Speaker
Description
The American education system has historically assumed that physics students can speak and hear, and has historically excluded signed languages and their users. Consequently, there is a dearth of conceptually accurate and linguistically appropriate signs for even basic technical concepts. This talk will provide a brief history of my (lack of) access to education and being the first Deaf in the world to get a PhD in particle physics. Along the way, I've been developing words in American Sign Language and training my sign language interpreters to ensure accurate, complete communication. These developed signs can also benefit non-signers by changing how particle physicists communicate and collaborate in a large international experiment among colleagues of diverse backgrounds, cultures, and languages.
