The Dactylology Club started getting the "sign" out on deaf awareness in the fall of 2010. With the last full week of September being National Deaf Awareness Week, the Dactylology Club hosted a fundraiser for the Arkansas School for the Deaf, located in Little Rock, Ark. "We sold cards, posters and pencils at a table in the student center," senior treasurer LauraTucker said. "We wanted to raise awareness and get the club's name out there. We talked to a lot of students and got many interested in the club." Club president MelissaTaber said the club had around 25 members at the time of the fund raiser, which was a huge improvement from only nine members during the previous spring semester. "We have a very diverse group," Taber said. "We have members who have been signing all their lives and we have members who barely know the [sign language] alphabet." Taber said the club met every Tuesday, where they would learn new signs, play games, teach songs and hold silent conversations. Her favorite part about the club was meeting others who also cared about sign language. "Even outside ofthe club meetings, we still sometimes sign to each other rather than talk, such as during chapel or when we want a private conversation," Tucker 212 organizations said. "That really frustrates our friends who do not know how to sign, and since they want to know what we talk about, they join the club to learn." For other events outside the club meetings, Taber said the Dactylology Club frequently visited churches with a deaf ministry to learn from interpreters. "Every Christmas we go caroling to the deaf residents in Searcy, using sign language of course," Taber said. "We show silent movies, meaning we completely turn off the volume and turn on the subtitles, just so we can experience films like the deaf do. We also have silent dinners together where we sign while we eat." It was not easy learning a language that had nothing to do with the mouth, but according to freshman Dillon King, the Dactylology Club did not care what level a student was at or what skill he or she had. "I think just the fact that we've been learning to sign is a good thing," King said. "Being part of the club has opened my eyes a bit to the challenges of deaf people in this country, and helped me see that I can learn to communicate with them on their own terms." Taber said her hope for the club was that it would continue to persevere in the future. "When I was a freshman, the club was barely alive," Taber said. "I hope this fundraiser for the Arkansas School for the Deaf becomes an annual event we can pass onto future members to keep the club strong." john Mark Adkison
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