How can museums help develop the ASL vocabulary?
The Whitney Museum is using the Vlog Project to make its collection accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing visitors and is working with the deaf community to help with the development of ASL vocabulary.
Under the title of The Vlog Project, the Whitney Museum makes short videos (vlogs) in which deaf museum educators communicating in American Sign Language explain exhibitions and modern art. The vlogs are co-produced by a team of museum educators who are deaf, and directors, cameramen, educators and media specialists who are hearing.
No only do the vlogs make the museum’s collection accessible to the deaf and hard-of-hearing visitors, they enable the deaf community to participate in the discussion about expanding the ASL vocabulary. The deaf and hearing impaired are able to share their unique points of view and take an active role in the collaborative creative process. This allows create accessible content to be created with deaf people for deaf people.
The Whitney Museum hopes that this can serve as an example for other institutions to co-create with their deaf and hard-of-hearing visitors. The museum sees this as a crucial step towards raising the visibility and empowerment of the deaf community.
For more information, please visit https://whitney.org/Education/Access/Vlogs. For content-related details, please contact Madison Zalopany, Coordinator of Access and Community Programs via madison_zalopany@whitney.org or +1 (212) 671-1823.
Watch the vlogs at https://whitney.org/WatchAndListen/Access.
