For most hearing people of color, the ability to code-switch, or move freely between two separate languages or a dialect of a single language, comes with ease. Big-name celebs, including hip-hop/R&B crooner Drake, Rihanna and J-Lo, have mastered it in their music. Even Black Americans do it daily, seamlessly switching between the Afro-American vernacular — sometimes referred to as Ebonics — and grammatically correct English.
The same can be said of Black folk who are deaf or hard of hearing. For them, it’s common to utilize both mainstream American Sign Language and Black American Sign Language, or “Black Signs,” depending on whom they’re speaking to.
“I have used mainstream ASL because a lot of people in the community use it,” Black deaf woman Sheena Cobb told Splinter News via a video-phone interpreter system. “When I am with Black deaf people, then we usually, naturally revert to Black ASL.”