TBC News, Issue 19

From Mislabeling Our Deaf Students: The point is that weneed to take a long,hard look at what is happening to our Deaf students in the communication process and how some are mislabeled as the result of communication breakdowns. Research is starting to “scream” evidence of Signed English as unnatural and ASL as natural. We know that, with ASL, we have seen students blossom as they relaxedly ask or answer questions and do other things that were not expected of them. We need to help our staff and schools wake up and accept our and the students’ need to accessible communication and stop mislabeling us!