Hinsdale South’s Tori Niestrom didn’t say a word when friends greeted her in the hallways during passing periods.
It wasn’t that she was having a bad day or too distracted to respond, she simply couldn’t.
Niestrom spent 24 hours in silence last week, only communicating with friends, family and school staff through sign language. She was one of 60 South students who spent from 8 a.m. Feb. 5 to 8 a.m. Feb. 6 participating in The Silence Project, where they were required to avoid verbal communication.
“It’s hard, but I planned for it,” Niestrom said Feb. 5 through sign language, which was translated by her teacher, Sara Sargent, a teacher in South’s deaf and hard of hearing program. “Everyone in the hall is talking to me and they don’t understand why I am not answering them.”
Niestrom said the exercise gave her a taste of what deaf people have to do to communicate with others. She said she saw how others judge people who are deaf and how tough it can be for deaf individuals to communicate with people who do not know American Sign Language.
Watching TV was a different experience for Niestrom and others participating in the project, as they were required to use the closed captioning instead of the volume. They also texted as a replacement for speaking on the telephone. Many wore ear plugs to limit their hearing.
Niestrom found not communicating with friends to be the toughest.
“I am someone who talks,” Niestrom signed. “In the hall, I am like, ‘Hey, hey, hey, hey,’ To not have that communication has been tough.”
Her second year of doing The Silence Project, Niestrom signed that she was able to communicate much better, having had a full year of ASL work.
“A lot of my friends think it is cool and want to be involved,” she signed.
Students participating in the day of silence were able to use nonverbal communication techniques including writing, facial expressions and gestures. Niestrom and the other participants all wore badges identifying themselves as participants in the project. The badges helped other students and faculty members support the ASL students in their efforts to refrain from talking.
“They get to feel, for a day, what it’s like for people who are deaf,” signed Deb Koll, a signing aide at South, who herself is deaf. “They see how people can judge.”
Hinsdale South offers two years of American Sign Language for students.
Sargent has conducted the project for the past 10 years. She said students typically find it difficult to stay quiet and sometimes blurt out an answer in class.
“The purpose of the exercise is to focus the student’s attention on the process of communication and the variables within the process,” Sargent said. “The objective is not to achieve total success, but to keep a journal for the time period that reflects their feelings and experiences.
“It really helps them gain perspective and understanding for those who do not express themselves verbally.”
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Hinsdale South principal Stephanie Palmer said the administration welcomes the yearly exercise, which gives students a feeling of what is like to be deaf. The importance of communicating with the deaf is shown through the school’s offering a two-year ASL program, Palmer noted.
Niestrom said the ASL program has been able to provide her with the groundwork for knowing what she wants to do for a career: teach sign language or be an interpreter for the deaf.
“I am so happy to have had the opportunity to learn sign language,” Niestrom signed. “I’ve learned so much in the second year of the program.”