Sign language is such a pretty language – even as beautiful as it is, it still can be quite a challenge to learn it and communicate well with it. To that end, this past week HLAA-KC provided an exploratory workshop on ASL or “American Sign Language” to gauge the level of interest in providing sign language classes. The outcome was that a large number of people reserved a seat and showed up on a Thursday evening at the Overland Park Central Library, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm.

There were about 22 people who attended the class – not bad! Sarah Mosher and Alex Vetor from HLAA started off by giving an introduction to what ASL is, and then proceeded to teach the ABCs then some basic signs like “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” “why,” and “how.” Every 20 or so minutes, the class would practice communicating to each other while Sarah and Alex observed, assisted with corrections, or answered questions about proper usage. After the class had a good grasp of the signs, then more were added. The class culminated in a game of “phone tree” where groups of 5 were split up and had to sign a message from the instructor in a line from beginning to end. The person at the end had to sign the message correctly or answer the question in the message.

In all, it was a fun night and it sounded like a lot of people enjoyed the class. HLAAKC will evaluate if we will have future sign language classes and let the community know. Thank you all for coming!

A new TV show airing on ABC Family on Tuesdays at 7pm is about a couple of teen girls, one who is deaf, discover they were switched at birth due to a hospital error.   Their families struggle to get to know each other as the families are from two different worlds.

“Switched at Birth” debuted last summer with multiple deaf characters, including Marlee Matlin, has been reviewed as a positive impact to bridging the often intimidating feeling to communicate with the deaf.   There has been a front-page article in the Entertainment section of the KC Star on Tuesday, January 17th.  If you would like to read the whole article, it is at  A Good Sign KC Star article

Try to find some special time to watch this with your family or friends.  Watch the previous episodes at ABCFamily.com.  Netflix also has all the past episodes captioned. Enjoy!

"Switched at Birth" stars Katie Leclerc & Vanessa Marano

Hello everyone! Please join us at our upcoming January HLAA-KC meeting. This month, Kansas School for the Deaf and St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf will presenting. They will discuss their school’s missions, type of education and programs offered, and teaching philosophies.  In addition, Teltex, which provides equipment for the deaf and hard of hearing, will be joining us as well to provide an overview of what they do and what types of equipment they provide.  The January HLAA-KC meeting will be held at 10:30am, Saturday, January 21^st, at the Plaza Library Large Meeting Room. Hope to see you there!