COLLEGE OF STATEN ISLAND— After a long day at school, Javonn Isler returns home to complete silence, despite the house being full. The television is on, but no sound is coming out of it. He sees both parents sitting on the couch watching the news with subtitles.
The paradigm of Isler’s family is a unique one, but he is accustomed to it. Both of his parents have been deaf since he was a child, and he communicates with them almost entirely through American Sign Language.
When he was a kid, Isler was bullied for the disabilities of his parents, and for most of his life he felt insecure using ASL. He felt ashamed, and only used ASL in front of family and very close friends.
Throughout his life, Isler has had to serve as an interpreter for his parents. Whether it be parent-teacher conferences or random interactions throughout the day, he is always a bridge between his parents and the rest of the world.
