YouTube really has everything — even inspiration for a Margaret Machell Study Grant.
For Gallery Guide Roxy Blardony, the inspiration was watching a video of Pharrell Williams’ song Happy being performed by Deaf teenage campers.
Roxy says “Hi!”
“A friend posted the video on her Facebook page, and I was fascinated, even though I have no family or friends with any hearing issues,” says Roxy. “I’d heard the song before, but this time … to see it delivered by hands, faces and body motion … it was truly beautiful.”
Beautiful enough that she decided she wanted to learn American Sign Language (ASL) so she could communicate with AGO visitors with limited hearing. At first she researched online ASL courses, but her winning application for a 2014 Margaret Machell Study Grant named a classroom course at the Canadian Hearing Society.
(This year the Grant — offered to help AGO volunteers develop skills they can then apply here at the AGO — was split between Roxy, and Youth Council volunteer Margaryta Golovchenko. Scroll down for our October 29 post about Margaryta’s plans.)
Roxy just missed the deadline for the fall course at the Canadian Hearing Society, so she’ll start her studies in January. “I’ll attend a weekly class for three months and then, if all goes well, receive my ASL accreditation.”
After that? Offer her new expertise to our visitors. “It’s a way to talk about art with a whole different audience — the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.”
She wants to talk with the rest of us as well. “I plan to document my ASL journey in a blog,” she says. When she does, we’ll publish her blog address right here, so you can join the conversation.
Roxy says “Good-bye!”