In 2019, Dylan Lang formed the deaf Devils, a student organization that aims to help build community between deaf and hearing students by providing opportunities to learn from one another.
The pandemic hasn’t stopped them. The club now meets virtually twice a week to play games and educate each other on topics related to American Sign Language and the deaf community.
“At the start of this semester we became the first club to provide full accommodations for our deaf members,” said Lang, who is hard of hearing. This means that the club offers full captioning of virtual meetings, and interpretation support.
Vice President of deaf Devils, Eryk Mejia joined the club because it provided an environment for deaf and hearing individuals to socialize and facilitate discussions related to the deaf community.
Mejia, who is deaf, said the club has not only been fun, but has had a positive impact on his mental health.
“This club has changed my life by opening barriers for me to communicate with deaf people within the university and to contribute to a sense of belonging,” Mejia said.
The lowercase ‘d’ is an intentional gesture of inclusivity, said Mejia. “It identifies individuals who aren’t interwoven within the fabric of the Deaf community, but they also may not necessarily be completely incorporated within the hearing world,” he said
According to Mejia, the uppercase Deaf signals those who are “completely immersed within the deaf community and its culture,” while the lowercase deaf, “shows that we are not strictly a Deaf club, but a club that is accepting of all types of deaf and hearing individuals.”
While the club is thriving in a virtual environment, some members of the deaf community are struggling to communicate with each other, and those outside their community in public spaces, where masking is required.
Lang, who has lost 90% of his hearing, learned sign language almost three years ago, and practices as much as he can. Lip reading and subtle facial inflections are critically important parts of communication for deaf and hard of hearing people, according to Lang.
“Masks are a barrier for people with any kind of hearing loss,” he said. Lang believes that more people, deaf and hearing, should adopt clear masks, to help people with hearing loss communicate more easily.
Lang has cochlear implants, so he is able to communicate somewhat with masks, but often has difficulty understanding the full context of what is being communicated, which makes things difficult he said.
“Sometimes it can be hard and frustrating, especially when the communicating individual is not patient with us,” he said.
Virtual classes, however, have been going well for Lang. He said that it helps that all his professors are teaching from home, making it possible for him to read lips.
But according to Lindsey Patterson, a sign language instructor at ASU, virtual learning isn’t always compatible with American Sign Language, which can pose problems for the nearly 200 ASU students registered as deaf or hard of hearing with the Student Accessibility and Inclusive Learning Services.
“Sign language is like an interactive language and that’s the beauty of it,” said Patterson. While she acknowledges that virtual learning is better than in-person learning with masks, “It’s definitely hard.”
Contact the reporter at bnsteel1@asu.edu.
