WOODBURY — Most schools don’t have an American Sign Language course, let alone a deaf teacher leading the class.
Nonnewaug is one of the rare schools that offers ASL courses, and now in his third year, teacher Chad Williams uses his deafness to uniquely teach his classes.
Williams’s deafness is a result of spinal meningitis that he contracted at eight months old. He has lived the majority of his life with a hearing aid.
“My mom didn’t know I was deaf until she didn’t see any responding to my name,” Williams explains. “Since I was eight months old, I’ve had a hearing aid that helps with a person’s hearing loss.”
But Williams hasn’t always had the same amount of hearing loss. In fact, he started his life mild deafness until his hearing continued degenerating as he aged.
“I started with a mild hearing loss, and as I got older, I had profound hearing loss, which made it harder for me to communicate with hearing people and understand what every word they were saying as it was happening,” Williams said.
Williams attended The American School for the Deaf in West Hartford when he was in fifth grade after his mother noticed he was having trouble in a non-signing school.
“I went to public school from pre-K to fourth grade, and my mother noticed that I was having trouble understanding the teacher and needed way more support. My mom sent me to the American School for the Deaf in West Hartford, the first school for the deaf in the US,” Williams said. “It was a challenging task to learn American Sign Language.”
Williams was not born into a deaf community, and his family does not have experience with sign language. But Williams has learned many lessons from his deafness and turned it to be a positive experience.
“I’m very grateful for the opportunity to learn ASL and understand the best of both worlds,” Williams said. “Even today, I struggle with socializing with hearing people and not understanding everything they say.”
Apart from learning ASL, Williams has brought his passion for ASL to other places. In addition to Nonnewaug, he teaches at two community colleges.
“I am a college adjunct at Naugatuck Valley Community College and Manchester Community College as an ASL adjunct instructor,” says Williams.
But students anywhere Willams teaches are attracted to a language other than the usual French and Spanish courses. Though many students feel for Williams because of his differences, he enjoys teaching, especially in high school.
“At the high school level, I have more time to teach and help you with ASL, whereas at the college level, I only have 15 weeks of teaching and one final exam,” Williams said.
If teaching wasn’t enough for Williams, he also runs social media accounts to teach and inspire people to learn more about deaf awareness.
“I have a TikTok page that teaches American Sign Language to many hearing people,” Williams said. “This allows me to enhance my communication and teaching skills to TikTok to allow people to learn about deaf culture terms of ASL that I feel is important for the community to understand and be able to help many deaf people with basic communication needs.”
Williams also advocates for himself and knows how to speak up for himself. That includes accommodations he may need within school.
“I have to make a lot of accommodations for myself as a deaf person to ensure I have all of the protocols for the safety of deaf employees/students,” Williams said. “If there is a lockdown, I would never know because of the sound or someone mentioning it on the intercom, which makes it scary for me.”
Fellow staff members see Williams’ value as a unique instructor.
“Chad was previously a special education teacher,” says Sarah Marshall, the Nonnewaug school psychologist. “I think he does a great job providing instructions to students that work to their strengths.”
Like many students at Nonnewaug, junior Je Marie Willbright feels positively affected by Williams’ presence in school.
“Chad has been my teacher for the past three years,” says Willbright. “In his class, I’ve not only learned the language but the culture around it. Having a teacher who is hard of hearing really helps in the immersion and true understanding of those who live it.”
