Recently, there has been a push in the local deaf community to increase the use of American Sign Language beyond the deaf and hard of hearing.

At Olathe Public Schools, high schoolers have the opportunity to take ASL courses. Jared Mnich teaches ASL at Olathe Northwest High School. Students start by learning the alphabet and move up to basic conversation skills. But Mnich wants the lesson to go beyond the language.

“Ensure that these kids after high school understand not just basic communications skills with the deaf community as well as the needs, trials, tribulations and successes, most importantly the successes of the deaf community,” said Jared Mnich. “A community that often goes overlooked, undermined and is misrepresented across all forms of media.”

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