DILA Works to Break Down Barriers During Deaf Awareness Month

WICOMICO COUNTY, Md. — September marks Deaf Awareness Month, and a Maryland-based nonprofit is working to break down barriers and misconceptions surrounding the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.

The Deaf Independent Living Association, also known as DILA, supports individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing, including some who are deaf-blind and have developmental or intellectual disabilities.

As part of its outreach, DILA hosts a deaf luncheon every other Sunday at the Salisbury Mall, giving members of the community a chance to gather, communicate and connect.

DILA Executive Director Mike Purkey said the events also give people who may not be familiar with the deaf community an opportunity to see that communication may look different, but the people are not.

“We host a deaf luncheon every other Sunday at the mall, and I always get a lot of interested people looking on. If it’s all these people signing, doing the same thing that they do every day,” Purkey said. “and that’s, you know, the takeaway from all of it is they’re just folks who communicate differently than you and I.”

Purkey said DILA works to make those interactions as comfortable as possible, with staff available to help bridge communication gaps.

The nonprofit also offers American Sign Language classes twice a year for members of the community and its staff.

While some people may assume ASL is universal, Purkey said that isn’t the case.

“Everybody signs a little differently. Every region is different. There are accents depending on where you’re from. And every country signs differently. So it’s not a universal language,” Purkey said.

Purkey said another goal is to challenge misconceptions about what deaf people can and cannot do.

“People make assumptions that they can’t do certain things, which is not true,” Purkey said. “They work the same jobs as you and I. They do the same things that you and I, they attend the same events as you and I.”

He encouraged people to approach members of the deaf community the same way they would anyone else.

“So just try not to treat them any differently than you treat anyone else in your day-to-day life,” Purkey said.