40 - Season 3 - Children of a Silent God

America the Bilingual

What if young hearing children in America were never taught how to spell or properly pronounce words? That’s what’s happening to many of the children in America who cannot hear. They do not have the same access to the language of the deaf—American Sign Language, or ASL—that their hearing counterparts have to English. In Episode 40 of America the Bilingual, we interview experts from Gallaudet University and the National Association of the Deaf, along with a college student who’s majoring in ASL, on how they’re working to change this. Special note: if you’d like to share this podcast with deaf friends or colleagues, contact us through americathebilingual.com and we’ll send a transcript. The America the Bilingual podcast is part of the Lead with Languages campaign of ACTFL—The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. This episode was written by Mim Harrison, the editorial and brand director of the America the Bilingual project, and edited by Fernando Hernández, who also does the sound design and mixing. Steve Leveen is the executive producer and host. The associate producer is Beckie Rankin. Rob Kennedy, Alejandro Capriles and the rest of the team at Daruma Tech power our website. Graphic arts are created by Carlos Plaza Design Studio. Caroline Doughty is our social media maestro. Meet the America the Bilingual team—including our bark-lingual mascot, at americathebilingual.com Support for the America the Bilingual project comes from the Levenger Foundation. Music in this episode, “Quasi Motion” by Kevin MacLeod, was used with a Creative Commons Attribution License. Our thanks to Epidemic Sound for helping us make beautiful music together.