Hi. I’m Paulette and I’m so happy that you chose ASL.

I’m from Cajun country in Louisiana and I’m a mom to teenagers & fur babies.

I’ve taught many different subjects and grade levels over the years, including English to kids in China through the internet. But my college background is actually Theater Education and Deaf Education from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. With regards to ASL, I’ve taught it at both the High School level and the Community College level and I sign with a Texas accent even though I’m from Louisiana. (Yes! – ASL has accents or regional signs. Just like all natural languages.)

I was inspired to go into Deaf Education because I have a deaf cousin who is an Oral Deaf. She doesn’t sign. But we were inseparable during family gatherings. At Lamar University, I found a mini Deaf World and I was later diagnosed with CAPD, Central Auditory Processing Disorder, and then it made perfect sense as to why I feel more comfortable in the Deaf World than in the Hearing World. – Even though my ears “hear” everything, my brain is actually hardwired to be more like a Hard of Hearing person because sound confuses it so often. I adopted a more Hard of Hearing lifestyle and then I realized just how much I had been missing and not realizing I was missing for the first 22 years of my life.

This is the reason why I actually prefer to teach ASL over any other subject. CAPD puts me at an advantage for teaching ASL, Deaf Studies, and all things Deaf because it is more natural to me than auditory languages. So I’m an excellent teacher for ASL, but I highly recommend that the further you go in your ASL journey to try to get a Deaf instructor for advanced ASL.

In short my ears are hearing, my brain is Hard of Hearing, but my heart – my heart is Deaf.

I’m so happy you chose to learn ASL. And know that once you master it, there’s over 300 natural signed languages throughout the world, so there are several other visual languages that you can learn. – Happy Signing!!! – Paulette – Bye.