Dallas ISD ASL camp empowers deaf and hard-of-hearing students through sign language

Rosa Solis can remember how loud her daughter started playing the television. She wondered if there could be a problem with Nirali "Nini" Quiroz's hearing.

"So, a couple of months ago, I started noticing her hearing the TV real loud. Everything was just in high pitch," Solis said.

Her fourth grader insisted the volume was necessary.

"She turned down the TV for me, and I was like, Mom, I can't hear what it's saying. I can't hear," Quiroz said.

Audiometry or hearing tests revealed that Nini Quiroz had a hearing challenge. And they'd have to wait until another doctor's visit before school to find out next steps.

"She failed a hearing test, and they told us that her hearing level was at about a person always underwater," Solis said.

Her mother was volunteering at the right place at the right time. An American Sign Language Camp at Eddie Johnson Elementary School. She suggested the idea to Quiroz, who bought in.

The camp put on by the Dallas Independent School District allows any student to participate, whether deaf, hard of hearing, or not.

"There's nothing about deaf and hard-of-hearing people that needs to be fixed," Ashley Smith said.

Smith, born with sensorineural hearing loss in one ear, is the lead instructor. She said there is a disconnection with those who can hear. Her days as a student reflect what many students still face.

According to Smith, she fired up the courage to say something to the boy she had a crush on. That encounter impacted her.

"I was pretty good at school, great at sports, made friends really easily. And this boy called me the dumb girl," she said. "She's deaf because she's dumb. And that impacted my self-esteem all the way through middle school."

Quiroz's frustration is getting people to repeat what they've said because she didn't hear it.

"You just told me it. Now I want to understand what you said, but you're just being disrespectful to me for no reason," Quiroz said. "I asked you a question; can you please repeat it?"

In the camp, the students learn how to do American Sign Language, including the alphabet and colors. emotions, songs, and even sports.

"They're just a kid. They just happen to be deaf," Smith said. "That's the only thing that's different about them. They're a kid just like you. They're an adult that's just like you; they just communicate differently."

Quiroz said it was a challenge at first, but she got the hang of it.

"For me, it's kind of easy to just move my hands," she said.

For Smith, it's a chance to be the gatekeeper at a bridge she said is needed to remove students from isolation and steer them into the mainstream.

"Things could have just been so different. And a lot of people don't know what it's like to walk in those shoes and truly relate and truly identify what that's like on the day-to-day," Smith said.

The annual camp is a month, and it's free.