Woodland Hills Woman Will Walk From San Francisco to L.A. for ASL

Sharon Dror of Woodland Hills began the first leg of a 30-day Walk for American Sign Language Wednesday.

The purpose of the walk is to bring attention to the power of American Sign Language, the closer relationships it fosters and language development it promotes, among other things.

The walk began Wednesday morning in San Francisco and will end May 30 in Santa Monica, but for Dror, a larger journey began 52 years ago, when she was born, as she describes, “profoundly deaf.”

Growing up in Santa Monica, she learned to read lips and speak with the help of private speech therapists. She didn’t learn to sign until college, when she had a deaf roommate.

“I wanted so badly to communicate and didn’t know any difference so I invested a lot of time in practicing my speech and lip reading skills with my family and friends,” she said, answering questions via a written interview. “I greatly appreciate my parents for this chance”

Dror said her family made efforts to include her in daily conversations and had the same high expectations of her as they would any other child. She grew up competing in ice figure skating and attending public school.

She married a deaf man and has three deaf children. She also has a hard-of-hearing sister.

But to this day, Dror hasn’t taken any formal training or classes in sign language, which is one of the reasons she wanted to participate in the walk.

“I am walking for ASL because I am ready for an eye-opening experience. I want to learn about ASL,” she wrote.

The march also will help educate hearing people about the deaf community.

“The most important thing that hearing people need to understand is that deaf people are capable of doing anything that a hearing person can do except hear,” she said, quoting former Gallaudet University president I. King Jordan.

To prepare for the march, the first of its kind in which she’s participated, Dror started training last fall. She’s does pilates and yoga, cardio and resistance workouts and hikes and bikes with a buddy network she created. She also worked with a nutritionist to learn to eat properly, a chiropractor, acupuncturist and masseur to be in shape to handle the nearly 400-mile walk.

“I have every confidence in the world that I will complete it to the finish line with no injuries,” Dror wrote.

According to the March’s website, 13 people plan to walk the entire way and others will join for parts of the journey.

Follow Dror and the rest of the group’s progress via Twitter @walk4ASL or on Facebook, where videos will be posted each evening.