The Strong Museum of Play hosted the annual Deaf Day of Play on Saturday, an event marked not only by fun, but also by learning disability etiquette and inclusivity.
This event, supported by the Rochester Institute of Technology and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, offered a rich environment for the deaf community and interpreting students.
Keith Cagle, the chair of the ASL and Interpreting Education Department at NTID, highlighted the crucial hands-on experience that interpreting students gain by engaging with deaf individuals of all ages.
Amy Roberts, a third-year American Sign Language Interpreting education student at RIT, interpreted for Cagle.
“It's a very diverse community in that way. So, it's interesting to watch interpreting students be able to code switch between each of the people that they're working with," Cagle said.
Danny Maffia, a Senior Lecturer at NTID pointed out the importance of the event as part of their Interpreting program's practicum requirements, facilitated by the partnership with the Strong Museum of Play.
Maffia recounted a memorable instance from the event involving a young deaf child experiencing ASL for the first time.
“I could see her eyes light up, and she felt like, even at the age of five, found her community, and it was really fascinating to see the exposure for the parents to get that exposure to go, 'Okay, we need to do more to expose our child to the deaf community here in Rochester and expose her to American Sign Language,” Maffia said.
The Deaf Day of Play provided practical experience for interpreting students like Roberts, who noted the unique opportunity to engage directly with deaf adults and children.
It also underscored the importance of community support and the creation of accessible educational environments.
According to RIT/NTID, of the approximately 1,155,000 people in the Rochester area, 40,000 are deaf or hard of hearing.
This story is reported from WXXI’s Inclusion Desk.
