A new club this year has seen a group of students meet regularly to learn sign language. Today they brought their learning to the Goodfellow Centre ‘flash mob-style’ to sign the words to Pharell Williams’ popular song ‘Happy!’ Cutting their way through the Centre’s lunchtime gathering of students, the attention was soon drawn to them as the curious gathered to watch.

The students said that sign language has enabled them to broaden their perspective on the world, opening their eyes to the difficulties many people have to face. They came come together with the goal to be able understand how hearing impaired individuals communicate. Through the club they have developed skills that will allow them to interact and form connections with a wider range of people. They have come to understand the sacrifices and hardships that hearing impaired individuals face each day.

Within the deaf community people are gifted ‘sign names’ which are actions that represent themselves, that are shorter than spelling out their name in full. Several students have put in the extra effort to meet with members of the deaf community where they were gifted their own names. By interacting with the wider community, these students have been able to guage what it is like to live with a hearing impairment.

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