DeaFSU - a celebration of communication

Maddison Behringer / THE GATEPOST

By Raena Hunter Doty Staff Writer Signing with bound hands might be a challenge - but luckily for Stephen Weiner, escaping is no issue. After all, who would expect less from a master magician? Weiner, an adjunct professor of American Sign Language (ASL) at FSU, is a Deaf magician. His shows, performed entirely in sign, create great entertainment for all ages and all hearing abilities. He kicked off the DeaFSU event May 3, a campus celebration of Deaf culture and community held by the ASL Club and World Languages Department. The event was held almost entirely in ASL, with English interpreters to make it accessible. His act included many tricks, from making a cup levitate to duplicating one ball into five in an audience member’s hand - and that was only the start of the day. After the performance, ASL Professor Bruce Bucci invited many from the crowd up to take a picture with Weiner, as he teaches his classes remotely from New York, meaning his students in attendance only met him in-person for the first time at DeaFSU. After Weiner’s performance, Bucci welcomed to the stage Mohamed Abanoor, the first Deaf police officer in Boston. Abanoor said, “Today I’m here to share my journey and my story from growing up in a Deaf-hearing family to finding my identity and ultimately achieving my dreams of being a Deaf police officer. “This story is about challenges, but more importantly, it’s about resilience, identity, and the power of believing in yourself,” he added. Abanoor said his family, a Muslim Somali immigrant family, discovered he and two of his siblings had a genetic condition that caused himself and one of his siblings to be hard of hearing and another one of his siblings to be profoundly deaf, meaning they have no ability to hear at all. “Despite these … challenges, love was abundant in our home,” he said. He added his family worked hard to make sure he and his siblings were supported. “Love and support built my resilience. They taught me love, adaptability, and the importance of self-advocacy. I learned that communication isn’t just about language. It’s about connection, effort, and willingness to understand,” he said. Abanoor said he began going to the Horace Mann School for the Deaf at age 3, where he had access to hearing aids and speech therapy, “however, the biggest gift was not technology - it was the environment. “I was surrounded by students like me, teachers who understood me, and staff who believed in my potential. This is where I began to build confidence, pride, and a strong Deaf identity,” he added. The presence of Deaf role models around the school empowered him to believe he could do this. “They showed me what was possible, and it made me believe that I didn’t have to choose between my culture, my identity, and my dreams,” he said. Abanoor said he was also involved with community building outside of the Deaf community - he was highly involved with the Muslim community and served as the deputy director of the public health and safety committee on the Boston Mayor’s Youth Council. “In these spaces, I was often the only Deaf person, so I had to constantly switch between ASL and spoken or written English,” he said. “Sometimes I felt like an outsider - not fully part of either world.” He said he faced discrimination in the hearing world, but he didn’t let that stop him. “This journey provided me with something powerful - adaptability,” he said. It also helped him learn empathy and motivated him to help others who faced the same struggles. “Most importantly, it has made me a bridge. Someone who helps connect the Deaf and hearing worlds. Whether I’m translating between the two, advocating for accessibility, or simply representing that a Deaf Black Somali Muslim police officer exists, I embody the message that you don’t have to choose one identity over another,” Abanoor said. He said after graduating high school, he went to Gallaudet University, a university designed for Deaf students. It was a new experience for him - “a culture shock in the best way.” He majored in government while there, but eventually decided he needed to leave his comfort zone and came back to Boston enrolled in Northeastern University’s program in criminal justice. “I learned that resilience isn’t just about surviving tough times. It’s about transforming those challenges into strength. Inclusion isn’t merely about being allowed in a room - it’s also about being respected once you’re there,” he said. Abanoor said he wanted to become a police officer after the Boston Marathon bombing. His family would go to watch the marathon each year, but in 2013, they were shooed away just before they arrived. “Everything changed. I was glued to the television for days, watching the coverage nonstop until suspects were finally captured,” he said. He said he knew he would face challenges when trying to become the first Deaf police officer in Boston, but still faced many doubts - but he “used those doubts as motivations.” After his time in school and challenges with the hearing requirement - which he eventually passed with his hearing aids in - he did become a police officer, and he said he does his best to try to make law enforcement more just and accessible with his experiences. Abanoor said his graduation from the police academy “was not merely a graduation, but a historic moment. A reminder that barriers can be broken and dreams can be achieved with persistence, community, and purpose.” After Abanoor’s presentation, two poets - Kai, age 9, and Mina, age 6 - performed ASL poetry in front of the crowd. The poems were not interpreted in English because they are inherently tied to ASL. Next, Andre “Dre” Robinson, also known as DJ Deaf Tunez, presented. Robinson is a Deaf DJ based in Massachusetts. He said he began working as a DJ in 2015 while he was in college because he had always loved music. “There’s not a lot of Deaf folks out there who feel the affinity and passion to music that I do,” he said, and added he didn’t know if it would be possible to pursue his passion until he heard about Hear No Evil, another Deaf DJ. Robinson said one challenge he faces as a Deaf DJ is that clients don’t necessarily trust him to be as good at his job as a hearing DJ, but regardless, people are often impressed by his abilities - not just as a Deaf DJ but as a DJ in general. He said he began making TikTok skits during the COVID-19 pandemic when he didn’t have much work as a DJ. He blew up there without meaning it at the time. Robinson added due to his fame on TikTok, he often gets noticed while using video relay services where his sign is interpreted when he needs to make calls to hearing people, such as to make a doctor’s appointment or order food. “Do you know how many sign language interpreters on video phones recognize me?” he asked. “About 50% of the time, when I go to make a regular call and I’m just trying to go for pizza - about 30 to 35 interpreters have come on screen and said, ‘Hey, I know you!’ And I’m just trying to go for a pizza.” The final presenter was Scott Shupert, Deaf stand-up comedian. He gave several comedic performances in ASL, each utilizing the physical nature of the language to add to the story. In the first, a cat hunts a mouse before realizing that they’re both Deaf and ought to act in solidarity with each other rather than fighting one another. In another, a Deaf man wakes up one morning and has a series of ASL interactions with many different animals he passes throughout the day before realizing animals can’t sign and it was all a dream. Shupert said he’s grateful for events like DeaFSU because they celebrate sign language in a way that wouldn’t have been allowed just a few decades ago. “We’re so thankful for those who have fought to bring back ASL as a language,” he said.