Reflection On Deaf Americans

I attended a Starbucks ASL chat with Amanda Nguyen on the 2nd of December 2016 in Vancouver, Washington. The two Deaf people that we met and talked to were named Cliff and Janice. Cliff went Deaf in the seventh grade due to an accident. He has been married for 30 years and lived in the East Mountains. He brought his fourth daughter, Priscilla, with him. Priscilla was hearing and had just gotten back from a Christmas bazaar. We talked about where he grew up and his high school experiences. Janice was born Deaf and learned ASL at a residential Deaf school in Idaho. She told us that she had been married for 25 years. We talked to Janice about how she learned ASL and what we are learning in our ASL class. We talked to two sophomores and one freshman who came in a group from Skyline High School in Washington. Their names were Igor, Jaden, and Athena. Amanda and I talked to them about what we thought of the Starbucks chat and their ASL class. We also met a woman named Katie who is an interpreter and was there with her daughter. We talked to Katie about how she became an interpreter and her experiences. I observed that the Deaf community is very eager to talk to

It helped me learn more about the Deaf community and meet new people that I never would have met before. At first I was very nervous to start conversations, but once I started communicating with people, I did not want to leave because I enjoyed it so much. I was also nervous that I would say the wrong thing or that I would annoy someone by asking them to repeat themselves or ask what the sign is for a certain word in an environment where a majority of the people signed. Those ideas went away as soon as I got into the moment and was communicating more. There were other high school students there who were also just learning and helped me feel less nervous. Overall, I had a very positive experience. Everyone was so welcoming, patient, and kind. I did not expect to enjoy it so