Due to a lack of American Sign Language (ASL) education at Lebanon Trail High School, a club was started in order to bring awareness to deaf culture and the language itself.

Wajiha Qureshi, a legally hard of hearing student at Lebanon Trail and the one behind the new club, has shared her reasoning for starting it.

“When I moved to Frisco, they did not have the ASL class, and that’s why I decided to start a club,” Qureshi said.

She feels the club will help more students become aware of how to support their classmates with hearing disabilities.

“We have to support deaf culture, I want everyone to understand about [sic] sign language,” Qureshi said.

She has also expressed that living with a disability can be challenging in a world where most people do not commonly know American Sign Language, giving even more reason to start a club to educate students.

“It’s hard to fit in, it’s hard to understand what people are saying, and it’s hard to hear,” Qureshi said.

The ASL club’s sponsor Coach Ashley House has also shared that she feels the club will impact the school in a positive way. 

“I think really it would [sic] add some inclusiveness to our school,” House said.

She hopes the club will make people with disabilities at our school feel more supported and seen by other students.

“So if we have more students that know sign language, then that can help include a lot of people,” House said.

Ruby Denson, a senior who recently joined the ASL club, shared her excitement about learning more about the language as well.

“I think that these people who can’t hear, that they’ve somehow created this like language that they can all communicate with, I think that’s really cool,” Denson said, “and I think more people should learn about it.”