Gallaudet University

I decided to do my first post on Gallaudet University. I wanted to research this for a couple of reasons. Primarily because I am really considering taking sign language further and can really see myself working with deaf people. I am a double major in management and modern languages and have also had a passion for different languages and how they work. For a long time I thought I was meant to work with spanish, but lately have become fascinated with sign language.
I began by looking on the University's homepage http://www.gallaudet.edu/x1843.xml. I was really amazed by some of the things that I found. The first thing that really shocked me was the amount of majors and minors that are the same as any other university. I never realized sign language could be used to communicate things such as accounting, chemistry, computer science. I guess I just thought that if I had a hard enough time with these subjects in english, that it just wasn't possible to explain them without words.
Next, I decided to look at the graduate programs that Gallaudet offers. Like I mentioned earlier, I am very interested continuing on with my studying of sign language and hope to be able to work in a place where I can use it frequently some day. I am still two years away from graduate school but have added Gallaudet to the list of schools to consider. The three graduate programs that I found most interesting are the departments of ASl and Deaf Studies, Interpretation, and Social Work.
Another area of Gallaudet that I found fascinating was the sports teams. When I think about certain sports, I cannot imagine them without sound. I was a swimmer for years and relied on sounds to tell me when to dive in, people cheering for me on the side of the pool screaming to go faster. These were things that I depended on as an athlete. How do you know when to dive into the pool when you are deaf?
I come from a town where there are not any deaf people that I know of, so it is hard for me to understand deaf people do the same things as us. I think I always thought of it as a disability/disadvantage until taking this sign language class. Now I know that is not the case at all. Deaf people have there own culture and live life just like anyone else does. They may have a harder time doing certain things but they don't necessarily let the fact that they cannot hear discourage them.
Looking at Gallaudet University's website opened my eyes a little to deaf culture. I no longer think that deaf people are disabled and I'm pretty sure that there are a ton of deaf people out there that could kick my butt in chemistry or accounting. I'm really glad I took the time to look at this site and realize something new about a group of people that I had been unconsciously stereotyping for years!