On Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021, the sisters of Chi Upsilon Sigma hosted an event called “I Can’t Hear You” as a way to bring awareness to the effects of COVID-19 on the deaf and hearing-impaired communities.
The event was moderated by CUS sisters Yarleny Mejia and Paola Reyes-Duran. The interactive event kicked off with an informative activity, which brought awareness to statistics about the hard-of-hearing community.
Participants of the event learned that American Sign Language was introduced in the United States in the year 1817 and that there are about one million Americans who speak the language that uses both facial expressions and bodily movements.
Sisters of CUS informed attendees that due to CDC guidelines like mask-wearing, those that rely on lip-reading are unable to effectively communicate. For this reason, masks with clear panels have been introduced as a way to solve this problem. However, they have not become standard.
Another adversity for the deaf community throughout the pandemic is unequal access to information, due to a lack of closed captions or ASL translators present during news conferences. According to Reyes-Duran, “A lack of various forms of sign language translators leaves a large portion of Americans without the necessary information to understand the pandemic, and the government’s plan to improve conditions in the country.”
This opened up a discussion about how the University works to aid the deaf and hard of hearing community. While some believed that the University is inclusive by having a club for the deaf, others feel that the school should be doing more.
Jennifer Garcia, a sister of Lambda Theta Alpha said, “It’s very hard to find, I feel like the community doesn’t really support the hard of hearing community as much as they should be.”
Students in attendance were in agreement that the University should offer more classes in American Sign Language. Priya Telidevara, the president of the Multicultural Greek Council even suggested making ASL a minor as a way to encourage more students to learn the language. Other attendees suggested having an ASL interpreter present at University-sponsored events.
Thanks to the sisters of CUS, a deeper awareness of the deaf community was fostered, and students were inspired to do more to serve their hearing impaired peers.
PHOTOS TAKEN from CUS Gamma Beta
