What is your sign language or deaf studies experience?

I always wanted to take a course in sign language, but my university does not offer it. You’d think every institution would have at least one course in sign language, especially for a school that has education as its second largest department. I, myself, just graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social work. I think that in any human service field, at least basic sign language is a necessary skill. One of the local community colleges offers two years in sign language. However, the administration at my university would not allow students to transfer the credits to meet our language requirement. Their rationale was that sign language wasn’t a language. Again, this is a universirty that prides itself on its education program in a state where in a couple of years all education majors will be required to meet both education and special education requirements. Yet, they don’t offer sign language or accept it, ironic huh?

One of my best friends at college took two years of sign language in high school. His class even got to go one a field trip to Rochester, NY (about two and a half hours away) , which has the greatest population of hearing impaired people per capita in the country. The class spent the day at Rochester Institute of Technology’s School for The Deaf and Hearing Impaired. He originally planned to go on and become a sign language teacher; he really didn’t have a particular reason other than he enjoyed learning sign language and wants to work in a field that will help people. Unfortunately, the school he wasn’t interested in going to for that got rid of their program for sign language just as he graduated high school. However, I think his skills will serve him well since he is studying Pre-Med and plans to become a pediatrician.