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Posted June
24, 2005
ASL Bill is Signed by Governor Blunt |
Governor Blunt signed into law HB 530 at a public
signing ceremony this afternoon in his office in the Capitol
Building in Jefferson City, Missouri. The law becomes effective on
August 28, 2005, and will require that American Sign Language be
counted toward satisfaction of any foreign language or language arts
requirements in any public school or public institution of higher
education in Missouri, and for meeting entrance requirements of any
public institution of higher education in Missouri.
This means that deaf students with ASL as a native language will no
longer have to struggle with the near impossible task of trying to
learn an oral language like French or German in order to get
admitted to a public college or university in Missouri. Also many
deaf ASL speakers will no longer necessarily have to go out of state
to get admitted to a college. Rather, they can go to college closer
to home and pay cheaper in-state tuition rates. CODAs will no longer
be required to learn three languages in order to be admitted to
public universities in Missouri. Instead, they can use their native
language (ASL) to satisfy any foreign language entrance requirement
at any public university in Missouri. Hearing students at community
colleges in Missouri now have an incentive to take ASL classes as
they can use ASL to meet language requirements when transferring to
4-year public universities. Parents of deaf students now have an
incentive for asking their local school board to add ASL classes to
their high school curricula as their children can now proficiency
those classes and use the credits to satisfy college entrance
requirements. And hearing members of the general public will benefit
from this bill as more and more people learn to communicate with ASL
speakers. High schools now have an incentive to add ASL classes to
their curricula, as their students can now use that language to
satisfy college entrance requirements. And Missouri colleges and
universities will potentially benefit from increased enrollments and
greater linguistic and cultural diversity on their campuses. All in
all, it's a "win win" situation for everyone concerned. |
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For more information about legislation/issues,
contact
MCDHH@mcdhh.mo.gov
This report is being posted by the Missouri Commission for the
Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
6-24-05 |
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