The Council of Academic Affairs will vote on a motion to offer American Sign Language courses as a foreign language Thursday night. We at The Daily Eastern News fully support having a new foreign language option for students. Having American Sign Language courses would give students a new option for their foreign language requirements and could be beneficial for students in the future.

Eastern offering American Sign Language courses would especially benefit any student majoring in communication disorders and sciences. Communication disorders and sciences have to take American Sign Language courses even though it isn’t currently available on-campus. 

Every student who has previously majored in communication disorders and sciences has had to go to Lake Land College in order to complete the required courses. For some students traveling to Lake Land for class might be a hassle or students may not have an available car to get there.

Offering American Sign Language would be a wonderful additional foreign language because according to the Communication Service for the Deaf, American Sign Language is the main form of communication for around 1 million Americans and Canadians of all ages.

Also, according to Human Rights Watch, over 70 million deaf people use sign language to communicate. However, it isn’t just deaf or hard-of-hearing people who use sign language; people with speech disorders, autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, non-selective mutism, selective mutism and more use sign language to be able to communicate with others. 

American Sign Language is an important language to have available for everyone regardless of major requirements. There are so many people in the world using Sign Language, and they deserve to be heard even when they don’t speak.