La Educación e Identidad de Niños Sordos Españoles: Un estudio comparando con los Estados Unidos. The Education and Identity of Deaf Spanish Children: A Study in Comparison to The United States.

As a part of the community service component of the SIT: Spain: Language, Culture and Social Changes, I was afforded the opportunity to work at a local school assisting students in learning and practicing English. In my opinion, the most beneficial part of this community service project was working with a deaf girl and the exposure I received to Spanish Sign Language, the Spanish deaf community and their culture. With my background as a Deaf Studies major, I have been given a wealth of knowledge and experience with the American deaf community and I used this knowledge to compare to my experiences and the newly gained information that I possess of the Spanish deaf community. In this essay, I have remarked on the similarities and differences between the linguistics of each sign language, the education system for deaf children, the laws that affect deaf individuals and the culture and identity of deaf people in the United States and Spain. My supervisor at my community service placement assisted me in acquiring the needed information about Spain’s community and the experiences interacting with deaf children. This community service project has sparked my interest further in Spanish sign language, as well as, the connections and interactions between different deaf cultures around the world