It is 7 a.m. and students are heading to their first period class. Voices travel down the hallway of friends catching up before the first bell rings. But American Sign Language (ASL)  students walk into a completely quiet classroom where their ‘good morning’ is not spoken in words, but in sign. 

    Nicole Kelly is GlenOak High School’s only deaf ASL teacher. Kelly has been a staff member at GOHS for three years. This has proved to be intimidating to other staff members who are not familiar with her language.  All except Angela Beshore whose classroom is across from Kelly’s. 

     “Anyone will tell you that Mrs. Kelly is the kindest and most approachable human on the planet. The only time it was tricky to communicate with her was when we were wearing masks,” freshman English teacher Angela Beshore said. “Even then it just required me to move my face covering aside. She is very good at reading lips and we talk daily,” 

     However, there is an appropriate way to go about speaking to her and other deaf individuals in the community. ASL also has its own writing format; words are written in all capitals as illustrated below.

   “TAP ME ON THE SHOULDER OR WAVE AT ME TO GET MY ATTENTION, TALK SLOW BUT NOT TOO SLOW,” Kelly said. “I AM GOOD AS LONG AS THEY LOOK AT ME EYE TO EYE. I HAVEN’T HAD ANY ISSUES,”.

     With a communication barrier between Kelly and the majority of GOHS, it is easy to forget that she is a normal woman who has been shaped by her struggles of acceptance and perseverance of social stereotypes, just like everyone else. All her life Kelly has been trying to overcome the stigma that deaf people are less capable than hearing people. 

     Growing up deaf was not easy for Kelly. In order to communicate with the majority of the people in her life, she had to teach them ASL after herself being taught at a young age.

     “HARDEST LESSON FOR ME WAS TO WORK WITH HEARING PEOPLE BY TEACHING THEM SIGNS AT FIRST BUT THEN IT GOT BETTER”, Kelly said.  

     Throughout her life, people have treated her differently because she cannot hear, whether that be by talking to her as though she were a child, or by not speaking to her at all.

     In class, Kelly stresses the unfair treatment of hearing impaired citizens and the fact that they cannot enjoy simple pleasures because they are a minority not catered very to due to standing stigmas of incapability. 

“YES! PEOPLE TREAT ME LIKE I AM DUMB ALL THE TIME AND EVERYDAY,” Kelly said. 

     Needless to say, Kelly feels left out at times, even if done by staff unintentionally. The message she wants to send to all non-ASL students and staff members is to not worry about not speaking her language; she can speak yours. 

      Kelly learned how to speak when she was in high school by taking intensive speech therapy classes daily. Even though she impressively overcame this barrier, she found it difficult at first to feel comfortable and on the same level, so to speak, as the hearing people around her. Finding her confidence started with self-discovery. 

   “THE HARDEST LESSON I HAD TO LEARN WAS BEING MYSELF AND ACCEPTING WHO I AM BEING DEAF”, Kelly said. 

     Kelly is attempting to change the world one student at a time while simultaneously bettering the lives of other deaf individuals. Kelly hopes through her teaching, the world will feel less like an unaccepting wilderness and more like a doting home for deaf and hearing people alike.