Featured Post from Georgia Southern University

Georgia Southern students expand communication disorder awareness amidst Deaf Culture Renaissance

Jun 6, 2022

3 min

At Georgia Southern, a group of students is taking courses to grow the number of interpreters in their communities and their fields.


Each student comes to class with their own motivations to learn ASL.


“Most of the deaf people, myself included, feel kind of depressed,” signed Angellia Burnett, a volunteer assistant in Georgia Southern University’s American Sign Language (ASL) course. “We miss a lot of things in life, because it has always been a struggle with communication.”


Burnett grew up deaf, and is the only person in her family who is deaf. Members of her family speak ASL, but she said many in the Deaf community continue to be left out of family conversations because not everyone will sign all of the time.



This leaves Deaf family members feeling isolated even within their own homes.


“Not everyone accepts my deafness,” Burnett signed. “They need to know Deaf culture. They need to accept that.”


One of the most effective ways of accepting someone is by understanding the challenges they face.


Over the past few years, the world has experienced a Deaf culture renaissance, where the inclusion of people who are deaf becomes more mainstream.



Recently, the film “CODA,” which stands for “children of deaf adults,” won the 2022 Academy Award for Best Picture. This brought Deaf culture further into the spotlight, opening many eyes into the lives of those with hearing impairments.


“What that means is it embraces the entire community,” said Dana Taylor, Ph.D., Georgia Southern adjunct professor and sign language interpreter. “It’s not isolating one group as being different. Individuals get to see the struggles and challenges and the triumphs that people experience.”



At Georgia Southern, a group of students is taking courses to grow the number of interpreters in their communities and their fields.


Each student comes to class with their own motivations to learn ASL. Some are learning sign language because they have people in their lives with hearing impairments or other communication disorders where sign can be advantageous. Others are there to develop their Sign skills as a professional tool.


“If I had a client who spoke ASL, I’d be able to communicate with them better or make them feel more comfortable,” said Ricki Botsford, speech pathology student. “I’ve learned a lot about how broad communication can be, because there are so many ways to communicate outside of the verbal option.”


When the students were asked if they had tried learning other languages like Spanish or French, every hand was raised. When asked if they stuck to learning them, all but a few went down.


So what makes Sign different?


“It’s a lot easier to integrate into every day,” said Adia Greer who’s studying to be an athletic trainer for Deaf athletes. “I can speak it verbally, but I can also sign it. I’ve picked up signing to my cat a lot. She doesn’t understand it, but it allows me to practice.”


While the students practice Sign with their pets and favorite TV shows, Burnett continues to come to class to help show her students the world they share, but not the one they see.


Georgia Southern has a network of Student Accessibility Resource Centers on the Statesboro and Savannah campuses providing interpreters for students who want to attend classes and interact with their environment, as well as many other resources for students who are hard of hearing.


“The whole world needs to learn Sign,” Burnett signed. “I want to see people motivated to learn. I see a lot of Hearing people who are motivated to learn, and a lot of Deaf people that want to help make them successful. I’m really proud that I can help in that.”



If you're a reporter looking to know more about this important topic - then let us help with your coverage and stories.


Dana Taylor, Ph.D., is available to answer your questions - simply reach out to Georgia Southern Director of Communications Jennifer Wise at jwise@georgiasouthern.edu to arrange an interview today.

Powered by

You might also like...

Check out some other posts from Georgia Southern University

Georgia Southern University expert available to provide geopolitical analysis on the Iran war featured image

1 min

Georgia Southern University expert available to provide geopolitical analysis on the Iran war

