Community Education

American Sign Language group offers chance for communities to connect

Posted on August 11th, 2025 By: Marsha Hart

When Beth Ferguson met Marie Lisa at an American Sign Language meetup in Silverdale, they hit it off.

Ferguson is involved in meetups throughout the region, including Port Townsend, Sequim and Lakewood. Lisa is a Gig Harbor resident, and both of them thought the local community needed a meetup.

They founded the group three months ago, and it grew quickly. An average of 15 Deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing people show up each week. Sometimes as many as 20 attend to chat using ASL, learn new signs and connect with each other.

Ocean5 recently invited the group to meet at its The Cup Coffee Lounge, which will become their permanent location for the foreseeable future.

The Gig Harbor ASL Chats group started only three months ago and has continued to grow. The group now meets from 1 to 3 p.m. Wednesdays and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the third Saturday of each month to 1 p.m. at The Cup Coffee Lounge at Ocean5. Photo courtesy of Marie Lisa

Weekly meetings

Ferguson, who is Deaf, grew up in a hearing household. She and Lisa, who is hearing, planned to meet once a month. But people emailed Lisa wanting to meet more often. The group now meets from 1 to 3 p.m. every Wednesday, as well as from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the third Saturday of every month.

Lisa said that she has always wanted an inclusive community. She sees the group as a chance for the hearing and Deaf communities to connect.

“There’s no reason that hearing people can’t know a few signs,” she said. “It’s hugely important for us to understand. I’ve learned a lot about Deaf culture and a lot of signs.”

Another group member, Kristina Howell, wants to learn more ASL to better communicate with her Deaf nephew.

“He was born deaf, and he lives in Canada,” Howell said. “I fly there and go through a lot to get there, and we also Zoom biweekly so that I can talk to him. We use ASL. His mother died a year ago, and I started on my own learning, until this group started. Thank God I found it.”

Learning new signs

Stepanie Shapiro has been using ASL for years, but said she’s learned new signs since joining the group. As with the English speaking language, new words are added and some grow into disuse, she said.

“I’m learning a lot of new signs that I didn’t know,” Shapiro said. “It’s fun.”

The group has been an immersion into the language for Melanie Allen. She said she’s just begun to dive into learning ASL, though she has wanted to learn for a long time.

“I’m very new,” she said. “It feels right. I’ve been interested for decades and I’m trying to learn more, and as a hearing person I have a lot to learn from ASL. It’s more to the point. We don’t say a lot of words in ASL, like ‘the.’”

While the meetups offer a great opportunity to practice ASL, Brenden Callender, who is hard of hearing, said that it is important for a Deaf person to have a Deaf teacher. And he said it is rare to find one.

“It gives the benefit of history, culture, and there are so many reasons it is important,” he said. “They have the experience of the deaf world.”

Different sign languages

He pointed out that there is a difference between ASL and another sign language called Pidgin Signed English, or PSE. Each has a different grammatical rules and sentence structure, with ASL using more complete sentences. While PSE uses ASL signs, Callender said that PSE is a combination of English and ASL.

And, the group pointed out, someone who comes from the East Coast using ASL can have completely different signs than someone from the West Coast.

“They have different accents,” Ferguson said.

It takes time to gain proficiency in ASL, said Emmett Hassen, who is Deaf.

“It depends on how fast they learn, but it takes between two to four years of learning,” Hassen said. “And on average it takes three to four years to become an interpreter.”

He also said that the term hearing impaired is not acceptable anymore. The Deaf community does not recognize that term, he said.

‘All are welcome here’

In addition to chatting, the group is focused on learning, though Lisa said that the meetup isn’t a class.

“All are welcome here,” Ferguson said. “We have had some homeschool groups attend. We have people who know the alphabet, and numbers, and some who are fluent. Some are hearing, some hard of hearing, some are Deaf. And all are welcome.”

For more information about the group, text Marie Lisa at 360-223-3670. The Gig Harbor ASL Chats group also posts meeting days and times in the Gig Harbor Now online calendar.