Newsletter
Lauren Roylance
Mapleton, Utah
Psychology
Leadership Track
Improving My Fluency in American Sign Language
For my Edge Project I focused on building my language skills in American Sign Language. To accomplish this project I reached out to a local interpreter here in Cedar City to find out where the best place to start was. From talking with her, I came up with a rough game plan that evolved into my project. I decided to attend local ASL classes at the Cedar City library as well as attend a deaf branch for Sunday services. My goal was to build relationships with the deaf and hard of hearing community here in southern Utah.
As I attended ASL classes I sought out people at SUU who had a knowledge of ASL and made a focus to turn off my voice completely while talking to these individuals. With the help of my friend who is an interpreter, I set up a monthly ASL Night at the Grind for members in the Cedar City community who are confident in ASL. This has become a time to make new friends and to build old friendships. The signing community is small here in Cedar and this has become a space for Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Hearing people to connect through ASL. I also visited the Southern Utah Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program (SUDHHP) in St. George on multiple occasions, once to interview to work at a crisis center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Individuals called Sego Lily. Along with applying for positions at the deaf center, I worked with a friend to translate Mary Lambert's song Secrets. We performed the song in ASL for the March show of SUU Live, hosted by the theater department. This was an incredible opportunity to work on translating and giving SUU a glimpse of the journey.
The inspiration for my project actually came when I considered transferring to UVU to pursue a major in Deaf Studies. I walked into meet with my Academic Advisor here at SUU and walked out knowing that I would be increasing my language ability as my EDGE project. My project became my reason to stay here in southern Utah. I decided to take an out of the box approach to reaching my goal of growing in ASL. I am hard of hearing and have always wanted to build on the two years of ASL that I took in high school, so this project was a way to do that.
The biggest challenges I faced in my project were self motivation and moving forward when the answers were no. I did not attend as many ASL classes as I had originally intended to. A lot of the material that was covered was review for me. I honestly did not give my heart to the classes. Another setback I encountered was applying for the Hard of Hearing specialist and not getting the position. I also applied to work at the Sego Lily Crisis center and did not get the position there either. I am grateful for these setbacks because they pushed me forward to keep learning and growing.
I think the biggest benefit my project had to others was the ASL Night at the Grind. This benefited others because it created a designated time and place that Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals could get together and converse. The Deaf community is small here in Cedar City and it is always nice to meet with other people who speak your language well, to not have to change how you communicate to accommodate others. I loved seeing people from St George and Cedar get together and strengthen friendships. To be a small part of that was so incredible.
Looking back, I never could have imagined how big of a gift I was giving myself by working on ASL for my EDGE project. As stated earlier, I am hard of hearing and have to work hard to make sure I do not miss things in everyday conversations and in my classes. It wasn't until my skills became more developed and my confidence in conversing in ASL increased, that I realized how hard I actually have to work to hear others. Becoming conversational has given me the ability to switch between English and ASL to fit the environment I am in that will best allow me to have total communication and access. Because of my project, I have been able to request and have interpreters in my classes this semester. This has helped me to be more fully engaged and a part of the conversations in the classroom. I am so grateful for EDGE, for the access and friendships it has given me.
"I never realized the friendships that I would gain because of Edge. I am so grateful for the friends I have made because of American Sign Language. Leaving the Grind tonight made me so grateful for the work that I put into making this dream a reality."
