Today's bad decision made by authority figures with no common sense is brought to you by the Nebraska public school forcing a 3-year-old deaf boy to change the way he signs his name because the "gesture resembles shooting a gun." Yes, that's right: Because Grand Island Public Schools' policy forbids the use of any "instrument" that "looks like a weapon," little Hunter Spanjer is being told to, effectively, change his name. Without sound, the only language Hunter knows is S.E.E. (Signing Exact English). The sign for his name is how this boy identifies himself. These people are going to mess with a 3-year-old special needs child's sense of self because he sort of looks like he's playing cops and robbers?!
Not if Hunter's family, the ACLU, or the National Organization for the Deaf have anything to do with it.
The ACLU sent a letter to the school district asking them to reconsider their policy, while the CEO of the National Organization for the Deaf has promised legal assistance to Hunter's family if it becomes a necessity. Meanwhile, I'm blown away by Hunter's dad. Brian Spanjer has showed considerable restraint with his tactful expression of disapproval: "I feel like it was an overreach on their part and I expected a lot better from the local school district."
As a parent, I'm pretty sure my reaction would've been more along the lines of: "You want an obscene gesture?! I'll give you an obscene gesture!"
I'm fairly confident that the school will buckle under all of the aforementioned pressure, which is only mounting as more and more people hear about Hunter's story (there's a Facebook page devoted to his cause), but it still makes me absolutely sick that we live in such an insensitive, clueless society. Saddest of all, I'm not even surprised this happened at all.
Do you think Hunter should be forced to change the way he signs his name?
Image via Huffington Post
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Comments 52
another reason i hate nebraska school systems smh. i live an hour and a half from GI and thats just sad
I've often seen hearing impaired people referring to themselves with one sign instead of spelling it out, so... don't be stupid. It's an easy sign for a three year old to make and recognize and as long as the other kids know that he's using it as his name, there shouldn't be a problem. Zero Tolerance policies are complete nonsense anyway. Use your head.
Someone early on taught the child the wrong sign for his name and for that he is being punished and forced to learn a new sign! That is NOT place of the school system, it is the place of the parents/care givers/therapists. No one gets to tell my daughter what she HAS to go by. I named her so she would have options and by golly she will be the ONLY one (other than me of course) that has a say in which she responds to.
When referinng to himself, he just make the sign for "H" and put it near his shoulder. Thats what we did in ASL class in high school. Not to hard
I had ASL classes and yes the sign for ones name can be a variation of a hobby or trait ect. BUT when one is born deaf or becomes deaf at a very young age the name sign has to be assigned then. forcing him to change it is like forcing a hearing child to change his or her name cause its spelled weird or people think its offensive. Sorry school but you cant force a person to change the name they have.
It is his name and for the people complaining about how it's used in sign language and the parents shouldnt have given him the name, then yeah maybe they didn't know how it would be signed in sign language, maybe they had never had any experiences with the deaf before having a deaf child, maybe the child was not deaf at birth! He should be able to keep his name the way it is.
AS A MOTHER TO A DEAF CHILD LEAVE THE KID ALONE WHEN THEY GET OLDER SOME TIMES THEY CHANGE THEIRE NAMES THEM SELFS IM SCREAMING BECAUSE PEOPLE CAN MAKE A BIG DEAL OUT OF NOTHING THIS CHILD WILL BE MORE HARMED MAKING A BIG DEAL OUT OF SOMETHING SO STUPID COME ON WE ARE ALL GROWN UPS DOSENT THE SCHOOL DISTRICT HAVE ANYTHING ELSE BETTER TO DO THAN PICK ON A THREE YEAR OLD BOY I WOULD CAUSE HELL IF THIS EVER HAPPENED TO MY DAUGHTER SHE HAS GIVEN ALL OF US NAME SIGNS MY BROTHERS NAME IS ABEL HE IS BIG SO SHE THINKS HE IS A BIG GORILLA SO SHE SIGNS TO A S ON HER CHEST FOR HIM THEIRE IS NOTHING WRONG ON BEING DIFFRENT WITH NAME SIGNS
Yea, next they'll be wanting "ban" names that "promote violence". The name I've picked out for my son is picked on a lot on Baby name forums as "violent"....People are effing ignorant and ridiculously sensitive.