NAD Praises California Dept. of Ed Video on ASL

The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) salutes the video Through Your Child’s Eyes: American Sign Language [2] which presents a comprehensive portrayal of the needs of deaf and hard of hearing children and the value of American Sign Language (ASL).  The video, posted earlier this month, reflects the organizational vision for the future as outlined in NAD Vision 2020 Strategic Plan [3]:

“We believe it is the right of every deaf and hard of hearing person to acquire and express themselves in American Sign Language and English.”

The video stresses the benefits of teaching deaf and hard of hearing babies and children ASL while showing positive support and perspectives from both deaf and hearing parents.

“We appreciate the efforts of the video creators to realistically portray the benefits of ASL as a natural language,” said NAD President Bobbie Beth Scoggins. “Historically, the deaf and hard of hearing community have suffered from a lack of fair representation when it comes to the use of ASL in videos and films, especially when concerning deaf and hard of hearing children. The video, produced by DJ Kurs in cooperation with California State University - Northridge and the California Department of Education, deserve nationwide praise for producing this top-notch video. They have raised the bar in discourse, awareness of, and respect for the civil, human, and linguistic rights of the deaf and hard of hearing community.” 

Every parent of a deaf or hard of hearing child should see this video. Every professional, regardless of field, should also not only see this video but make this video a critical part of their interaction with parents of deaf and hard of hearing children. The NAD strongly urges other universities and organizations to work with their state to develop similar videos that portray the benefits of learning and using ASL as a primary language.

We hope Through Your Child’s Eyes: American Sign Language will inspire others to fund and create more videos—especially projects that promote and encourage the use of ASL. It is because of community involvement and individual contributions that media projects—like the one shown above—thrive.