New Legislation Allows American Sign Language To Satisfy Foreign Language Requirements

This week, Republican lawmakers passed legislation that allows American Sign Language to be used to satisfy foreign language requirements in Tennessee high schools.

House Bill 462, known as the American Sign Language bill, was initiated by Molly Ridgeway — a nonverbal student at Maryville College — and her boyfriend, Joshua Anderson.

The legislation allows any high school student who enrolls in an American Sign Language course to use the credit they earn to satisfy foreign language requirements needed for graduation. Currently, more than 180 colleges and universities accept American Sign Language as a foreign language credit from incoming high school graduates.

Estimates show there are approximately 500,000 Tennesseans who are deaf or hard of hearing, many of whom use sign language to communicate.

Supporters of the legislation hope the bill will help to improve communication between verbal and nonverbal Tennesseans and lead to job growth for future nonverbal educators.

Forty other states have already passed similar measures.

The full text of House Bill 287 can be accessed by visiting the Tennessee General Assembly website at: http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/110/Bill/HB0462.pdf.