This year I have had the pleasure of taking part in a culture I never had the opportunity to lean about. Since I was a little girl and my mom took me to the library I would always take out a book on sign language. Just learning the alphabet gave me a thrill to keep learning. Finally after quite some time of just taking out the books and learning the alphabet. I joined American Sign Language at Schreiber, which I have enjoyed every minute of since. After taking the class and learning to the point where I could manage to have a conversation with the deaf, I decided that I wanted to add another aspect to my education in sign language other than just the class. This is when I realized Helen Keller would be a wonderful place I would not only practice my skills I learned in school but also get the experience of meeting deaf people and working with them on a one on one basis. Going into this I knew there was no money in return, which I believe is one of the main reasons for many teenagers to apply for jobs, but there is a far greater achievement in volunteering at Helen Keller. It is the feeling you get after an hour or two spent there and knowing you made a difference in someone’s day. I also get the satisfaction of using the skills learned in class and having them understand what I am saying.

There is a particular experience I had there that I always refer back to when people ask me about how volunteering there is. I met a man about three weeks ago who is partially blind, and completely deaf. I went that night to decorate Valentines Day boxes with them. Many people would probably think this would be a challenging task for the blind to do. But they assured everyone there that they were completely capable, even to the point where they will ask you not to sign because the wanted to do on there own. This is a factor I was unaware of before I came to Helen Keller, During the six our training course which is mandatory before you become a volunteer. You are taught that Helen Keller was made as an institute to train the deaf and blind to fend for themselves not for people to do it for them. Since the man is partially blind I had to sign in his hand in order to communicate. I was assigned to work with him, which made me nervous. All the teachers there assured me that there would be no problem because he loved to teach new volunteers other methods and helping them with sign they didn’t know. They were absolutely correct! After introducing myself to him his greeting and smile in response made me feel eager to learn more about him and really work with him. We worked to make his box beautiful by me describing the colors and patterns, and him placing them on the box. We worked together putting the little drops of glue onto the material but by the end were both covered with it, something that made both of us laugh a connection all people have whether they are hearing or deaf. Little by little the box was full of colors and shapes and love, which he picked out all by, himself He was so excited that it made me excited too. After finishing we got to speak about all sorts of things like family, school and even how and when he became deaf and blind. I found him fascinating and made sure to make a point of seeing him whenever I go. Not only has sign language affected my life by teaching me skills but also it gave me the opportunity to meet new people that I would have never met before.