Community learns sign language to talk with deaf two-year-old

A Newton, Massachusetts neighborhood came together to support a two-year-old girl who was born deaf.

“She was the first deaf person my husband and I had known,” said Glenda Savitz, Samatha’s mother.

When neighbors saw Glenda and Raphi Savitz walking Samatha and talking in sign language, they noticed the girl’s eagerness to communicate with others, and they wanted to find a way to talk with her.

“They came to me and said, ‘Would you mind? We love this course, we love the teacher, would you mind if we hired the teacher and brought him back to the neighborhood?’” Samatha’s mother said.

“‘Can we have your permission?’ I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me? Yeah, you can have my permission,’” she added.

Soon after receiving the Savitz’s blessing, twenty neighbors enrolled in an American Sign Language (ASL) class to learn sign language so they could talk with Samantha.