American Sign Language Organization

Join us to hear from Phillip Boyd, a retired WKU faculty member, as he gives us an inside look at what it was like growing up oral and learning ASL later in life, as well as his experience as an ASL faculty member here at WKU.

Students, please be sure to register for the event using our ASL Event Registration page (registration closes February 19 at 7pm); non-students, please contact aslo@wku.edu.

Phillip Boyd

Phillip Boyd grew up a city boy in Atlanta where he attended to Atlanta Speech School, and was trained how to speak orally. He then went to a hearing high school where there was not any mainstreaming program for the deaf. He excelled in sports like football, basketball and track and was offered a football scholarship to a small college in Alabama, but decided to go to Gallaudet University, the only liberal arts college for the deaf in the world. He learned American Sign Language (ASL) and realized that he really belonged to the deaf world regarding language and culture.

After graduating from Gallaudet University and a Bible college, he has taught ASL to the members at church, and involved in deaf communities by being the president of a club, chairman of the alumni of my old school in Atlanta. That involvement really helped him understand Deaf culture and also fluency in ASL. His wife, Sylvya, also taught him a lot about ASL. He really enjoys teaching ASL and Deaf culture to those who want to learn such a language. That inspires him!