or Sign, Up for ASL

Ann Turbyfill grew up in a household with deaf parents. She learned how to talk from neighbors and family members.

“Being deaf isn’t hereditary in my family although it is in others.” Said Turbyfill. “Daddy was in 2nd grade [when he became deaf]” She stated. He had spinal meningitis that ended up causing him to lose his hearing. Her mother became deaf at 6 months old from an overdose of quinine (medication for fever).

Kenneth Tyler and Florene Tyler (Turbyfill’s parents) met at a deaf school in Little Rock, and eventually were married for 65 years until Kenneth died in 2008.

In the 1900s, people weren’t the kindest towards the deaf community. “There was a lot of discrimination towards deaf people because of their inability to hear,” She says, the name for deaf people was dummies and I knew my mother and father weren’t dummies.

Kenneth and Florene were far from dummies, in fact they were one of the first deaf couples in Benton to own a business. “In spite of being a deaf person, my dad ended up owning his own successful business.” The Tyler’s owned Enterprise Shoe Shop in downtown Benton for around 40 years, it’s now Three Kings Tattoo.

Now people are aware of the offensive terminology but it still doesn’t change that people who have their hearing don’t put much effort into communicating with people who use sign language. The only deaf school in Arkansas is the Arkansas School for the Deaf in Little Rock. Only consisting of 108 students from preschool through the 12th grade.

So we propose that we should offer a class that teaches sign language. Just like Spanish and French, it doesn’t have to be required but allowing students to make a choice to learn it would be awesome and present more opportunities for socializing with deaf/hard of hearing people.

Not only would this class help people be able to socialize with people who use sign but also to help people in public, for example helping someone in the store or in a restaurant to help them order food.

62.5% of people polled said they would/would’ve signed up to take a sign language class. Some of which now go to high-school.

“My parents couldn’t go to my elementary school [for meetings or special events] because no one was able to interpret.” Said Turbyfill.

Dedicated to my Granny and Mamaw and Papaw Tyler

Story by: Katie Wright