DEAF Hands Speak is a new organization on campus this year that aims to promote deaf-friendly culture and teach sign language, as well as forge bonds with the deaf community of Tuscaloosa. It is the only organization of its kind at the University.

“The biggest thing is making sign language and deaf culture a bigger thing on campus,” President Delphanie Wu, a sophomore studying communicative disorders, said.

DEAF Hands Speak will host their first Deaf Chat of the year on August 31 at 1:30 p.m. in the Ferguson Center. Deaf Chats are an opportunity for students to learn and practice sign language with their peers. Those interested in joining the organization can attend an informational meeting on September 2 at 5 p.m. in Reese Phifer 104C.

DEAF is an acronym standing for development, education, accessibility and fellowship. They want to make the student body more aware of deafness and other hearing issues. By teaching sign language, they hope students will take an interest and make communication with their deaf peers easier.

Creating a sense of community is key to the organization. According to Vice President McKenzie Porcelli, a senior studying communicative disorders, DEAF Hands Speak wants to start programs off-campus that will connect students to the deaf community of Tuscaloosa.

“That’s our main goal, to bring awareness and to break down that barrier between the hearing and deaf communities here,” Porcelli said.

A long-term goal of DEAF Hands Speak is to add an American sign language course to the university. The organization has begun to make plans for the process of adding the course.

“I think it is a long process, but the first step is having a student group that shows interest in it, starting the conversation,” said Darrin Griffin, faculty advisor and professor of communication studies. “In the future, it’ll just be doing small things to implement it.”

Griffin acts as an expert and mentor for the organization. As a child of deaf parents, and a deaf studies major in college, Griffin has been heavily involved with deaf culture his whole life. He was also an instructor at Gallaudet University, a school for the deaf, in Washington, D.C.

“I’m heavily rooted in the deaf community and deaf research,” Griffin said. “So I act as a consultant or an expert.”

Currently, DEAF Hands Speak is under a provisionary term as an organization. Because of this, they are seeking to grow their membership. Many of their members now are studying communicative disorders or special education. However, Porcelli said they would love to have a diverse range of studies within their organization.

“We have to pass this month, do everything we are supposed to, then after that we can start applying for funds from the SGA,” Wu said.