Deaf Studies Lab at NTID

02/03/2021

Celebrating Black History Month with a discussion about Black American Sign Language (BASL)! Make sure to watch the documentary Signing Black in America (link below) and tag Black Deaf creators, advocates, and educators in the comments

Watch Signing Black here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiLltM1tJ9M&t=5s

01/23/2021

Dr. Joseph Hill, Director of the Deaf Studies Lab, was interviewed for this NYT piece on Black ASL! Great to see Black ASL getting the attention it deserves. Well done Dr. Hill. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/23/us/black-american-sign-language-tiktok.html?fbclid=IwAR1B6CIWNkbluO1BCFQ-zf01Emus4lryVgSDcmuNa2O01SVqWXYZg91Jwg0

On TikTok and in virtual hangouts, a younger generation is sharing the origins and nuances of Black American Sign Language, a rich variation of ASL that scholars say has been overlooked for too long.

08/21/2020

Our associate professor, Dr. Joseph Hill, will feature in the documentary "Signing Black in America" on Wednesday September 9, 2020.

It's the first virtual worldwide screening via YouTube to occur on September 9th at 12pm.

Below is the direct link to the YouTube Premiere page, it will show the documentary title and a countdown until the video goes live 9/9 at 12pm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5a5ioTRm3I&feature=youtu.be

Viewers will have the opportunity to "chat" during the screening and may post comments and questions. The production team will be in attendance and can respond within the chat on YouTube.

Please share with your family and friends!

Just like spoken languages, sign languages have dialect. Black ASL is the unique dialect of American Sign Language (ASL) that developed within historically s...

02/05/2020

Black History Month is an annual observance of contributions, achievements, and culture of black Americans. In K-12 education, black American contributions and events may not be acknowledged or taught, so Black History Month is a way to make sure that children from all walks of life know that black....

01/22/2020

Dr. Joseph Hill, from the RIT/NTID Research Center on Culture and Language, presented his intersectional approach to Black ASL at the University of Michigan to celebrate the Martin Luther Jr. Day of Service.

Image: Joseph wearing his navy sweater over his shirt and tie signing to the audience off camera

Joseph C. Hill, professor at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, spoke on the stigma surrounding sign language and the discrimination that follows on Friday evening. The University of Michigan Linguistics Department hosted the event, drawing an audience of about 200 students and professor...

12/16/2019

Joseph Hill is one of the associate producers of "Signing Black in America", the documentary that is the celebration of Black ASL based on the perspectives of students, entertainers, artists, educators, scholars, and interpreters.

-------------------- Promo for the forthcoming Talking Black in America episode: Signing Black in America. Music: '2 Above Zero' by Jason Shaw (CC) For more ...

10/16/2019

10/09/2019

Congrats to Joseph Hill on the Up and Coming PI Award.

Image: picture 1- Robert Pollard and the interpreters Cath, standing under the two projector screens showing a slide of Joseph standing besides two students in front of class and a headshot of Joseph and the title of the award underneath; picture 2 - two projector screens showing Joseph's appreciation video as the audience and the presenter look on

08/21/2019

All the RIT Tigers are back on campus but it's our first week back in the lab without Marchelle Francois! Thanks Marchelle for being such an amazing research assistant. We're really going to miss having you around.

04/12/2019

04/10/2019

Student researchers sharing their works with the community