The Middle East has entered an active state of war marked by a cycle of retaliatory strikes across Iran and the Persian Gulf. Three major uncertainties now dominate the global outlook: the long-term survival of the Iranian government, the fate of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, and the security of critical oil transit routes. Georgia Southern University Professor of Political Science and International Studies Jacek Lubecki, Ph.D., is available to speak about the military operation in Iran and its implications for regional stability and global security. Lubecki is an expert in comparative politics and military security studies, with a focus on the Middle East and Eastern Europe, particularly Poland. His research examines terrorism, counterinsurgency and military strategy. His work has been published in journals including Europe-Asia Studies, East European Politics and Societies, The Polish Review, The New Ukraine and The Armchair General. He has co-authored several books, including Globalization, Nationalism, and Imperialism: A New History of Eastern Europe (2023), which examines domestic and global security challenges, and Defending Eastern Europe: The Defense Policies of New NATO and EU Member States (2021). Lubecki speaks Polish, English, French, Russian, Spanish, Italian, German and Arabic with varying levels of fluency. Lubecki is available for interviews in person at Georgia Southern’s Statesboro Campus or virtually.

Georgia Southern University expert available for interviews about Venezuela's political shift after U.S. intervention and the Cuba-Venezuela Connection featured image

1 min

Georgia Southern University expert available for interviews about Venezuela's political shift after U.S. intervention and the Cuba-Venezuela Connection

The January U.S. military action in Venezuela is altering political connections and calculations across the Western Hemisphere, with deep implications for Cuba. The long-standing belief in the United States’ strategic patience regarding adversarial and destabilizing governments has been decisively overturned and threatens the Cuban government’s vulnerability to collapse. Georgia Southern University Associate Professor of International Studies Christopher M. Brown, Ph.D., is a recognized expert in the democratization and democratic theory of Latin American countries and the Caribbean Basin. He offers expert analysis on the shifting political landscape in Venezuela and the long-term resilience of the Havana-Caracas axis. Brown is a National Endowment for Humanities Scholar with the José Martí Institute at the University of Tampa and participated in a Faculty Exchange with the University of Havana. He has authored several books focused on the failed democratic systems in Latin America and most recently published a book titled “Responding to the Venezuelan Migration Crisis: Insights for the Caribbean” (with Georgina Chami Ph.D., University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago, and Nalanda Roy, Ph.D., Georgia Southern University). His monograph, “Failed Democracies in Latin America and the Caribbean” (Palgrave-Macmillan) was published in August 2023 and he is currently completing, “Democratization of Cuba” (Palgrave-Macmillan), which will be published in June 2026. Brown is available in person at the Statesboro Campus or virtually.  Simply contact Georgia Southern's Director of Communications Jennifer Wise at jwise@georgiasouthern.edu to arrange an interview today.

Georgia Southern professor to present “Steel and Sweat: Knights, Soldiers and the Making of the Tactical Athlete” featured image

2 min

Georgia Southern professor to present “Steel and Sweat: Knights, Soldiers and the Making of the Tactical Athlete”

The Georgia Southern University College of Arts and Humanities will host the next installment of the Moveable Feast lecture series with an in-depth discussion of the evolution of combat training from the tumultuous Middle Ages to the modern-day military. Professor of Spanish Grant Gearhart, Ph.D., will present “Steel and Sweat: Knights, Soldiers and the Making of the Tactical Athlete” Feb. 19, at 6 p.m., at Service Brewing in Savannah. Gearhart, who is also the coordinator of experiential learning for the Department of World Languages and Cultures, says the presentation is all about connecting modern military training with the physical contests of centuries past. “I wanted to bring back interest in research on the Middle Ages, considering there is a declining interest in the topic within academia,” Gearhart explained. “To connect the past with present in a way that’s digestible for all audiences is something that I feel passionate about bringing to the public.” His research focuses on the evolution of fighting styles and explores how these styles reflect the ethics and values of the cultures in which they were developed. “Today’s soldiers are more than just military personnel, they are athletes,” said Gearhart. “Being a former college athlete sparked my interest in doing this research on the connections between athletics and warriors. I want to show how our modern ideas of soldiers as tactical athletes have historical grounding in the Middle Ages.” The Moveable Feast series is an immersive learning experience that brings lectures into spaces relevant to their topics. The event is free and open to the public.

View all posts
Powered by