"You Can Make Deaf Welcome, Learn American Sign Language" is the first in a series of Deaf Welcome reference guides to promote communication, hospitality and Deaf inclusion. Teachers, shop owners, actors, worship leaders, and students are encouraged to purchase this book to engage in a multicultural experience. Deaf Culture is fascinating and full of unique, often surprising experiences. Readers should copy each sign depicted in the book with a native signer, interpreter or signing educator. You will put a smile on the face of your Deaf neighbors, customers, students, and friends. The goal is to learn to sign naturally, with the proper hand-shape, palm orientation, and facial expression. You are encouraged to log your use of each sign and discuss your experiences in class or with your Sign Language group. Enjoy your practice time! Sales from this book supports the Deaf Welcome Foundation, the 501(c)(3) National Charity for Sign Language TV, Media and Film, as well as the ILY Television Network - scheduled to begin airing in 2016. Check local listings for ILY-TV. Thank you joining the movement to make Deaf welcome by learning ASL, because "separate is never equal." www.deafwelcome.org

"You Can Make Deaf Welcome, Learn American Sign Language" is the second in a series of Deaf Welcome reference guides to promote communication, hospitality and Deaf inclusion. Deaf Culture is fascinating and full of unique, often surprising experiences. Readers should copy each sign depicted in the book with a native signer, interpreter or group leader. The goal is to learn to sign naturally, with the proper hand-shape, palm orientation, and facial expression. You are encouraged to log your use of each sign and discuss your experiences in class or with your Sign Language group. Enjoy your practice time! Sales from this book supports the Deaf Welcome Foundation, the 501(c)(3) National Charity for Sign Language TV, Media and Film, as well as the ILY Television Network - scheduled to begin airing in 2016. Check local listings for ILY-TV. Thank you joining the movement to make Deaf welcome by learning ASL, because "separate is never equal." www.deafwelcome.org "--

A vibrant, edgy, fresh new YA voice for fans of More Happy Than Not and Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, packed with interior graffiti. Winner of the Schneider Family Book Award! When Julia finds a slur about her best friend scrawled across the back of the Kingston School for the Deaf, she covers it up with a beautiful (albeit illegal) graffiti mural. Her supposed best friend snitches, the principal expels her, and her two mothers set Julia up with a one-way ticket to a “mainstream” school in the suburbs, where she’s treated like an outcast as the only deaf student. The last thing she has left is her art, and not even Banksy himself could convince her to give that up. Out in the ’burbs, Julia paints anywhere she can, eager to claim some turf of her own. But Julia soon learns that she might not be the only vandal in town. Someone is adding to her tags, making them better, showing off—and showing Julia up in the process. She expected her art might get painted over by cops. But she never imagined getting dragged into a full-blown graffiti war. Told with wit and grit by debut author Whitney Gardner, who also provides gorgeous interior illustrations of Julia’s graffiti tags, You’re Welcome, Universe introduces audiences to a one-of-a-kind protagonist who is unabashedly herself no matter what life throws in her way. "[A] spectacular debut...a moving, beautifully written contemporary novel full of quirky art and complicated friendships...this book is a gift to be thankful for."—BookRiot

A resource for parents and schools. Use this series of handouts to introduce school staff to hearing loss and help them welcome a student to the school community.

Hi mama (or dad!). I've been where you are. The darkness, the unknowns, the fear, the uncertainty -- everything that accompanies a hearing loss diagnosis. You may feel all of these things at once. You may ebb and flow between them. Or you may not know what you feel at all. And that is okay. When you are told your child has significant hearing loss, there is no right reaction. Tears may flow, or they may refuse to come. Anger may boil over, or it may fester. Grief can pave the way, or it can be pushed aside. We all process serious, life-altering news differently. My own family received that news on October 18, 2019. In some ways, it feels like a lifetime ago. In others, the pain and emotions are still fresh. Time is funny that way. My goal in sharing my son Cooper's story -- our story, really -- is to show you that you are truly never alone. This journey to Holland (hang in there, I'll get to the relevancy of this) can feel like a lonely one at the beginning. But when you find acceptance, when you open your heart, there is so much beauty to be found along the way.

When author Amanda McDonough started losing her hearing at the age of 4 she swore her parents to secrecy. She hid her hearing loss for 18 years from her friends, family, teachers, and acquaintances. As the author grew older, her hearing gradually decreased, causing her to begin struggling in school, in her relationships with family and friends, and with her identity. By age twenty-two, she could no longer rely on her wit to hide her hearing loss. She became one hundred percent deaf in both ears. Amanda found herself unable to hear, talk, lip-read or sign. Her only method of communication with the world was through writing. Ready to be Heard is the story of how Amanda taught herself to speak again, to lip-read, and to sign. McDonough explains how she discovered a new culture, language, and most importantly, herself. In this memoir, the author narrates how she managed to finish college after becoming deaf. How she garnered straight As in school, entered the workforce, enjoyed a successful Hollywood acting career (Freeforms Switched at Birth, ABCs Speechless, NBCs Bad Judge, Google, 7UP, Deaf West/ Pasadena Playhouses Our Town, etc.), fought for her independence, and found her purpose. Ready to be Heard tells about the authors journey to find a balance between the hearing world she was raised in and the Deaf culture to which she now belonged.