2019 AISL PI Meeting Poster: Signing Glossaries for Science Exhibits

The Signing Glossaries are six new apps researched and developed for families with at least one member who is deaf and hard of hearing.  Each glossary provides access to thousands of signed terms and definitions encountered in visits to aquariums, botanical gardens, natural history museums, nature centers, science museums, and zoos.

Deaf and hard of hearing children typically have literacy levels that lag behind those of their hearing peers, making access to captions, labels, instructions, and information difficult. This, in combination with a lack of interpreters to sign material for them and parents who often do not have a robust signed technical vocabulary make visits to museums a low priority. The signing glossaries help bridge these gaps by enabling on-the-fly access to the signed vocabulary families are likely to encounter during their visits.

There are numerous ways visitors can interact with the glossary apps to enrich their museum visits. They can select terms from lists or type them into a search box, see an Avatar character sign the term and its definition, listen to a human voice speaking the English text, open and close an illustration with a single click, and play and replay the term over and over.

Apps for the Signing Zoo Glossary, Signing Nature Center Glossary,  Signing Science Museum Glossary, Signing Natural History Museum Glossary, Signing Aquarium Glossary, and Signing Botanical Garden Glossary are available free through Apple’s App Store and from the Google Play Store.