ASL Representation – Kristy Roschke

I am a part of the hearing community and I am a student learning ASL, so I do not know everything about Deaf Culture. This blog is my freedom of expression and I only wish the same for the Deaf Community as well.

This week, I am writing about media sources I found while searching the web and other platforms. I compiled a list of six different sources that I think you all would like!

Vlog- ASL Stew

ASL Stew is a YouTube vlogging account ran by a husband and wife team. With over 16 thousands subscribers on YouTube alone, this couple uses their channel to advocate for Deaf education, culture and awareness. What I love most about this channel is that not only do they share inspiring and information content, they also share hilarious videos about some of the complications coming from one partner hearing and the other being hard of hearing.

Instagram – Equal Access Resources (@EqualAccess)

@EqualAccess is an account founded and ran by Brent Tracy. As a CODA (Child of a Deaf Adult) his first language is actually ASL. Due to this, he shares a truly unique perspective into the more particular and special aspects of ASL like the grammar as well as its quirks. His content is helpful, informative and gives a perspective one does not usually have access to when learning ASL.

News Source – Sign 1 News

Sign 1 News is an ASL based news broadcast powered by CNN. Like any televised news source there are photos, videos and more the difference being the anchor is signing. While this source does not only focus on deaf news it provides a unique experience and perspective into how the Deaf community and others are able to consume news in an accessible way. Additionally, each video broadcast uploaded includes a transcript below. Personally, I have been able to use these to quiz myself and practice my own understanding of ASL and feel beyond consuming news, it serves as a language enhancing tool for myself and others.

Image result for sign 1 news

Huff Post – American Sign Language Section

While the Huff Post covers various communities news, pop culture and more, they have beens sure to include that of the Deaf community as well. On their website they have an entire page dedicated to sharing only stories on the Deaf Community, its culture and more. Checking in here is a great way to ensure the news you consume surround the people and the culture extends past nightly news-like topics and extends to include the arts, celebrities, intersectional news and more.

Instagram – Matt Maxey @maxeymaxey

Matt Maxey is another Instagram account I came across in my research that connect ASL to other aspects of culture. He is a hard-of-hearing music lover who has made it his life work to unite ASL and Hip Hop Music. He has and continues to interpret concerts and awards shows such as seen on MTV. On his page he shares his journey and truly embraces all aspects of his identity including both his abilities and passion for music. As someone who is interested in interpreting at music and cultural events he is particularly inspiring.

Instagram – Stacey Abrams

Stacy Abrams is a deaf woman who has dedicated a lot of her adult life supporting and connecting hearing communities with Deaf communities. In starting the #WhyISign campaign, she has continued to include videos of ASL (and other forms of sign language) users from around the globe connecting many on this online platform. Her account is particularly special in that she includes the experiences of a vast variety of folks including parents, CODA’s, students (both hearing and Deaf), professionals and celebrities.

Let me know your thoughts which you found the most interesting.

To begin this week’s post, I want to make sure that everyone reading this knows I am a part of the hearing community and that I am only a student learning ASL. This blog is my freedom of expression and I only wish the same for the Deaf Community as well.

This week I decided to study news or opinion/analysis articles and connect and elaborate on my previous ideas. Below I am putting two categories: news and opinion.

News:

https://www.google.com/search?q=sean+berdy&client=safari&rls=en&sxsrf=ACYBGNSeX7Gb2E8dDf-IUADLADqQNdyyGA:1567919674949&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=tsJOC8H5aV5RbM%253A%252CDh7m_7-z1fuDqM%252C%252Fm%252F0gytgrt&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kSS-eXm8E8WGf2Ju22JPxvs_sTGoQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjOw4v6u8DkAhU2CjQIHRKYBFcQ_B0wHHoECAkQAw#imgrc=tsJOC8H5aV5RbM: — Sean Berdy (via Google Images)

When reading the first article, I thought it would have been slightly more opinion-based, but as I read further it talks to how he feels and about how people in the Community are not to be treated like aliens, but like humans because we all go through this life one day at a time.

The second article, while I found a little difficult to read because of how many different topics were in the post, however, I did thoroughly enjoy reading it and how the author connected other similar occurrences in Hollywood to how the equal representation movement should also stretch to the Deaf Community as well.

Opinion:

UC Santa Cruz’s, “Student Pushes for Authentic Representation of Deaf Community” **The video related to this link can be found at the bottom of the post. I definitely recommend viewing as it is informative and can shed a light on some Deaf Community do’s and don’t’s.
Verywell Health, Melissa Karp Aud, “Ways Deaf and Hearing Culture Are Different“

If you go to my YouTube history, you’ll find that I watch many ASL videos (mostly song interpretation). I have seen Chrissy Marshall’s videos before. Because I already had a connection between the video creator and the article I felt that it was challenging to distinguish it from opinion and news. I decided on opinion because the lists that she provides is in the ASL community and not so much universal. When detailing the differences in the Deaf Community vs. the ASL Community, there will always be minor differences in how the Community views themselves individually.

Finally, the reason I chose this last article to be opinion-based was because Melissa Karp studies the Deaf Culture, and while her knowledge in the field is credible, I felt that because of the post’s length, there just was not much to go on. I felt that it was more of a top 10 tips than something where there is hundreds of participants in a quantitative study.

When writing this post, I felt it was somewhat difficult determining if some of these articles were news or opinion because the two opinion articles come from either people in the Deaf Community or they are a medically-certified audiologist. Where as the two news sources were done taking more of an analytical approach so I feel that depending on viewpoints, the news and opinions can vary depending on who is believed to be the “credible source”.

**Dos and Don’ts of Interacting with the Deaf Community [CC]