Have You Read This (Essay and Speech Book)

Why You Should Learn ASL [Persuasive Speech]

[Brackets]= Said in ASL

"Quotations"= Said in spoken English

"[Quotations and Brackets]"= Said in ASL and Spoken English

Introduction

Attention Getter

[Hello. My name is Dennis. How much do you know about ASL?]

"How many people know what I just said?"

(Beat)

"What I just used was ASL: American Sign Language. ASL is a very useful tool to use when it comes to communicating with American Deaf individuals and something that we should all be learning."

Blond: Link to Audience

"How many people here know a Deaf person or someone who uses sign language regularly? How many people want to learn a new language, but find that they struggle with spelling or pronunciation? ASL can eliminate the frustration of being unable to sound out a word or spell it correctly. There will be none of that sitting around, wondering if you're using the correct accent or the correct form of "to"."

Credentials of Speaker

"You're probably wondering why I'm telling you all of this. Well, I am planning on studying ASL and desire to be an ASL interpreter. I have studied and done some extensive research on the subject, which has led me to my own conclusions."

Destination/Objective Sentence

"Today, I'm going to be telling you why you should study ASL above a different language class and a little bit of why we should be making the world a little more accessible for Hard of Hearing and Deaf individuals."

Speech Preview

Body

Main Point #1

ASL, is of course, very useful to use to communicate with Deaf or Hard of Hearing individuals in America. The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) recorded that nearly 10,000,000 people in America are Hard of Hearing and close to 1,000,000 people are completely Deaf. It can be extremely difficult to communicate with Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals without the knowledge of some form of sign language without asking one or both of you to inconvenience yourselves. Deaf people should not be forced to read lips or write everything down each time they wish to communicate with a new person, that would be cruel and unreasonable? Why do I say that? Well, it is completely dehumanizing to make a disabled person have to do more because of something they have no control over, when making things accessible is far easier. Deaf people deserve to have the same normalcy as anyone else and deserve to have the same ability to openly communicate with people. If you saw a person in a wheelchair, would you ask them to figure out a way up a set of stairs on their own? Or would you rather create a ramp to make it easier for them to have the same opportunities as everyone else? This is how it is for Deaf people. Sometimes you should be the one to take the first step and learn sign language rather than them having to come up with another way of communicating.

2. Point Two:

ASL is an extremely easy language to learn. Unlike most other languages, you do not have to worry about memorizing spellings or pronounciation of words because the writing is still in English and there are no spoken words. In many languages, you must learn completely new words and spellings and how to write them out, but with ASL, this is not the case. ASL in written form is identical to regular English, so there is no need to worry about spelling or mistakes. Some languages even require you to learn entirely new alphabets or accents to add to letters. Do you struggle with pronouncing words and phrases in other languages? This is not a problem in ASL, as it is a nonverbal language. It's similarity to spoken English makes ASL much easier to learn than other languages.

3. Point Three:

ASL is very helpful for people who don't like to speak. As it is a completely nonverbal language, it can be a helpful way of communicating for people with autism, anxiety, or other mental disorders that make speaking feel stressful. A lot of parents try to force their nonverbal autistic children to speak out of fear that they can't communicate in any other way, but using sign language is the perfect solution. According to a study by Boston University, close to 30% of children diagnosed with autism never learn to speak more than a few words or phrases. If these children are taught ASL, they can communicate fully with other people and it can be far less stressful. This holds true for people who find themself unable to speak in intense situations due to severe anxiety, or people who are mute due to either the inability to speak or because of a traumatic event. Not to mention that ASL gives people with ADHD or other attention disorders something to do with their hands without being disruptive. People use fidget spinners as a helpful tool to unwind or help focus, but they can be very distracting to other people around the user, while ASL can be used out of view of everyone and makes very little noise. As someone with ADHD, I find that ASL gives me something to do that isn't very distracting and it also helps me organize my thoughts when I'm speaking. ASL is an extremely useful tool for people with mental conditions.

Conclusion

ASL is a beautiful and amazing language that has many practical uses that everyone should know. It's helpful and easy to learn for everyone. Consider taking ASL. In fact, if you go to , you can learn simple phrases and words just by looking it up. So, I would like you to all go to that site and look up how to sign "Hello, my name is..." and learn how to fingerspell your name with the ASL alphabet.