UWM’s Deaf Community Asks For Respect

The white walls of a typical dorm room could have placed the group of five guys anywhere inside the country, except there was one thing that placed them in Sandburg Residence Hall at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

A yellow flag with the Panther in the middle and Milwaukee spelled over top of it.

Inside this room, they created a video.

After the video was created, Maxwell Jensen posted it on Twitter and received a backlash from the Deaf community.

Jensen was among the five students in the video and is a member of the UWM Track and Field team. He was one of the two positioned directly in front of the camera.

The video was meant to be a “fun” and “educational” play on the controversy of the correct way to ask for a drinking fountain, according to Jensen. This specific video discussed how the proper way to reference it is as a bubbler rather than a water fountain.

Jensen’s role in the video was to be the American Sign Language interpreter, even though he didn’t know the language or culture. So, instead of consulting a person that does, Jensen faked it.

The tweet got national attention from Nyle DiMarco, a Deaf winner of America’s Next Top Model and Dancing with the Stars. DiMarco tweeted back at Jensen saying, “Did you know 70 million deaf people that use sign language do not have access to education in sign language? So yeah- not a funny joke.”

Unknown to many, there is a small but strong Deaf and Hard of Hearing community on UWM’s campus, with about 50 students, according to Jason Anderson, counselor for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing at UWM’s Accessibility Resource Center.

Also, another 500 students on campus know some level of ASL, according to Anderson.

So, not only did the tweet get attention at the national level, it also got some at a local level from UWM’s own community.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate that he would fake using sign language and mock our community and language,” said Casimir Mueller, a Deaf first-year student at UWM. “It didn’t sit well with me.”

Jensen did take down the video from Twitter and apologized.

“I didn’t think about what we were doing as being wrong and this was a huge eye opener,” said Jensen. “We would like to thank the Deaf community who brought this to our attention, so that we could realize our mistake.”

ASL is the natural language of Deaf people and heavily intertwined with their culture. So, by pretending to know the language, the community views this as an insult and lack of respect towards their culture, which stems from ignorance, according to Mueller.

The only way to get rid of that is through education.

Members of the Deaf community are constantly educating others about their community, language and culture, said Katelyn Miller, a Deaf second-year student.

While ASL can be the primary language used, not every Deaf person learns and uses it to communicate, according to Miller.

Some may choose to communicate through writing, acting, gesturing or speaking, rather than with sign language.

“Ask them what they prefer,” said Miller. “Let them communicate how they want to communicate.”

That is one way people can be respectful towards the community, said Miller.

Many Deaf and Hard of Hearing students decide to attend UWM because of the accessibility that campus provides the students, according to Anderson. Some accommodations that the campus can provide these students with are interpreting and captioning services, FM systems and captioned audio-visual materials, said Anderson.

Along with the accommodations, the campus can provide a more affordable education than going out-of-state to Gallaudet University, according to Mueller.

Gallaudet University is a private university located in Washington D.C. and the only national institute for Deaf and Hard of Hearing college students. The campus takes a bilingual approach with ASL as the primary language and English as the second, according to Gallaudet University’s website.

Gallaudet’s entire campus provides students with a Deaf-space experience, whereas at UWM there are only a few places that are considered a true Deaf-space.

A Deaf-space is a place where signing is required to communicate, which allows for a more respectful environment for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students, according to Marin Kiefer, a Deaf second-year student.

Those places are the ASL Learning Living Community and ASL Lab.

The ASL LLC is in Sandburg Residence Hall and has the purpose “to establish a community for Deaf students and students who know or are learning ASL” and “enhance the students’ knowledge and skills in ASL and an understanding of and respect for ASL and its linguistics, culture, history and literature,” according to University Housing’s website.

“There are people I can sign with,” said Mueller. “It’s the best place to live!”

The ASL Lab is open to everyone to let them use their language skills, so that they can socialize and learn from each other, according to Kiefer.

It is located on the second floor of Enderis Hall and provides access to ASL coaches, resources and technology for students that are currently in or above level five of the ASL classes or who are in the interpreter training program.

Although Panther Academic Support Services does offer tutoring for ASL, the lab’s coaches provide a student with a more advanced one-on-one time, according to Kiefer.

UWM offers students the chance to learn ASL as a foreign language, major or minor in ASL studies or major in the interpreter training program through the School of Education, according to Anderson.

All classes in the department are taught by native signers, which allows a student to have an immersive experience with the language and culture.

The ASL Department’s motto is “Deaf Heart starts here” and states that a person will be “competent in ASL, knowledgeable about Deaf culture and connected to the local Deaf community,” according to the School of Education’s ASL/English Interpreting website.
To have a Deaf Heart means that people “become allies to the Deaf community and carry the skill and knowledge necessary to inspire change,” according to the website.

Another way students can become involved with the community is by joining the Student Signing Association. Students at any level are welcome to join and attend the events that are throw by the organization.

“Our goal is to make everyone welcome,” said Kiefer “We aim for everyone to become involved, to come together and learn about each other and the Deaf communities within it. We thrive on making friends and acquaintances while supporting each other using our native language of ASL.”

The organization will host events once a month throughout the school year and provide interpreters, so that it is inclusive for everyone on campus, according to Miller and Mueller.

These events are a good opportunity for students to see our community, culture and language, said Kiefer.

Also, the university will host events during the Deaf Awareness Weak Wisconsin in early Fall semester. During this week, new students get exposure to the community and learn about it, the culture and language, according to Kiefer.

While this campus wide education lasts for a week, Miller and Mueller hopes that the lessons people learn from it will last them a lifetime.

One important lesson they hope students will take away is respect.

“Respect us as a community, who we are and us as equals, don’t look down at us, don’t discriminate or oppress us.,” said Mueller. “We’re people just like you.”