Oklahoma School For The Deaf Raises Money For Deaf Ukrainian Refugees

An online ASL course at the Oklahoma School for the Deaf has attracted worldwide attention, reaching over 100,000 international users. 

While the class is free, donations are optional. And the donations are used to help aid deaf Ukrainian refugees. 

Jolene Reed, an American Sign Language Specialist at school, is often the only one physically in her classroom-- but she's able to virtually reach hundreds of thousands of students through her online course. She has students from 106 different countries, including India, Wales, Turkey, and the Philippines. 

Her course has two levels, level one for basic signs, fingerspelling, and body language. Level Two focuses more on grammar and vocabulary. 

"Those are prerecorded so they're ready for anyone to use," Reed said. "Anyone can watch and review again and again."  

Reed says the course is open to anyone who is curious about sign language, whether one has a relative, friend, or coworker who is deaf.  

The OSD Foundation recently donated $5,000 to The Woodall Foundation, which is currently funding operations to assist Deaf Ukrainian refugees and their f­­­­­amilies find housing in the country of Moldova. 

"It's not required that donations are made, or anyone is paid for the course," Reed said. "But there is a donation through the foundation. And that money has been donated to a foundation so they can send it to Ukraine."  

Although Reed is passionate about what she does, she didn't expect to reach as many people as she does, including students representing 106 different countries. She says she hopes to continue to make an impact. 

"It's just a true inspiration," Reed said. "I'm just so excited to learn and teach in the future and add other deaf culture videos and classes." 

To donate to OSD click here  

To enroll in a free ASL course, click here