El Deafo Panel

El Deafo Panel

The El Deafo panel involved 5 panelists of different experiences with/of deafness and in the deaf community. The panelists responded to questions from a moderator and then opened up to the audience for additional questions. Honestly, prior to this event I had never seen American Sign Language used in person and I was blown away with both how expressive and efficient it was as a language. Generally thinking I don’t think I have done much thought as to what challenges and obstacles deafness in any form could create, or how deafness is a different experience between those with severe hearing loss.

Connection to PC

Performance Criterion 2.2: Candidates use an understanding of diverse cultures and communities to design inclusive learning experiences.

After attending this event I can say without a doubt I have a better understanding of the experience and difficulties that revolve around deafness and hearing loss. Having a better knowledge of the deaf experience will help me to cater to provide better accommodations and approaches to teaching learners with hearing loss. Knowing how hearing loss affects a learner and changes their experience in a classroom makes allows me to be more informed on one of the many diverse learning needs of students. Knowing more about the deaf community also will help me to be more informed on the cultural implications of deafness as well. Allowing for me to be able to have a better understanding of students that may be part of deaf culture, as well as being able to better inform my own students about deaf culture.

Reflection

I think first both from the graphic novel “El Deafo” and the panel I attended I learned a fair amount more about the deaf experience than I had before. As I stated previously this new knowledge will help me to better understand how to inform students about the deaf experience and how better form my approaches to teaching students with hearing loss. Attending this event also made me realize that deafness constitutes for only one of the many diversifying factors of students and that only one factor can be enough to create a diverse spectrum of needs. Each student's brings their own skills and weaknesses to the classroom and to provide the best education possible one must know how to approach the unique needs of each student.

One line that stuck with me from the night was “Don’t make a big deal about it”. Often times I feel when in education when a student with a disability is taken into account they are taken from a disability first standpoint. Meaning that educators and educational institutions focus on addressing the needs of the disability in the classroom but forget about the needs of the student. If the student’s disability becomes the central part of the approach the student may feel singled out from his or her peers. This may lead to the student feeling uncomfortable in the classroom making it even harder to address the student’s needs as they may feel demotivated or stressed. My biggest takeaway from that is what comes first is creating a comfortable learning environment that doesn’t single out students or create exclusivity. That students regardless of their capabilities each have their own realm of concerns and require a safe learning environment.