American Sign Language club members watched as club president, Brynna Hardiman signed common Thanksgiving words at a club meeting Tuesday. Members shouted “Bingo!” as they learned the festive signs.
Hardiman, a junior at IU, has two deaf parents and grew up communicating in both ASL and English, though she’s not deaf herself. Now, at IU, she’s teaching others how to communicate in sign language as president of the ASL club.
“ASL was my first language,” Hardiman said. “I was raised bilingually, I learned how to speak English and sign ASL at the same time.”
The ASL club has had a presence at Indiana University for over a decade. Led by ASL Senior Lecturer Debbie Gessinger for the past nine years, the ASL club aims to be a safe place where hearing and deaf students can practice their sign language in a social setting.
“My goal for this club is to promote community outreach, service and give students meaningful ways to help others,” Gessinger said in an email. “I hope members feel proud of their work and help raise awareness of ASL and Deaf culture. Everyone is welcome to join, whether or not they know ASL.”
The club immerses students in deaf culture through playing games, learning new signs and learning about the origins of ASL. Depending on the day, anywhere from five to 25 members attend meetings and events. At the Tuesday meeting, club members played bingo and learned about the origins of American Sign Language, and its roots in Native American history.
Freshman Audrey Wasmer is new to the club this semester but not new to sign language. Wasmer has been learning ASL for three years and plans to be a member of the ASL club for as long as she is a student at IU.
“My favorite part is how it’s very immersive, and we play a lot of games, so it’s very fun,” Wasmer said. “It just feels like a safe place.”
Hardiman has been president of the ASL club since 2024 after taking over the position her sophomore year. In high school, she and her mother ran the school’s ASL club together.
As a hearing child born to two deaf parents, Hardiman hopes to bring awareness to deaf culture and educate people about her community.
“While I am hearing, this is still my community,” Hardiman said. “This is still my language. It’s my culture too, and it’s something that I’m really proud of, and so I like being able to share that with other people.”
At the Student Involvement Fair at the beginning of the semester, Hardiman said there were people from “every walk of life” asking about the ASL club. She said she enjoyed meeting new people, including other children of deaf adults, also known as CODAs.
“We’ll meet deaf people, deaf students that attend IU,” Hardiman said. “I have met multiple other CODAs that I like, never knew were out there. The deaf community is very small. So, you can only imagine that the CODA community is even smaller.”
This fall is freshman Yessenia Benitez’s first semester in the club, but she has been exposed to ASL her whole life.
“I’ve been practicing since I was little,” Benitez said. “My grandparents are deaf, so I wanted to get a sense of home and come here and practice my sign, I didn't want to lose it.”
For Benitez, her favorite part of the club is the games they play and the sense of community it has offered her.
“I want ASL club to be a space where like people of all walks of life can come together and we can just kind of bond over the fact that we all have a passion for this language,” Hardiman said. “But also, a passion for understanding deaf people that created this language.”
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct an official title.
