Zitat

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GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (CBS St. Louis) — A Nebraska school district asked a deaf preschooler to change his sign language name because they believe the hand motion he used looked like he was shooting a gun.

The family of 3-year-old Hunter Spanjer said that their deaf son’s sign gesture violates the Grand Island Public Schools weapons policy.

“He’s deaf, and his name sign, they say, is a violation of their weapons policy,” Brian Spanjer, Hunter’s father, told Nebraska based news channel KOLN. “It’s a symbol. It’s an actual sign, a registered sign, through (Signing Exact English).”

He also started a Facebook page in an effort to support his son’s sign name, which has garnered nearly 1,000 supporters as of Tuesday

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http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2012/08/28/f...ooked-like-gun/


There is an update ... School District Says Deaf Student Not Required to Change Name

http://www.1011now.com/home/headlines/Sc...-167784235.html

When I studied sign language in college I chose a sign that represented my name. When addressed by others they used this sign. It was unique to me.

If there had been another student in the class with the same given name that I had, she would have chosen something that was unique to her.

It would be like saying, "Palinista 1" versus "Palinista 2", but in a much more precise and individual way. The signs are so individualized that no two are alike. They aren't made the same way. They don't look the same. When forming the sign with the hand and adding movement to the hand in making the sign, there is really no similarity. In effect they are difficult to confuse because they are so different from each other.

With this child his name is part of his identity. That educators wanted to attack him in such a brutal way shows that they do not care for his development or emotional well being.

Beyond bizarre.