They learned that farts are audible in this fun classroom moment which also highlights the lack of accessibility for those who are deaf.
For people with hearing impairment, knowledge about certain norms does not come as easily as it does for people who can hear. A teacher highlighted this gap in her Facebook post.
Anna Trupiano is a grade-1 teacher at a school of deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing students. She prepares the kids for the world and ensures that they face challenges head-on. Trupiano shared a hilarious incident that happened with her 6-year-old deaf student, who farted in class.
The deaf student let one rip in class, and other students who could hear turned to them and started laughing. The deaf students had no idea that farts made a sound, so they looked perplexed as to why their peers were laughing at them.
Trupiano explained to her students that farts can be heard loud and clear. Some farts are loud and some are not. This basic knowledge came as a surprise for deaf students.
Trupiano wrote in her Facebook post, "Today in 1st grade, one of my deaf students farted loudly in class, and other students turned to look at them. The following is a snippet of a 15-minute conversation that happened entirely in American Sign Language among a group of Deaf students."
The boy looked around and asked in sign language, "Why are they looking at me?" Anna explained that the class had heard his fart and the kid was shocked. "What do you mean?!?!" he asked in sign language.
She explained that farts are audible. The innocent kid was horrified to hear the news.
"So you can hear and smell all the farts?" the kid asked. "Some of the farts, yes. Not all of them," Trupiano replied. It intrigued them. "How do you know which farts they can hear and which farts they can't?" asked one student.
Trupiano pondered for an answer and said, "Hmmm, you know how sometimes you can feel your butt move when you fart? A lot of those they can hear. But if your butt doesn't move, it's more likely they didn't hear it."
The embarrassed kid responded, "Tell them to stop listening to my farts. That is not nice." The teacher told him it was not a choice. "Hearing kids can't stop hearing farts; it just happens." The boy quickly said, "I will stop farting then."
Anna informed the kid that farting was healthy. "Everyone farts; it is healthy. You can't stop," she said. The confused kid asked, "Wait. Everyone? Even my mom? My Dad?"
"Yes," the teacher responded. The kids then asked if Trupiano also farts; she affirmed, and her students laughed out loud.
The kid's imagination turned wild, "Can hearing people see farts?" A fellow student jumped in and said, "Yeah. Green smoke comes out of their butt. I saw it on TV."
Trupiano cleared the confusion and called it a mere exaggeration, saying: "That doesn't happen in real life."
The conversation may have been funny, but the issue of accessibility is grave in the deaf community. Society does not cater to people with hearing impairment.
Trupiano told GOOD, "I know it started with farts, but the real issue is that many of my students aren't able to learn about these things at home or from their peers because they don't have the same linguistic access. So many of my students don't have families who can sign well enough to explain so many things it is incredibly isolating for these kids."
She hopes her funny teaching moment inspires people to learn more about sign language and make society more empathetic towards the needs of the deaf.
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