While wearing masks can feel uncomfortable or inconvenient for some, it can be a barrier for the deaf community.
“Not being able to read people’s lips is hard, especially for the deaf and hard of hearing,” said Vice President of Bradley’s the American Sign Language Club Alexi Corp, a junior early childhood education major. “And if there are a lot of people in an area, it’s hard to focus on one conversation.”
Since most clubs and organizations are only allowed to meet online, ASL has held its meeting to teach others American Sign Language via Zoom.
“When we teach, it is a little bit harder because there is sometimes a delay,” Kaitlin Berger, the club’s president and junior music and entertainment major, said. “And sign language is a lot of body language, so it can be difficult to tell what the expression may be.”
Corp said the ASL Club has not been able to host any events in person this year because of COVID-19 restrictions.
“We normally do silent suppers [where] we interact with the deaf community,” Corp said. “We would go to dinner with them. But with COVID-19, we have only been able to do meetings.”
Sign language interpreters are an essential part of the deaf and hard of hearing community, but this year’s presidential election debate noticeably did not feature an interpreter.
“Thinking about it, it does not seem fair for the deaf,” Berger said. “They should have definitely had one. I guess they were able to use captions to read from. But I feel like it’s easier for deaf or hard of hearing [individuals] to see the actual signs be used and feel more included.”
Berger also mentioned the interpreter for Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Micheal Albert, has received more of a spotlight since the pandemic began, spreading awareness for the hard of hearing and speaking community.
“He spoke about it and he does not want it to be just about him, he wants it to be about spreading awareness and for ASL,” Berger said.
ASL meets on Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. The link for the Zoom meeting can be found here. Any questions can be forwarded to bradleysignlanguage@gmail.com.
