Opening slide with about a dozen small videos playing at the same time, all various adults of diverse identities using ASL. Title text slides in: “What ThinkSelf Gives; Life & Learning”


Transition to CDI Sarah, board member Tracy, and learner Nachee, who are sitting on chairs in front of a collection of plants. CDI and Nachee are using ASL; video transitions to Board member Julie seated in front of plants, signing in ASL “...experiencing what the real world looks like for the future.” A text overlay on top of both scenes says “To learn more about how ThinkSelf gives, ThinkSelf Board members interviewed several learners to find out how we partner with and support our communities everyday!”


A compilation of videos are edited into 5-20 second short clips each with some overlaps between. All learners are sitting in a chair in front of a collection of plants signing to someone off-camera (the Board member on the opposite side, off-camera).  Nachee is a Thai woman with chin length hair, a long sleeve shirt and jeans with a butterfly print. Gina is a white woman with short salt and pepper hair, wearing glasses, a Vikings baseball cap, hoodie, and jeans. Elsa is a Mexican woman with very long hair, wearing a striped sweater top. 


Text overlay: Where did you grow up? 


Nachee: I’m from Thailand. 


Gina: I was born in Iowa, and moved to Minnesota where I grew up. 


Elsa: Originally my family lived in a large city in Mexico, but we moved to a village to live with my grandmother and great-grandmother. That’s where they put me in school. 


Text overlay: What was school and learning like for you? 
Elsa: Literally everyone else was hearing. I had no idea what was going on. 


Gina: I went to Como elementary along with other deaf kids; then later I went to Humboldt from 8th grade through graduation. 


Nachee: My parents passed away when I was a baby, and my siblings looked after me. Eventually I did go to school in Thailand, but got very little out of it. 


Elsa: I felt like I had no understanding of Spanish. Lip reading felt impossible. My sister would try her best to sign with me using gestures, and I also had a friend who would practice signing, and lip reading with me, and she also tried to teach me speech. 


Text overlay: When did you start at ThinkSelf? 


Nachee (Summer 2022): On July 5, 2022, that’s when I moved to America for a new start, and for opportunities to learn. 


Gina: I started at ThinkSelf last year, that’s when I started coming to classes, last year. But before that I would come in now and then, to meet 1:1 with staff here. 


Elsa: Well when my first kid was born, I had the baby to look after so school wasn’t an option. But after I had my fourth and last child, I was able to start school in 2015, at the Bloomington location. 


Text overlay: Experiences at ThinkSelf


Elsa: The ASL environment was quite a shock for me. But the teacher was helpful, and I was just drawn into reading and learning. Over time, my signing improved, and I wanted more. I ended up leaving my youngest with his father in the evenings so I could commit to going to school every day.


Nachee: When I first got to class and met everyone - it was a big change shifting from the sign language I used in Thailand to ASL; it was pretty exhausting watching and trying to make sense of it, but slowly I’ve started to pick it up and learn more about ASL concepts such as classifiers - I’m committed to coming to class every single day and really focusing on learning English, especially for citizenship. I know that if I don’t take the time to learn the language, my life is going to be that much harder - I won’t be effective in things like using email, or communicating well. It’s important that I study, so I can get a job and have a life that I feel good about. 


Gina: I had to ask myself, “Who are you, really?” It made me so happy to finally have communication, which is so key…I was really taking a look at myself and as my language grew I truly understood there is just so much to learn. I would have stayed lost, lost without communication, how would I learn? How? Where would I go? 


Elsa: Steph, Aaron, the Board, the teachers, the advocates Mai and Leng, they help me, and I appreciate it. I have a sense of pride, and I feel inspired.