German Sign Language and
Communication of the Deaf
Photo: UHH/Denstorf
5 December 2019
Photo: IDGS
On 04 December 2019, our long-standing employee and lecturer Stefan Goldschmidt presented a very personal project to IDGS students and employees: The topic was "Autobiography: Creating My Life Story in Different Sign Languages".
Born in 1967, Stefan grew up in a hearing family with the then still widespread "spoken language method". German sign language had not yet been researched at that time and was hardly noticed in the education of deaf children. Nevertheless, Stefan managed to grow into an independent and successful person under these adverse circumstances: After his Abitur in Essen in 1989, he went to the USA to the Gallaudet University in Washington against all external reservations. The time at this sign language university was like a revelation for Stefan, because here participation at eye level was lived through the use of ASL: students, employees of the university, teachers - everyone could sign. After five years Stefan returned to Germany and soon took up his job at IDGS. First as a lecturer for the ASL, later he succeeded Heiko Zienert as DGS lecturer and is still active today in the field of DGS teaching and Deaf Studies with various courses. Furthermore, Stefan is a gifted storyteller with stage experience and a sign language artist. Also in the honorary office, in particular the youth work with deaf children and young people, Stefan was very engaged and particularly there he felt that the young generation regards him as a role model.
Inspired by this, Stefan decided to preserve his memories in the form of an autobiography, not only in DGS, but also in ASL and International Signs, in order to be understood by as many sign language users as possible worldwide. The product includes several hours of footage that Stefan created in his spare time and recorded in a Berlin studio with a professional film team. After completion, the autobiography will be available as an app, completely subtitled and added voice-overs.
The audience followed Stefan's picture-rich lecture with great interest and was able to take a look at Stefan's childhood with a small film excerpt.
We are already excited about the result and look forward to this pool of Stefan's memories, which can also be used for teaching and research purposes. Thank you very much, Stefan!