/NORTHERNIOWAN
UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA
CEDAR FALLS, IA
@NORTHERNIOWAN
WWW.NORTHERNIOWAN.COM
CEDAR FALLS, IA
THURSDAY, APRIL 5
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2024
VOLUME 114, ISSUE 42
VOLUME 121, ISSUE 7
Deaf Culture in the Cedar Valley
COURTESY/UNI PHOTOSHELTER
UNI Deaf Cultural Experience (DCE) is a student organization that promotes awareness and appreciation to Deaf culture throughout the University of Northern Iowa campus and surrounding community.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
CAMPUS LIFE
Estelle Johnson discusses how pets play a role in the lives of students at UNI. SEE PAGE 6
SPORTS
UNI volleyball dominated in their matches this past weekend. SEE PAGE 11
BAILEY KLINKHAMMER Executive Editor
The Communication Arts Center on campus is host to a myriad of classes and activities, like UNITheatre, the communication disorders program and even a branch of Iowa Public Radio. It’s also home to the American Sign Language (ASL) courses taught by Professor Katie O’Brien, who teaches different levels of ASL in both the fall and spring semesters. O’Brien also hosts the Deaf Cultural Experience (DCE) club on campus as an effort to connect students with the Deaf community of the Cedar Valley. O’Brien has taught ASL at UNI for eleven years, and is now the sole professor teaching ASL. Over the course of her eleven years at UNI, she’s seen many changes within DCE in an effort to let students know why they’re on campus. “When I first started at UNI, they [DCE] were actually called the ASL club, and students voted to change the name. We would often have people come in and be like, ‘Hi, I”m here to learn ASL as well.’ Do students do that to the Spanish club? No, but for some reason ASL is not given the same equal footing as spoken languages often,” said O’Brien. “So, the officers decided to change the name
because their goal is not to teach ASL, but their goal is to spread Deaf culture awareness on campus.” One of DCE’s biggest goals is to create an artificial Deaf-like environment, so students aren’t taking over Deaf spaces, but also have a space to practice ASL with the Deaf community. Renee Gram, a junior at UNI and a student who’s experienced hearing loss, expressed just how important having DCE on campus has been for her. “Being a part of DCE has affected my time for the greater at UNI ... getting in contact with Katie O’Brien several years ago and being a valuable person throughout my college career, it has helped me to feel more accepted, feel more like home, a place where I belong and can be authentically myself without the fear of being misunderstood,” said Gram. “Everyone is at all ranges of ASL, just learning to be patient with those that actually want to dedicate their time to deepening their knowledge and practicing ASL, and practice makes perfect. Being involved with DCE has allowed me to be more open-minded with the people who ACTUALLY want to learn ASL, and not just for fun.” O’Brien has worked to integrate DCE into her curriculum as well, making sure that ASL students are interacting
with Deaf culture while they learn to sign. “I’ll be honest, I don’t know that it’s necessarily important for people to know a little bit of ASL. I think it’s more important that they know how to interact with Deaf people,” said O’Brien. “The first thing I usually tell people is Deaf people have been interacting with hearing people their entire lives, so even if this is your first encounter with a Deaf person, they know what to do. Let them take the lead on communication.” O’Brien also noted the importance of the burden of communication and how important it is to share the burden equally. While hearing people are able to voice to text what they want to say, Deaf people would still have to read and type back what they want to say. “Finding ways where the burden of communication is equal is often what I teach people about interacting with Deaf people,” said O’Brien. DCE works to allow students to learn more about the Deaf community and creates a space for students to practice and experience Deaf culture first hand. “It is also a community that tries to establish a boundary between the hearing community and the Deaf community. The hearing community is constantly learning more about the Deaf community; their culture, their val See CULTURE, page 3
COURTESY/DCE
News brief UNI guest speaker explores cancer risks from agricultural chemicals CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — Renowned environmental writer and biologist Sandra Steingraber will present “Contaminated Without Consent: Cancer, Agricultural Chemicals & Human Rights,” from 6 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 16 in 002 Sabin Hall on the University of Northern Iowa campus.