It's a misconception and they still go through it now that people think that sign language is not a real language... that it is not a spoken language.
But it is a real language. And that is part of why deaf people feel like there is nothing wrong with them.
They can't hear but that only affects their ability to communicate
and they have a language, so there is nothing to fix.
Naiyah Thompson's older sister was born deaf.
She grew up with a cochlear implant, which is a surgically implanted electric device that provides a sense of sound to someone who is deaf.
The two of them made it their mission to learn sign language together.
We've talked about like learning sign language like as I was growing up but never really went to classes or really got in to it.
Then when I went off to college, me and her decided that we would both learn sign language together.
So I started taking sign language classes here and she started taking them at home.
Deeply interested in American Sign Language and the deaf culture, Naiyah decided to pursue a deaf studies minor.
Learning about what they had to go through, oralism before people accepted sign language as like an actual language
they would force deaf kids to go to schools where you're trying to teach them how to speak
which is incredibly difficult because you are trying to teach them sounds they can't hear.
Just learning about all of the struggles they went through and how far the community has come
and just how much farther they need to go just to get basic education in a way that they can comprehend it, it's been really interesting.
Naiyah, along with a few of her teammates, decided to combine two of her interests
by creating the Women's Basketball American Sign Language Night by collaborating with the School of Education's Programs in Deaf Studies.
This is now the second consecutive year the team has hosted the event
to bring awareness around disabilities
and celebrate diversity and inclusion of the university.
Our teacher Bruce, he loves basketball, like used to play. We would always talk about it with him in class.
When you're taking ASL you have to go to a deaf event every semester and then realized that would be so cool
if you guys could just come to a game and we can make that a deaf event.
There were so many people and you don't realize how big the deaf studies program is.
It was all of the ASL classes. It was ASL classes from other schools.
It was people from the deaf community so we had a lot of them come out.
It was really, really fun!
Naiyah Thompson is a really tremendous athlete. She's a great student.
I think she brings a contagious personality. I think she's very smart
and I know that her teammates have a lot of respect for her so whatever she's probably in to, her teammates are going to gravitate towards to.
They see her excitement around it. It's personal to her.
So I think they buy in to that and it is something for them to rally behind, lifting her up, too.
In the future, Naiyah is in pursuit of continuing to make a difference in the deaf community in an extraordinary way.
I'm pre-med so I'm trying to be a doctor.
I've been leaning more towards family medicine recently.
Because I know ASL and I know more about the deaf community,
I think it would be really good, really interesting to work in an area that serves the deaf community.
Having a physician that you can communicate with, without having an interpreter or
trying to figure out some way to tell them what's wrong with you would be really, really good for them.
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