At a campus often known for its large Deaf community, guest speaker Zachary Lotane challenged non-Deaf students, faculty and staff to step up, support and ensure that their Deaf peers feel fully included and accommodated at CSUN.

The call came during the “Bridging Worlds” event Thursday, Nov. 21, the final day of Associated Students’ “Together We Thrive” Diversity, Equity and Inclusion week. Hosted by Deaf CSUNians in the Tujunga room, the event aimed to spotlight Deaf experiences and bridge understanding between Deaf and non-deaf communities.

The event began with a speech and presentation by Lotane, who addressed misconceptions about deaf individuals. Through his personal stories and experiences, he offered a glimpse into the harsh realities of navigating a world that overlooks accessibility.

“Do cochlear implants or hearing aids restore hearing loss?” Lotane asked the audience. “No. Sometimes they can help people to hear sounds, but not always.”

Lotane explained that deafness is a spectrum. Some people who use hearing devices may only recognize certain sounds, while others may hear most sounds. Additionally, devices like hearing aids and cochlear implants do not work for everyone.

“For someone like me, personally, who was born Deaf and has been Deaf my whole life, if I put hearing aids on, I can hear some noise, but it’s just like background static. If someone in my family is calling my name, I can’t recognize that, right? I can’t hear them calling ‘Zach,’ right?” Lotane said.

Through thought-provoking examples, Lotane encouraged the audience to rethink assumptions about communication and accessibility. He introduced two activities designed to give the non-deaf audience a brief insight into the experiences of their Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing peers.

The first activity was a game where non-deaf participants paired up and faced each other. Both wore earplugs to muffle sound and keep lollipops in their mouths, making communication more challenging. The goal was for each pair to read sentences aloud to one another and try to carry on the conversation, all while deciphering what the other was saying.

This activity was designed to demonstrate the challenges faced by deaf and hard of hearing people— navigating muffled sounds, speaking without hearing and lip-reading.

After the game concluded, students gathered to watch a video of people speaking without sound or captions. The audience attempted to read their lips but had little to no success.

“I would love to make it mandatory for all faculty and staff to take some sort of training to learn how to work with deaf and hard of hearing students, and make sure we are meeting their needs in the classroom, and beyond to support them in their educational journeys,” said Lotane.

Lotane concluded his presentation with slides offering tips on how non-deaf individuals can better interact with Deaf peers. He explained the importance of looking at the Deaf person, not the interpreter, during conversations, as well as being patient and accommodating by using writing or texting to communicate when needed.

“I hope that they (the audience) learned that Deaf people are whole beings. We are not broken, we are not people who need to be fixed,” he said. “Just because I might not speak or hear, it doesn’t mean I’m broken. Hopefully we built some sort of common shared humanity.”

Deaf CSUNians board members then led the discussion by sharing their personal stories, how they came to CSUN and answering questions about their experience, their deafness and the discrimination they have faced.

President of Deaf CSUNians, Teija Kishna, felt proud of the event and enjoyed having the opportunity to host with Associated Students.

“It was nice to provide opportunities for hearing people to learn more about the Deaf community, and how Deaf people feel, our frustrations, how we navigate the world and how we live our lives,” Kishna said. “It was a great opportunity to be able to increase awareness here on campus, which is so important. Hopefully, moving forward, we will have more opportunities to host these kinds of events. I am very excited.”