Academic ASL: Jon Henner’s Critique

I found Jon’s video in my archive. I didn’t want his thoughts lost to time so I’m reposting here. The context: In fall of 2020, Jon and I paid a visit to a colleague’s class to discuss critiques of academic ASL. Jon made this video, which highlights how racism plays a role in our judgments of what constitutes “academic” ASL.

My addendum: what people describe as academic ASL is really performative hearingness with a dose of English dominance. Common descriptions include: reduced use of facial expressions, reduced expressiveness, smaller signing spaces, more fingerspelled words, more mouthed words. You get the gist.