E10: Language Without Limits: The ASL Friends Journey

What makes Kimberly Nussbaum with ASL Friends a good neighbor?  

Have you ever wondered about the profound impact of early language development on a child's future? When Kimberly Nussbaum took American Sign Language as a college requirement, she couldn't have imagined how it would transform not only her life but countless others in the Deaf community.

The remarkable journey of ASL Friends begins with a stroke of serendipity—Kimberly, newly moved to Pittsburgh and working as an interpreter, was randomly assigned to interpret for a keynote speaker who turned out to be Fred Rogers himself. This fateful meeting allowed her to share her vision of creating sign language versions of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood for deaf children. What started as a "cute idea" quickly evolved into a profound mission when Kimberly learned that deaf high school students graduate with an average fourth-grade reading level, severely limiting their educational and career opportunities.

This passionate nonprofit team—Kimberly, Susan Miller, and Laura Clark—now creates immersive ASL programming that enables deaf children and their families to learn up to 70 signs from a single episode. Working with award-winning Deaf producer James DeBee, they've developed a pilot special edition of Mister Rogers' ASL Friends specifically designed for deaf children ages 1-3, a critical period for language acquisition. Their work tackles widespread misconceptions about sign language while addressing the serious consequences of language deprivation in the Deaf community.

ASL Friends embodies the belief that American Sign Language is "for all brains"—beneficial not just for deaf individuals but for anyone with a visual learning style. Whether you're curious about learning ASL yourself, know a family who might benefit from their programming, or simply want to support their mission, visit www.aslfriends.org to discover how this Pittsburgh nonprofit is bridging communication gaps and changing lives one sign at a time.

To learn more about ASL Friends go to: 

https://www.aslfriends.org/

ASL Friends

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Lila Carter.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of a nonprofitto foster early language
acquisition for young children?
One might be closer than youthink.
Today I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good neighbors
Kim Nussbaum, susan Miller andLaura Clark.
How's it going?
Great, happy to be here, thankyou.

(00:37):
Thank you all for being here.
We're excited to learn allabout you and your organization.
So tell us about the business.

Speaker 4 (00:46):
Sure.
So hi Lila, hi everyone.
Thanks so much for inviting ASLFriends to be part of the Good
Neighbor podcast.
We are super excited to be here.
Asl Friends is an all-volunteer, grassroots nonprofit
organization that began inPittsburgh.
Our mission is to foster earlylanguage acquisition for deaf

(01:08):
children while supporting theirfamily communication, primarily
through immersive educationalprogramming in American Sign
Language.
Our current cornerstone project, it's a one week special
edition of Mr Rogers ASL Friends, designed especially for deaf

(01:29):
children and their families.
It's a heartfelt initiativeinspired by the legacy of Mr
Rogers and the vision of ourfounder and president Kimber.
We are honored to work withJames DeBee.
We are honored to work withJames DeBee.
He's an award-winning fan.
He'll be leading thisproduction.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
We are a passionate organization that is sustained
by the generosity of our donors.
Excellent, how did you?

Speaker 3 (02:01):
get into this business?
I'll take that question.
My name's Kimberly, I'm thefounder and that's such a great
question, and it started a longtime ago.
But I did enter in it throughAmerican Sign Language.
At the time I was living inArizona and took American Sign
Language as my foreign languagerequirement.
We moved back to Pittsburgh andas a young mom a new mom I was

(02:25):
reintroduced to Mr Rogers'Neighborhood and had a very
emotional reaction.
It was a little bitoverwhelming and I didn't quite
understand why this childhoodprogram of my history was
causing me such emotion.
But that connection, I began torealize how powerful it was and
I began to look at it throughthe eyes of an interpreter.

(02:47):
I was a new sign languageinterpreter and I thought this
would be a powerful program fordeaf children.
But I needed permission fromFred Rogers.
I didn't know how to go aboutdoing that.
This was in the early 90s andthere was no internet.
But as fate would have it, Ireceived a request to be a
substitute interpreter and whenI got to the assignment at the

(03:11):
Children's Institute, it was adifferent name than the Rehab
Institute of Pittsburgh.
I was going to be interpretingfor their keynote speaker and
that was going to be Fred Rogers.
So I was able to share my ideaand he shared producer Sam
Newberry's information and Iwrote a letter and got the ball

(03:32):
rolling.
At the same time I was studyingdeaf education and I started to
learn.
One fact really stuck out wasdeaf high school students
graduate with a fourth gradereading level and that doesn't
reflect their abilities at all.
And the more I learned aboutlanguage deprivation, the more I

(03:52):
realized how powerful mr rogerswith sign language would be as
a as a language model.
So it became a from a cutelittle idea to a profound
resource that was essential fordeaf children.
Fast forward a little bit more.
I was working at the School forthe Deaf in Pittsburgh and met
a gentleman named James DeBee,as Sue mentioned.

