Today, students celebrated April’s National Deaf History Month (NDHM) in the commons at lunch. The American Sign Language (ASL) club, ASL students and ASL teacher Cathy Horowitz organized the event. 

The National Association of the Deaf first introduced National Deaf History Month in 1997. NDHM primarily focuses on commemorating individuals who are hard of hearing and recognizing their accomplishments. 

At the celebration, the ASL club set up poster boards around the commons stage to immerse participants in Deaf history and culture, and ASL. One poster included pictures of each letter of the ASL alphabet, while another provided information about education for those who are hard of hearing. 

As students approached the boards the ASL club had created, organizers encouraged them to ask questions and join Whitman’s ASL club, which meets bi-weekly on Thursdays. 

Horowitz was impressed with the students’ pre-existing knowledge of sign language.

“They learned how to fingerspell their names, and we were pleasantly surprised by the number of students who already knew the manual alphabet,” she said.