Challenge

Suppose that you’re a very physically expressive person, and use hand movements, facial expressions, and gestures as part of your normal presentation style. Sometimes you use body language to convey critical information— to emphasize or downplay the importance of a point, to indicate disappointment with a student’s response, or even to call a class to order.

Deaf and hard-of-hearing students, because they have become vigilant to movement as an information source, are drawn to your movements. In the classroom, however, if deaf students are not watching the interpreter or captioning because of professor movement, they may be missing important information. Alternately, deaf students who are watching the interpreter or captioning exclusively may miss those additional clues that you convey through gesture and expression.

Strategies

We’re not asking you to give up what may be the essence of your presentation style; however, when deaf and hard-of-hearing students are in your classes you’re going to have to adapt. Here are suggestions:

• If you are demonstrating something with your hands (such as a calculator) wait for the interpreter or captionist to direct the students’ gaze to you, then do the demonstration, pause, and finally redirect the students to the interpreter or captionist.

• When you want students’ attention to a presentation detail do not rely on physical movement only; instead voice a comment with the detail. While interpreters are able to capture and incorporate body language that they see, they may not be positioned to view your subtle nuances of movement. However, what you say is interpreted or captioned to deaf and hard-of-hearing students, providing them with the same access to this information that hearing students have.

• Try to limit hand and body movement that does not signal where students should look, or that isn’t used to communicate content. Make movement, especially hand movement, purposeful.