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Teen Sign Language Helper Has Fluent Fingers

Cheryl Bentley/SUNCOAST

Sarah Lutvak and Antonio Quilichini engage in a spirited conversation in American Sign Language.

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By Cheryl  Bentley | The Suncoast News

Published: October 18, 2008

With dancing eyes that miss nothing and smile as bright as a sunny day, Sarah Lutvak stands out - even without the purple streak she has just put in her hair.

The precocious 17-year-old is preparing for the weekly gathering of the deaf at the Westfield Countryside Shopping Centre, in Clearwater. It is a time for them to hang out and socialize. She has been going there since she was 15.

The meeting is only one of the activities Sarah devotes to her passion of American Sign Language, the dominant medium of communications for the deaf in the United States and English-speaking Canada. It first cast its spell over her when she was taught a prayer in sign language in Hebrew in religious services in Wellesley, Mass., where she then lived.

Sarah has since taught the language, now studies it at St. Petersburg

College as part of her home schooling program and might include it in a future career. Sarah began studying sign language when she was 12 and was teaching

it to 4 to 6 year olds three weeks

later. "I never looked back," she said.

"Reception," or understanding what the other person is communicating, was the most difficult skill to learn, she remembers.

"It's harder only because of the speed," Sarah said. "I was so stubborn I didn't want anything dumbed down, or slowed down, so I could understand."

After her family moved to Palm Harbor, just before her 14th birthday, Sarah volunteered at Blossom Montessori School for the Deaf, in Largo. When she was old enough, she began classes in American Sign Language, Level 1, at SPC.

She has now worked up to taking advanced courses focusing on the linguistics of the language. In those courses, students have to have enough sign language to understand the lectures, which are in that language.

She taught the language in Pasco County, with the New Port Richey Homeschool Group. Although she enjoyed the experience, she has decided she wants to pursue aspects of sign language other than teaching.

Sarah is still wrestling with ways of combining a career in the language with her other loves, writing and English. She is applying to top-name institutions of higher learning, such as Sarah Lawrence College, Bennington College and Brown University.

But for now she is a typical teenager waiting to hang out with her deaf friends.

"They've seen me since I was very shy and very scared to now, where I am the first person to jump into the conversation with a deaf person," she notes.

One of the deaf persons Sarah works with, Antonio Quilichini, comes early. With graceful fingers fluttering like flags and faces serving as palettes of their feelings, the two engage in sign language conversation.

Sarah translates into words her own conversation, but is careful not to translate Quilichini's part. It is part of deaf etiquette not to tell others the meaning of others' signing without their permission, she explains.

She is excited about meeting other deaf friends later. "I have a lot of things to tell them."

The deaf have a culture of their own, she explains. "The have their own history, their own source of pride, their own values. It's an evolving, changing language. They very much pride themselves on being deaf and have something nobody can take away."

The deaf and hearing impaired, she notes, do not think of their condition as a disability, but as a genetic trait they share.

As for Sarah, she has found her niche. The language is perfect for someone like her, she notes.

"Oh, man, I love it because it's a language filled with self-expression. A huge part of the communication is the expression on the face. I'm a hands-on person. I'm a visual person. This combines them perfectly."

Cheryl Bentley can be reached at 727-815-1069 or bentley@suncoastnews.com.

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