A Center For The Deaf In The Making
The Future Sign Language Communication Center
I woke up this morning with a picture in my mind of the future "Sign Language Communication Center". It was a beautiful center, a building, where the hearing families of the deaf could come to learn sign language- to be able to communicate with their deaf children in ASL (or the sign language of their own country). The center was also a place that provided jobs for the deaf as teachers, artists, or creators of books and DVDs in ASL to help the children receive a fuller educational opportunity within their own language structure. Materials, books and DVDs, were available also, for a small donation to cover printing costs, or for free to those who could not afford them.
Visual Books for Libraries
There would be a filming studio within the center, run by the deaf, that produces DVDs in ASL on all levels. The center would provide copies of all these materials to the local libraries, and help to establish a "Visual Book" section in each library-- for the deaf and handicapped that use ASL, or for those who wish to learn it. Eventually, our goal as a center would be to translate and create thousands of books in ASL, and provide these "Visual Books" throughout every library in our country, so the deaf and all that use sign language, could have a fuller educational opportunity and the joy of learning and reading books in their own language.
This is my vision of this future center--and I believe that anything is possible!