Have you ever encountered a deaf or hearing-impaired individual and found yourself unable to communicate with them? According to a study published by the National Library of Medicine, in 2006 there were “nearly 10,000,000 persons hard of hearing and close to 1,000,000 functionally deaf in the United States.” Chances are at some point, you will meet a person who is hard of hearing, or deaf. If you would like to learn more about the deaf culture and some American Sign Language (ASL), but haven’t had the opportunity, the Osceola County Library System is a great place to start.

Those interested in learning American Sign Language can sign up for classes at Hart Memorial Library, located at 211 E. Dakin Ave, Kissimmee. The course is taught by actual deaf instructors and students will learn to communicate basic conversation with deaf individuals. There will be role playing and games that will teach basic signs. By the end of the course, students are expected to have learned the manual alphabet, numbers, how to introduce themselves, the importance of using proper facial expressions when conversing in ASL, and more.

The classes will be on Mondays starting at 6:30 p.m. from February 7-28^th. You can register for the introductory course on the Osceola Library website.