Saint Paul, MN — Adrean Clark is breaking communication barriers as an American Sign Language-speaking (ASL) Deaf woman and forging her own path as an artist and writer. When she saw a scarcity of places for ASL Deaf creatives to publish their work, she co-founded a publishing company to showcase the work of sign language speakers, regardless of their hearing status. She also established an online dictionary for written ASL that eventually became the ASLwrite method. She now hopes to create opportunities for Deaf communities to heal from the trauma of linguicism. With her Bush Fellowship, she plans to pursue a Ph.D. at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, to expand her research on how ASL is represented on paper. She hopes her visual language approach will influence educators to incorporate culturally appropriate visual materials, and to allow the ASL Deaf community to feel confident in expressing themselves in written ASL and other sign language-centric mediums.
What has informed your approach to leading change in your community?
Leadership is a collaborative process; one needs to connect with others in a mutual exchange that brings change. In aural-centric languages like spoken English, one imagines the sound to reach other ears nearby, whether or not we see them. American Sign Language (ASL) is different. We depend on the visual feedback of others to continue our conversations. It is natural for us to take turns contributing to the collective discourse. We are present.
What is the thing you have done that you are most proud of?
The process of learning about my own neurodiversity helped me learn about the different layers of communication. It’s not language alone that connects us with other people — it’s a rich cornucopia of meaningful perspectives that deepen our consciousness as people. I deeply appreciate experiencing this learning process.
