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Overview

ASL Connect aims to equip individuals to be lifelong learners through an equity-centered, immersive virtual learning environment from Deaf professionals with multicultural backgrounds, to transform the world for greater human connections.

ASL Connect welcomes people from diverse communities to connect to the richness of American Sign Language and Deaf culture with the aspiration that they will be agents of change for equality and respect for the Deaf community.

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Programs

ASL Online Courses

Take your first steps into picking up one of America's most popular languages to learn: American Sign Language (ASL). If you are new to ASL, begin with the fundamentals and progress to our advanced courses to express authentic and meaningful conversations in ASL with people...

DIVE

Dynamic Immersion, Valuable Experience (DIVE) offers a unique opportunity for students to enhance their ASL skills through full-day immersive experiences each summer. Students take ASL courses together at various locations, engaging in a wide range of activities designed to promote language learning through active use....

Meet the Team

Shannon Engelhart

Instructor

Glenna Cooper

Instructor

Justin Malone

Instructor

Nishani McCluskey

Instructor

Dean Papalia

Teaching Assistant (Adjunct)

Susanne McLaughlin

Teaching Assistant

Taurean Burt

Teaching Assistant

Domencia Casertano

 American Sign Language

Instructor (Adjunct)

Information

FAQs

Common Questions

Just as there is no universal spoken language, there is also no universal sign language. American Sign Language, for example, is completely distinct from British Sign Language, but bears more resemblance to French Sign Language, based on the history of the emergence of ASL. (More on this is included in our online course, Introduction to Deaf Studies). While there is no universal sign language, deaf individuals have created an International Sign code to facilitate communication in international conferences and cultural gatherings.
With the rise of Deaf Studies in the 1970s, the usage the capitalization of (D)eaf became commonly used in order to distinguish between those who identify as belonging to a cultural and linguistic minority, in contrast to “(d)eaf”, which refers to an audiological condition. Some authors have opted to use the combined “d/Deaf” as a more inclusive term. There is an ongoing dialogue within Deaf Studies about the merits and complexities of using (d)eaf and (D)eaf, while remaining inclusive.” Students taking Introduction to Deaf Studies and Deaf Culture classes will engage in further discussion of the complex issues involved.
While there are no exact statistics, research shows that about 1 out of every 300 people in the United States are “functionally deaf.” Though more than half became deaf later in life; fewer than 1 out of every 1,000 people in the United States became deaf before 18 years of age. (National Institute of Health, 2005)
ASL stands for American Sign Language. This is the most commonly used sign language among the Deaf community in the United States as well as parts of Canada. Because sign languages are not invented languages, nor are they the signed counterparts of the spoken languages of their region, the grammatical structure of sign languages is clearly distinct from spoken languages. While spoken languages are made up of a combination of sounds (phonemes), sign languages are made of a combination of handshapes, palm orientations, locations, movements, and non-manual markers, such as facial expressions. Students who enroll in our ASL courses online will learn more about the grammatical features of ASL.

Academia Questions

Students should consult their academic institution for approval of credit transfers to other colleges and universities.

ASL is now the third most taught language in higher education according to the Modern Language Association (2013). Community colleges and four year colleges and universities throughout the nation do accept ASL as foreign language credit. Students are encouraged to check their school’s catalog to see if their university accepts ASL as foreign language credit. The online and onsite courses offered by ASL Connect are frequently transferred to satisfy students’ foreign language requirement.

Opportunities Questions

ASL Connect: Business can help businesses practice inclusion for Deaf clients, employees and collaborators by providing training on how to bridge cultural perspectives, how to procure accessible technologies and qualified ASL interpreters. Currently, our service area is in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. We plan to expand beyond this area to support the great need for ASL inclusion among enterprises.

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ASL Connect

(202) 964-3154

Monday
8:00 am-4:00 pm
Tuesday
8:00 am-4:00 pm
Wednesday
8:00 am-4:00 pm
Thursday
8:00 am-4:00 pm
Friday
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