MACON, Ga. — Over 11 million Americans are living with some form of a hearing impairment according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Some of them exclusively use sign language.
A Macon high school is aiming for their students to fill the language gap by giving them the option to learn American Sign Language (ASL), while learning about the life and culture of the people who must use it to communicate.
Mount de Sales student Ali Bremner never thought of ASL as a world language option at school but when it was offered she had to take the opportunity.
"I thought it was a wonderful choice. I have dyslexia and it's really difficult for me to take another language that focuses on spelling like Spanish or French, but with ASL, it's more about not learning to spell but learning to sign," she said.
As much as the program is about learning a language it is also about understanding others.
"It's important that our students know how to connect with all different types of people. This is one way they can do that to be able to learn their language," Upper School Division Head at Mount de Sales Emily Brown said.
Not only do students learn ASL, but also about deaf culture and how they are impacted by the world.
"They have persevered and they are a wonderful community and I am glad to be an ally of it," Bremner said.
Students so far, find the program helpful.
"As these students are learning ASL they are able to use it immediately. In fact one of our students recently was able to speak with a native deaf signer while she was at work," Brown said.
This year is the first year they have offered ASL at the school.
"I've learned more in this class than I've learned in the past languages I've taken in high school," Bremner said.
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