Why I Decided to Learn ASL

      ASL or better known as American Sign Lanugage is pretty much what it says it is...sign language.
I don't know anyone near me or anything like that who is deaf, so what reason would I have to learn is?

        The first reason is I live about 13 blocks away from the Kansas School for the Deaf, so there is always a chance I could run into someone from there and need to communicate. My second reason is always looked over.

        Before I get into detail about my second reason, i'm going to give some background on why I'm making this post. I have been getting some hate for deciding to learn ASL.I'm not entirely sure why because it is offered as a class at my school. I'm not taking the class because I don't have room in my schedule, but I have other means to learn the language.   I have been told that I have no reason to learn because I don't know anyone who is deaf and that it's offensive in that manner.  If you are deaf and reading this blog and find me learning ASL offensive, please tell me because I don't particularly agree with that notion.

       My second reason for learning ASL has to do with me as a person. I suffer from social anxiety. I'm by far not one of the worse cases, but it's there. I find myself speaking less and less at home, at school, at church. I will not go as far as saying I suffer from mutism because that is absolutely not the case. I was reading a book the other day on Wattpad ( I have forgotten the name) that was about a person who suffered from mutism because they were so depressed that they believed that they were too worthless to speak, so they used sign language. I became enamored with this because there are so many times that I would like to display my thoughts, but I don't want to use verbal words.  There are so many times a day where I wish that everyone would shut up.

      I began to research mutism and I found that there are several different kinds.

      Did you know that less than 2% of the world population speaks sign language?  How many people out there are mute and have no way to communicate?

   I decided to learn sign language to help the people who suffer from mutism find their voices.