I took ASL when I was working at an institution for the mentally disabled, and there are some schools which specialize with these students, including the school in Rochester where my brother got his degree.in engineering.
ASL is not just used for the deaf but children with speech impediments (for example, those with Down's syndrome) can learn it more easily to communicate.
And although I have forgotten most of my signing, I still use it when a kid is noisy or afraid of me: I sign to them and they are intrigued.
But there are other ways to communicate, and so DataRepublican's mom has an X post about how they raised their daughter. I should note that she lost her hearing from meningitis at age 2, so already had the template of her brain wired with speech, so this might have been easier for her to learn than a kid who never was able to hear.
The writer Walker Percy had a daughter born deaf and they used a similar method to teach her to communicate.
The pros and cons will get you into loud arguments: The ASL community is like other minorities and support each other, and resent those who don't want to join the. But now with cochlear implants, the controvery is getting sharper.
Your child is in your deaf culture, but if you get cochlear implants, they no longer are in that culture. This article from an Australian news site discusses.
The mother of DataRepublican (small R) chose to integrate her child into the wide world because her family was a hearing family, and as I noted, she already had the developmental part of her brain wired for speech. Nevertheless, it was a struggle.
— MOMof DataRepublican (@data_republican) January 26, 2026
....
and if you don't know who DataRepublican(small r) is: Shame on you. I know her from X but her website is here.
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