The American Sign Language (ASL) Club at South Dakota State University (SDSU) is advocating for the introduction of at least one sign language course for undergraduates, aiming to enhance communication access for the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. The initiative is spearheaded by club president Isabella Cosato, a junior who began the process in January 2025, right after winter break. Cosato's ultimate goal is to establish SDSU as the first university in South Dakota to offer a full ASL interpreting degree along with the necessary certification.
Currently, the only university in South Dakota offering any form of ASL courses is the University of South Dakota (USD), which allows students to pursue a minor in ASL, but lacks availability for higher degrees. This limitation pushes students like Cosato to strongly advocate for SDSU to join the ranks of educational institutions offering ASL courses. “The end goal is that we would be the first university in South Dakota that offers the full ASL interpreting degree along with the certification,” Cosato said, expressing her passion for the initiative.
Teresa Seefeldt, vice provost for undergraduate education, emphasizes that getting a new course on campus involves navigating numerous layers of approval. She explained, “The process really starts at a school or department that has faculty to offer that course.” Unfortunately, SDSU currently lacks an ASL-qualified faculty member, which means a search for a new instructor is necessary to move forward.
Seefeldt noted that if a course is already offered by another university, like ASL at USD, they can seek approval to offer that existing course at SDSU. However, this still requires time and communication with the Board of Regents, which provides the final say on whether a course gets approved. As of now, the club has 42 active members, showing significant interest in the initiative.
According to Listencarefully.org, approximately 21% of South Dakota’s population experiences some form of hearing loss, making the push for ASL courses even more critical. Garst-Santos, director of the School of American and Global Studies, also supports the initiative, stating, “It’s important that we provide access and bring in as many folks as possible and learn how to interact with those cultures.”
The road to establishing an ASL course at SDSU is not without challenges. Engagement from the student body is paramount; both Garst-Santos and Seefeldt emphasize that there needs to be a minimum of 10 students interested to offer a course section. Cosato is actively working on gathering student interest through a schoolwide survey to present at the Board of Regents meeting. “I am asking some of the directors in the Psychology, Sociology, and Rural Studies school about how we can do a schoolwide survey,” Cosato shared, highlighting her dedication to measure the demand for such a course.
While enthusiasm grows, the likelihood of an ASL course being offered is looking more towards fall 2026 rather than as early as fall 2025, as it remains a complex process. “This is a long process, so it won’t happen for the fall 2025 year,” said Seefeldt. Cosato remains optimistic, expressing that “American Sign Language is so important because this is a vital form of communication for the majority of deaf people,” underlining her commitment to the cause, regardless of the timeline.
In tandem with these educational advancements, researchers at Cornell University are working on a groundbreaking technology aimed at translating American Sign Language into text. Known as SpellRing, this innovative wearable combines deep learning AI and micro-sonar technologies to assist in real-time conversations, especially for those who might not be fluent in ASL.
Hyunchul Lim, a doctoral student at Cornell, explained the motivation behind creating SpellRing. “Many other technologies that recognize fingerspelling in ASL have not been adopted by the deaf and hard-of-hearing community because the hardware is bulky and impractical,” Lim said. The goal is to develop a single, efficient device to capture the complex finger movements of ASL. The device is still in its early phases but has shown promising results, achieving an accuracy of 82–92% based on extensive testing with both experienced and novice ASL signers.
SpellRing utilizes a quarter-sized, 3D-printed ring worn around the thumb that contains a small microphone and speaker. This device captures sounds as a user fingerspells, where inaudible soundwaves are detected and translated into text in real-time. Cheng Zhang, an assistant professor of information science at Cornell and co-author of the study, noted, “There’s always a gap between the technical community who develop tools and the target community who use them. We’ve bridged some of that gap.”
Despite the exciting progress, it’s important to recognize that SpellRing currently only translates fingerspelling, which comprises just a fraction of ASL. The language itself includes over 4,000 word signs and relies on various other components like facial expressions and body language. As Jane Lu, a linguistics doctoral student and study co-author, stated, “We still have a long way to go in developing comparable devices for full ASL recognition, but it’s an exciting step in the right direction.”
The team plans to enhance SpellRing's capabilities further, aiming to develop systems that can interpret full ASL communication, including facial and upper body movements using micro-sonar technology integrated with accessory items like eyeglasses.
As the ASL Club pushes for educational advancements at SDSU and researchers at Cornell work on innovative technologies, the importance of ASL continues to rise, shedding light on communication accessibility for the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. This combination of educational dedication and technological innovation promises a brighter future for ASL and its users.
