Now that I’ve returned to class, I must limit my new illustrations and animation to once a week to focus more on my studies. This week I learned the ASL hand sign for DEAF SCHOOL. The first school for the Deaf in America was the American Asylum for Deaf Mutes. In the 1800s, deaf schools were seen more as institutions to send deaf children to, but to the deaf community, they were a source of pride. This hand sign remembers that history with the movement of the hand sign for SCHOOL with both hands in the letter I hand shape. One gently tapping down on the other.
For the character to illustrate this hand sign, I looked into Canada’s deaf education history. I would have loved to draw Antoine Caron, the first deaf teacher to teach deaf children in Canada, but I couldn’t find a picture of him for reference. Instead, I drew Reverend Brother Joseph-Marie Young, a deaf teacher and Institution director for Institution Caholique des Sourds-Mueits, the first deaf school in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Another hand sign for DEAF SCHOOL is the blending of the hand signs for DEAF and SCHOOL.
#ASL #signlanguage #deafschool #teacher #joesphmarieyoung #cartoon #myasldictionary
