Support LEAD-K in Massachusetts

The LEAD-K Campaign is a direct response to the alarming number of Deaf and hard of hearing children arriving at school without adequate language skills. This phenomenon, known as language deprivation, has irreparable consequences on the educational, social and vocational development of Deaf and hard of hearing children.

At LEAD-K, we believe (and have evidence) that Deaf children benefit from using American Sign Language (ASL) as their natural language. With that being said, however, our goal is language acquisition irrespective of the language that is used. It is worth underscoring that our proposed legislation does not endorse one method of language acquisition over another, does not require ASL to be used, and certainly does not take any choice away from parents. This legislation simply requires that parents are given factual information about ASL. We cannot afford to lose another generation of Deaf children to language deprivation by engaging in an ideological war.