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September 5, 2018
How my friends reacted when they found out about my hearing loss
September 8, 2018Two moms of children with hearing loss create Instagram account to help others learn sign language
Meagan Ackerman and Lana Wilson, are two mothers both raising children with hearing loss. The two mothers met on social media and decided to join together to create an account to teach their family and friends American Sign Language.
When Meagan and Lana first connected on social media, they discovered that they are both on similar journeys with their families. Despite living across the country from one another, they immediately clicked and came up with an idea to help their friends and family learn sign language to communicate with their children.
Learning about their children’s hearing loss
Megan has two sons with hearing loss. 5 years old moderate to severe and 11 month old with profound hearing loss
Both Meagan and Lana have two children with hearing loss. Meagan has two sons, one five-years-old and the other is 11 months old. The five-year-old has a moderate to severe hearing loss and the younger boy has a profound hearing loss.
Lana has a two and a half-year-old son with mild to moderate hearing loss and a 9-month-old daughter that is profoundly deaf.
Both Meagan and Lana’s children are learning spoken language and sign language. They wanted to provide an easy way for friends and family to learn signs that they could use to communicate with their children.
Creating an Instagram account together
The idea came about to tag team an Instagram account teaching basic sign language.
“Meagan reached out and said let’s create an Instagram account that way we can tag team it, and the people who really want to learn it can and our friends and family won’t get too annoyed with us on our personal Instagram accounts,” says Lana. “We also thought our story is cool. Two moms, various hearing levels, never met, now close.”
They also said that they wanted to provide a resource for other parents in a similar situation as them. About 90 percent of deaf children are born into hearing families, and Meagan and Lana want them to know they are not alone. Also, to educate them about total communication and the benefits of learning sign language.
Read more: How to Use ‘Total Communication’ When Educating Children with Hearing Loss
The account isn’t just for parents though, they encourage anyone learning sign language to follow their account!
“For anyone who would like to learn sign language to learn with us,” Meagan says. “We are new to the language so you won’t always find perfection, but we do hope to provide a fun learning place for anyone. Especially other moms with deaf or HOH kiddos!”
