QUIET COMMUNICATORS: Group finds new way to speak

DANIEL SHIREY

Whitney Triplett (standing), co-secretary of Hear My Hands and senior science education major, practices sign language with the rest of the group at the meeting.

DANIEL SHIREY

Triplett signs during the group's meeting Monday.

Most students cleared out of the student organizations office Monday evening, but one corner of people remained, quietly conversing. Arms and hands moving precisely through the air, the silence was broken by laughter.

Hear My Hands at UGA is a student group dedicated to exploring, promoting and educating students about American Sign Language. Members of the group also discuss the acceptance of Deaf culture, or a common belief that deafness is a distinct experience rather than a disability.

“I’m a lot like normal students,” said Kevin Rance, a sophomore animal science major from Fayetteville who is president of the organization.

Rance was diagnosed as deaf when he was seven months old.

He uses note takers and sign language interpreters in all of his classes but physical education and relies heavily on reading lips to communicate with others who do not know ASL. Rance learned sign language and how to speak as a child.

“It’s hard to do,” Rance said. “Sign language doesn’t convey the whole picture of what you want to say sometimes.”

Alongside Rance, about 40 other University students are members of Hear My Hands. The group consists of students who want to learn more about ASL, regardless if they are deaf or hard of hearing, a term used to describe a decrease in the ability to detect or discern sounds.

The majority of the group is not deaf or hard of hearing, and Rance said being a part of the Deaf community does not necessarily mean a person has to be deaf. People who consider themselves a part of the Deaf culture share a common goal and sense of community, he said.

Many of the group’s members take ASL classes and hope to use sign language someday in their professions.

“Usually my eyes hurt, especially during tests when I have to look at the professor for over an hour,” said Andrew Nelson, a junior from Jonesboro and vice president of the group.

Nelson said he studies for his ASL tests by video taping himself while signing, practicing with a partner or in the mirror.

Nelson, who is not deaf or hard of hearing, said he became interested in learning sign language from being exposed to it at a learning annex in middle school.

“My old roommate found out about it, and we started performing signs together,” said Whitney Triplett, one of the group’s secretaries. “I thought, ‘Wow, this is really interesting.’”

Triplett, a senior science education major from Stone Mountain, has taken a full year of ASL and is considering obtaining certification as an ASL interpreter in the future.

Asia Bartlett, a sophomore special education major from Columbia, Mo., said her position as executive director for Autism at UGA inspired her to learn ASL. Because some children diagnosed with autism tend to have lower verbal skills, ASL provides a better way to teach them at times, Bartlett said.

Unlike spoken English, American Sign Language is different from British Sign Language and Australian Sign Language. Members of Hear My Hands said the three are incompatible but similar in some ways.

Properly signing and understanding sign language requires the use of facial expressions, mouthing words and movements of the entire body.

With 38 deaf and hard of hearing students at the University, Rance said some students don’t want other people to know about their condition.

“Sometimes people are nervous to come up to me because they don’t think I’m sociable,” Rance said. “People should just ask. People don’t know that I can read lips. They think, ‘How do I talk to him? How can I communicate with him?’”

Rance said others being impatient often bothers deaf people or those who are hard of hearing.

“Look at [deaf] people in the eyes and speak clearly,” he said. “Some people hate it when the person they are speaking to gets frustrated and says, ‘Nevermind.’”

Rance said sometimes people have to slow down or repeat what they’re saying for him to understand.

Despite sometimes requesting people to slow down, Nelson said deaf people are often friendly and eager to meet new people. Contrary to societal norms, staring or walking through people’s conversations is not considered rude, he said.

“Deaf people are open to talking,” Nelson said. “It’s not rude or frowned upon to strike up conversations with strangers.”