Study Abroad

My Experience While Abroad

During the summer of 2025, I participated in Clemson’s “Life of a Signer: A Deaf Person’s Perspective.” Over three weeks, I had the opportunity to study in two countries and five cities. The program intended to criticize the management of signed language and language policies in various nations. As well as to investigate the effects of language, language policy, and ASL as they relate to the goals of human rights and democracy through both overt and covert international language policy. 

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Led by the expertise of Deaf Adventures, a Deaf founded and led tour group, we began our journey in Wellington, New Zealand. New Zealand stands as a beacon for sign language users worldwide, as in 2006, the New Zealand Parliament recognized New Zealand Sign Language as one of the three national languages. While in Wellington, we met with representatives involved in all levels of government, including Deaf Aotearoa, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Disabled People: NZSL Advisory Board, and even visited Parliament to enter the chambers where NZSL policy was ratified. We met the most prominent figures in NZSL policy writing and research, including David McKee, Rachel McKee, and Victoria Manning.

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As we continued our travels across New Zealand, we visited Rotorua and Auckland to analyze deaf education and the intersections between NZSL and Māori Culture: crucial pillars of the life of a signer in New Zealand. 

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Māori is the second of New Zealand’s three national languages, preserving rich tradition and genealogy within the large indigenous population. While visiting the Kelston Deaf Education Centre, we were welcomed into New Zealand’s only Deaf Marae, a sacred meeting house and core of all community and religious gatherings. I was encapsulated in the vulnerability and embrace as we experienced the powhiri, Marae welcome ceremony. Each custom prioritized respect and connection. Even more, all in NZSL created a bond of immense power founded on values greater than the differences separating individuals.

After ten exhilarating days in New Zealand, we traveled to our final country, Australia, to gain an additional perspective to compare to our experiences in New Zealand and America. While in New Zealand, we were able to visit several Deaf Clubs, the heart of vibrant signing communities across the world; now more than ever, Australian signers struggle to stay connected as Australian Deaf Clubs have dissolved. 

While we observed the impact of displaced communities in Australia, we also recognized hope in the educational opportunity afforded to new generations at Victoria College for the Deaf. As Australia’s only remaining K-12 school for deaf students, VCD offers primary and secondary courses and vocational training in customer service, hospitality, sewing, gardening, etc. VCD also partners with Science Gallery Melbourne to offer students innovative STEM courses completed in four-week cycles, including excursion visits to the STEM Centre of Excellence to apply their learning. VCD also requires that all students be taught Auslan, Australian Sign Language.

Identifying the privilege of accessibility was also a priority while abroad. While America is fortunate to have the Americans with Disabilities Act, which ensures effective communication and equal access to public accommodations, employment, and government via the provision of services such as qualified interpreters, closed-captioning, relay services, etc., it does not recognize ASL on an official policy level. We expected that the barriers preventing access to sign language would be minimized in New Zealand as NZSL achieved this accreditation in 2006. Instead, we realized that although more than .5% of New Zealand citizens utilize NZSL daily, barriers to accessible communication exist in the number of qualified interpreters. Nevertheless, in Australia, distinct barriers persist in that National Disability Insurance Scheme funding is allocated directly to deaf consumers. Thus, access to services such as sign language interpreters, early intervention, occupational therapy, or assistive technology is completely exempt from government oversight, as they are in America and New Zealand. 

To define an experience in which so much was accomplished, the only word capable is “lucky.” How lucky am I to have had access to one of only three total study abroad programs in the United States supporting Deaf and ASL students in an immersive environment? To have had an education at Clemson that prepared me for such an opportunity, surrounded by the most intelligent minds. To have consistent access to not one but three sign languages. Moreover, to have been welcomed so graciously by each culture and community, so that I may begin to understand their experiences. Not only this, but we have also initiated international relationships in the sign language community as the first class-for-class exchange in New Zealand and Australia. I am proud to have been involved in something much larger than me. Thus, although only three short weeks, the awareness and inspiration gained from participating in the “Life of a Signer” program will apply to everything I pursue. My life is and will forever be the life of a signer.