The Indianapolis Starcaptured the action at Butler’s third annual “Hands on Fire” concert Feb. 29, performed before a capacity crowd in Atherton Union’s Reilly Room. Students from the Butler University ASL Club, the Visual Arts Performing Group from the Indiana School for the Deaf, and from Ivy Tech College performed pieces highlighting and bringing awareness to American Sign Language and deaf culture.
American Sign Language is taught in the College of Communication’s Communication Sciences and Disorders program.
Program Director Suzanne Reading congratulated ASL Club members “for this inspiring show and for enabling this important community connection with our Deaf neighbors.”
“It was so good to see the Reilly Room filled with around 500 people,” she said. “Another successful ‘Hands on Fire’ proves that Butler students and the Deaf community are engaged in mutually beneficial partnerships and that the possible barriers, such as differing cultures andlanguages, can be easily overcome.”
Each semester, 10-15 second-year Butler ASL students provide 20 hours each of service at ISD, allowing them an opportunity to utilize the skills they are learning in the classroom with native signers. The Butler students work in elementary classrooms helping students with reading activities, or with the high school literacy project, tutoring students in the after school study hall, help with drama productions and work in the concession stand during sporting events.
