By Yastelin Sanchez Turcios

When will inclusion stop being a recommendation, and start being taken seriously?

All the time, deaf people have to get used to what’s considered “normal” in society to fit in. Research from EdSource shows that teaching sign language to students will create positive benefits, not only for the deaf community, but also to hearing students. American Sign Language (ASL) should be taught in school to promote inclusion, improve communication, and create equal opportunities for the deaf community.

In order to understand the importance of ASL being taught at school, it is necessary to understand the struggles that the deaf community has endured throughout the years, and how inclusion can help reverse that.

Research has shown a great amount of deaf children have had negative experiences in school environments, where being deaf is not common or “normal”. According to Brookings.Education, “a bilingual approach addresses the isolation and exclusion deaf children frequently experience in classrooms and school environments”. If sign language was taught in schools to everyone, deaf kids would be less likely to feel isolated and excluded, and it would help create a more inclusive environment where they can learn like everybody else instead of expecting them to do so on their own.

In addition to promoting inclusiveness, teaching ASL in schools would benefit all students. According to research by the National Institutes of Health, “learning sign language would benefit individual students, as it would improve each student’s overall communication skills and provide additional cognitive advantages that come from being bimodally bilingual”. This means that making ASL mandatory would not only support the deaf community but also help all students develop communication skills for better opportunities.

Some people believe ASL should not be taught in schools because most students will never interact with a deaf person. They believe that because the deaf community is a smaller portion of the population, learning ASL is not necessary. However, ASL benefits students beyond communication with the deaf community but also increases and develops more cognitive advantages. Therefore, the deaf community’s population should not be a reason for sign language not being in schools curriculums. 

In conclusion, American Sign Language should be taught in schools because it creates a more inclusive and supporting learning environment. This would make the deaf community feel more included and integrated with everybody else. Teaching ASL would not only support the deaf community, but also help all students improve their communication skills, and build empathy. Although some people think ASL is unnecessary because of the smaller size of deaf population, education should not focus only on the majority, but on inclusion and creating a more accepting and diverse world.