This past summer, NWA planned to offer a new language course and hired American Sign Language (ASL) teacher Alyssa Blea for the job. In addition to teaching her students, Blea is an advocate for the Deaf community.
“AKO,” as the Deaf community has named her, has been signing ASL since 2004 but is not Deaf. AKO understands that she’s simply borrowing the language and can’t claim it as her own, but wants to advocate for the Deaf who the language belongs to.
“In ninth grade, I saw people signing ASL,” said AKO, “At the time, I was taking Spanish, which I didn’t enjoy. In 10th grade, I changed into ASL.”
Upon entering the course, she took an immediate interest in the language and picked it up very quickly.
“I was in awe,” AKO said. “I understood it all. I learned a sign one time, and I would remember it forever. I thought, ‘Wow, this is easy. Okay, give me more.’”
She enrolled at a community college during her junior year to take additional ASL classes. Twice a week after school, AKO would go study at the college under a non-Deaf, otherwise known as hearing, ASL teacher.
It didn’t take AKO long to realize that this passion was something she wanted to incorporate into her career. Despite receiving doubt in her aspirations to teach ASL from her college professor, AKO let her passion guide her.
Eventually, AKO decided she would go to school to be an interpreter, and in 2012, she graduated with a B.S. in Sign Language Interpreting from the University of New Mexico. She continued her education, and in 2014 received a M.S. in Deaf Education from Bloomsburg University, PA. Then, in July of 2022, AKO graduated with an EdD in Organizational Leadership from Grand Canyon University, AZ.
After receiving her M.S., she worked as an interpreter for a teacher to Deaf children, who she noted, was not the best at their job. She did not enjoy her experience, but accredited it to her switch in career paths.
“Here I learned [that] I [didn’t] want to interpret, I want[ed] to teach,” AKO said.
In 2017, she began teaching ASL. Now, she teaches at Portland State University, NWA and online to adults in California. The different learning environments call for adjustments to her curriculum. For example, the games she plays with NWA students don’t translate well to adults learning online.
AKO’s emphasis on recruiting allies for the Deaf community remains unchanged across the different age groups she instructs. Much of her class time is spent teaching about Deaf culture and how to respect and communicate with the Deaf community, showing not only her passion for teaching ASL but her purpose.
“I teach hearing people to help the Deaf community,” said AKO. “ASL doesn’t help me, it helps others. My motivation is to advocate for the Deaf community.”