(04:14):
He's a deaf award-winningproducer director and we both
worked at the School for theDeaf and he did a production of
the prom.
It looked like a Hollywoodproduction.
At that point I handed thebaton to James and I said we
have a little project I wouldlike you to take over.
He was very happy to do so,honored to do so, but at the

(04:37):
same time Fred Rogers companywas called Family Communications
and they were a nonprofitorganization.
They could only allow us to usethe program if we were a
nonprofit.
So that's when, in 2005, weincorporate into a nonprofit
organization.

Speaker 2 (04:56):
Wow, what an impactful story and so special
that he ended up being thatkeynote speaker.
That's amazing.
So what are some myths ormisconceptions in your industry?

Speaker 5 (05:09):
So I'll take that.
That's a great question, lila.
Actually, there's a few thatstand out.
We often are asked if signlanguage is globally universal
and the answer is no.
Actually, each country has itsown sign language.
But I think a more relevantmisconception to today's
conversation is around that lackof understanding around the

(05:33):
impact of early languageacquisition within the deaf
community.
As Kim mentioned, deaf adultshave, on average, a fourth grade
reading level, possibly aneighth grade vocabulary, and you
can imagine how this directlyimpacts very important markers
such as high school graduationrates, college education,

(05:55):
healthcare, employment, etcetera.
So that's one of the reasonswhy our work is so important
because we're helping to providea means to improve that early
language and literacy among veryyoung deaf children, certainly
those around one to three yearsold, which is considered a very
critical linguistic age.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
So who are your target customers and how do you
reach them?

Speaker 5 (06:20):
Sure.
So we're primarily focusing ondeaf children and their hearing
family members, you know theparents, siblings, grandparents,
caretakers, et cetera.
And in attracting our audiencewe are intentional.
In beginning with that MrRogers neighborhood, fred Rogers
was very deliberate in hisvocabulary, that he used, the

(06:42):
clarity of his communicationstyle, the subject matters etc.
And just in general hisprograms were very
nutrient-dense in content forpreschoolers.
So when we pair Mr Rogers'Neighborhood with our Deaf ASL
signers, we're finding that Deafchildren and their families are
learning up to 70 signs from a130-minute episode.

(07:06):
To reach this audience we'rerelying on social media, our
fundraising campaigns andnetworking to bring attention to
our mission and our product.
So thank you, lila, for thispodcast, Very helpful in that
effort.
And then obviously we alsoconnect with organizations
within that Deaf community, suchas Schools for the Deaf Across

(07:28):
the Nation.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
Excellent.
Have you thought about everdoing your own podcast to reach
those clients?

Speaker 5 (07:36):
We have not, but this is going to put us on a new
path of exploration, I think.
Something to consider.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
Certainly Outside of work.
What do you all do for?

Speaker 3 (07:48):
fun.
I'm fortunate enough to be agrandmother, so every chance I
get I'm surrounded by mygrandchildren.
Laura, do you?

Speaker 5 (07:57):
have anything to share.
We're in the process of moving,so right now, my fun activities
are all around cleaning andpacking.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
So let's switch gears here.
Can you describe a hardship ora life challenge you overcame
and how it made you stronger?
What comes to mind All?

Speaker 5 (08:14):
three of us have definitely faced some very
serious life challenges fromsiblings who have suffered
catastrophic accidents.
So we share that commonalityand I think what we have all
learned through our assorted andthe challenges that we faced is

(08:39):
just a perseverance, a faithand a tenacity for working
towards things that areimportant and placing our
families and our community interms of how we prioritize our
time and effort.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
So, kim, please tell our listeners one thing they
should remember about ASLFriends.

Speaker 3 (09:05):
Well, we've been around a while and one thing
that's evolved through the yearsis that American Sign Language
is for all brains.
In fact, we have a little golftournament and we call it ASL,
for All spelled F-O-R-E.
It's a powerful language foreverybody and you're seeing it
more and more in the mainstream.

(09:26):
And if you have that senseinside of you oh, I'm a visual
person I've always wanted tolearn sign language Take that
step, reach out to us.
We do classes online, we doone-on-ones, we do families, we
do companies.
We really are a resource.
When you're a little bit timid,not sure where to go, we'll

(09:46):
help point the direction if wecan't do it ourselves.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
Excellent.
And how can our listeners learnmore about ASL Friends?
Excellent.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
And how can our listeners learn more about ASL
Friends?
Visit our website iswwwaslfriendsorg.
We are on Facebook and we arealso on YouTube.
We have a YouTube channel.
You can find all that throughour website.
But also we have a upcomingfundraiser.
It's going to be for July.

(10:16):
We'll have a fundraisingcampaign and we also have the
golf tournament and that's inNaples, florida, october the 4th
, I believe.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
Awesome.
Well, kim, susan and Laura, Ireally appreciate your time
today and thank you for being aguest on our show.
We wish you and theorganization the best moving
forward welcome to theneighborhood, thank you thank
you for listening to the goodneighbor podcast.

Speaker 1 (10:45):
to nominate your favorite local businesses to be
featured on the show, go tognppittsburghcom.
That's gnppittsburghcom, orcall 412-561-9956.