Now I Know my "LSM"...

When I received the email of acceptance to the GIEU Mexico Deaf Communities program, I felt nothing but excitement. I finally got the opportunity to travel some place. From the application process, I knew that every GIEU program did not require a language. However, it is good to know a little about the language in the community I was going to be working in. My Spanish was and is already shaky, but I figured I had enough just to get by.

But it was not the Spanish that was causing my anxiety. It was the LSM or Lenguaje de señas or Mexican sign language. I had never taken a sign language course in my life. I always was interested in the deaf community and learning signs, but I never really had the time for it.

When I discovered this program, I was a little worried about being the only person who did not know sign. Or that I just would never catch on fast enough.

When my group and I arrived in Mexico, we learned and practiced so many signs. It came so naturally and easy to me. To learn the signs, I like to think of it as dance moves, each one being unique and properly executed.

Although I do not know every sign in the book, I knew enough to have small conversations with the deaf community we worked with. I am so glad that I had this experience and realized that this is something I would love and appreciate to continue learning. Being able to step into practicing sign language with no background then using it in public with my friends and having entire conversations is mind blowing to me.

After this trip, I truly realized that there needs to be more accessibility to sign language courses in all languages! And sign language should count as a language in the University because IT IS A WAY TO COMMUNICATE.