Signing As Art

Signing As Art is an amazing project in which I, Kamil Gerald teach the community sign language. The purpose of the project is to bring hearing loss awareness to the community and how to communicate with the hearing loss community effectively. Both the hearing and hearing loss community experienced frustrations while communicating with one another. So I thought to come up with a solution which is to provide sign language lessons to the community at large. Sign language should be the first language for everyone.

I've taught beginners sign language at the Isaias Gonzalez-Soto Branch Library. I am currently teaching beginners sign language at Hamburg Public Library and NorthPark Library. Signing As Art is currently making an impact in the Buffalo area through increasing traffic (patrons) at local libraries. Libraries are very important to our community and we don't need anymore libraries closing.

Signing As Art is an asset to the community in which it can help children and adults communicate better, help employees receive an increase in their salaries for learning and utilizing another language, etc.

Sign language shouldn't be looked at just as another language to learn. Sign language is art. It involves the artistic movements of our hands. It is an extremely beautiful art to see the hands move. Sign language is also a survival skill in dangerous situations where voices are mute.

This money will go towards materials that are provided to the students for them to keep and review with family and friends, including: worksheets, workbooks, and games (ASL Jeopardy, Guess What I'm Signing).

Funded by Buffalo, NY (October 2022)