Video Transcript: Why parents of Deaf children should learn sign language
DOMINIC: Hello, everyone! My name is Dominic LuVisi. And my name sign is... I want to explain to you about how there are some parents that don't use ASL to communicate with their deaf children. I'll share with you my experience growing up with parents who didn't use sign language with me. When I was a kid, it was hard to communicate with my mom and sister. We used some ESL (English Sign Language) and a little bit of ASL. There was really not much learning of ASL. Communication was very difficult and I suffered through with them.
Later I moved out with my grandma and my dad when I was a young boy. They never learned ASL. They wanted me to be oral and in a mainstream school. A few years later, I finally got into the CSDR (California School for the Deaf School). It's in South California in the Riverside. When I was in 6th grade in middle school, that's really where I learned sign language. It was life-changing. In the past, I had grown up oral in a mainstream school. But I could never understand it. I couldn't learn that way from my parents. They wanted me to be the "perfect kid" in a mainstream school. That's wrong. My parents never understood that I was just suffering through with oral communication.
Now finally, I was in the CSDR and I learned so much more with ASL. I was smart with my sign language and it added so much value into my life. There was no longer any oral miscommunication and all the difficulties associated with that for me. That is where my journey started with ASL. Later on I moved out again with my big sister and roommate. I has been suffering growing up with my dad. I wanted to move out and I wanted to be in an ASL environment with full access to communication. Finally, I could be in an accessible environment with ASL communication. I was lucky with my sister and roommate. That's important. But I've seen deaf children, who have not had the same opportunity as me to be in an environment with access to ASL. It's sad for me to see. I really want all deaf children to have access to sign language and communication with their parents. It's really important for deaf children's lives to have access to ASL. It's really important.
I want you to understand how difficult my experience was growing up with my parents. With sign language, parents have the opportunity to really communicate with their deaf children. The children can learn from you. That will create a wonderful, loving and connected family who have access to full communication. Thank you so much for watching me! Subscribe to my YouTube channel. See you later and much love!
