It was a nice small event and there were plenty of people that showed up to participate and I got to meet plenty of new people.
It’s a nice little restaurant on Detroit Avenue just before you enter Lakewood. The event is called Deaf Coffee Chat and I was expecting more of a coffee shop setting but this was a nice setting. More like a diner/family restaurant setting. I came in early, looking for the group and I was pleasantly surprised to see the hostess signing to me telling me where the deaf group was sitting.

I got seated, met a sweet deaf lady and got to talk to her for a little bit before more people arrived. The person organizing the event arrived. He was a nice guy, an ASL student that wanted to have an event to go to during the week since his schedule wasn’t able to allow him to go to any events on the weekends.

Many students came in, there were some interpreters as well and just interested participants that had no academic obligation to attend. They just wanted to learn and practice sign language. It was a very refreshing event that showed me that there’s more to Cleveland for deaf people than I thought after all.

I can appreciate the ASL population in Cleveland and I would like to encourage more students to go out and get involved with the events that the deaf residents of Cleveland put together. As of right now I see the events in Cleveland being put on mostly by ASL students and organizations.

I’m motivated to start one where it’ll be a purely social experience and not just for education. I want to have fun socializing with the deaf community and give ASL students an opportunity to put their hard earned skills to use. I’d like to get a DPHH event established for Cleveland.