeminent Deaf college, less than a quarter of families with deaf children regularly use sign language at home.
Brooklyn Lowery, whose 7-year-old daughter Salem is deaf, is happy more future teachers will be trained to help kids listen and speak. While Lowery said she鈥檇 be supportive if her daughter wants to learn more ASL, she鈥檚 excelling at her IPS school now.
Giving families the option to choose, Lowery thinks, is important.
鈥淢ost people have no idea until they see her hearing aids that she has any difficulty at all hearing what鈥檚 going on around her,鈥� Lowery said. 鈥淪he just adapted beautifully to that situation.鈥�
The new program at Butler is one of just five Deaf education programs in the country with a focus on spoken language, . The program is a continuation of a long-running program at Fontbonne University near St. Louis, .
In response to concerns from the Deaf community regarding sign language, Voss told Mirror Indy that as a foreign language for undergraduate students and is adding , which will also be launching in the fall. These classes won鈥檛 be part of the master鈥檚 program, though.
Rather, Voss said, the new degree curriculum will help students who want to pursue a career specifically in helping deaf kids learn listening and speaking skills.
鈥淚 think there are some people that would suggest every practitioner in our field needs to be able to do all the things,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 pragmatically and practically think that there is a space for specialization.鈥�
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Claire Rafford covers higher education for Mirror Indy in partnership with Open Campus
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This story was originally published by and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
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