Our planet Earth has over 7.5 billion people currently residing on it, and around 466 million of those 7.5 billion are deaf. Individuals who are deaf benefit from others learning sign language as less misunderstandings are formed.

Besides sign language individuals who are deaf could read lips. However, this method of communication is considered faulty since many factors need to be accounted for such as accents, difference in pronunciation and speed at which the other individual is speaking at.

At Los Altos High School, the ASL (American Sign Language) club was created August 20 this year in an effort to educate individuals from our school on the different ways of communication present in the world.

“In ASL club we teach ASL, and we try to advocate for the community who are deaf, have speech impediments, or just have a disability. We wanted an all-inclusive community, and to educate/normalize sign language,” said senior Anahi Reynoso, President of ASL club.

ASL is a second language and the benefits of learning this language are tremendous. If encountered with a person who is hard of hearing, communication with that individual would be no problem as ASL would be used.

There will always be other methods of communication, such as writing in a notepad and communicating through written words. However, it is much easier and efficient to communicate in ASL.

Reynoso said, “Currently we are teaching people how to do sentences, like we know the basics: how to hold a conversation, introduce yourself, and the alphabet. We try to emphasize how expressions are equally as important as your hand signing because it lets people know what you’re actually saying.”

The deaf community is constantly neglected because they are viewed differently. In an effort to spread awareness individuals have to recognize these problems and try to find ways to stop it.

Communicating in ASL is the solution as it also portrays a deep level of effort and care from individuals who do not require it to communicate.

To make our society a progressive understanding place we need to recognize this major disability and put in the effort to change the world into an all-inclusive place.

“We want everybody to understand how beneficial this is in bringing the community together. Like just imagine how nice it would feel if you encounter someone, a hearing person, who signs to you. They don’t have to be good at it, they just have to put in the effort,” said Reynoso.