Quiet: what so many people cannot wait for after a day of honking traffic horns, the ringing of office landlines, or maybe the 24-hour crying of a newborn baby. Imagine being in the beautiful world without ever hearing your own voice.
Around six million Americans are severely deaf, according to the National Center for Health Statistics of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The deaf community has an amazingly deep culture.
Joanne Coffin-Langdon has taught her knowledge of American Sign Language (ASL) at UMD for 14 years. Being a part of the deaf culture herself, she brings her experience and passion for sign language to the Duluth community on a daily basis.
“The goal for my students is to push themselves to do something that might not come easy to them,” Coffin-Langdon said, “to be able to demonstrate to me and their peers how much they have learned since entering into the deaf studies program.”
Coffin-Langdon is not profoundly deaf, but she faces challenges in her everyday hearing, such as following conversation and hearing a phone ring. But during our conversation, I would not have known she was deaf because of how well she spoke.
A bright, flashing light suddenly flared on her phone with the buzz of a vibration. It then occurred to me how many little things people take for granted, yet how inspiring it is that the only difference between us in our daily lives is how she goes about her life.
To the deaf community, deafness is not a disability. Yes, people who are deaf face struggles in their everyday lives, but they also consider themselves a part of a completely different culture.
According to the Minnesota Department of Human Services, as many as 625,000 Minnesotans are “hard of hearing,” which means hearing loss affects a person’s speech and language, but hearing aids and other listening devices can assist them.
People who are deaf depend more so on visual communication, such as writing and signing. In Minnesota, as many as 11,700 people are classified as deaf.
Kelsey Ernste is a senior at UMD minoring in ASL. She first joined the program because she has a family member who is deaf.
“I want people to understand that it is more than a language, but an entire community,” Ernste said.
The UMD ASL program has been striving to teach the UMD and Duluth community about deafness in the modern world. During the upcoming Nov. 8 UMD football game, ASL students will present the National Anthem to raise awareness of deaf culture.