In many states, where the Deaf school is located is where the largest Deaf community can be found. The Georgia School for the Deaf is located in Cave Springs, and naturally this would sound like the place we’d stop by to meet the deaf community. Al Leff, says otherwise. He pulled us out of the way to Atlanta boasting that there was a community there and that he wanted to host a gathering. We decided to take him up on it.

The gathering was held at the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf which opened its doors in 1972 when local parents complained of shipping their children off to school two hours away in Cave Springs. With approximately 200 students from K-12, the AASD offers an inclusive signing environment to the best of their abilities and even post “Sign at all times” signs all over the school. There is no residential program for the school that serves 29 counties, but they still compete in sports playing mostly private schools. We were given a tour of the large one building school by longtime teacher Donna Leff, a native of Atlanta,