BETHANY: Hi! I’m Bethany Gehman,
and my sign name is “ByBy.”
I’ve been a sex educator for the Deaf
community for the past few years.
The reason why I’m making this vlog is because
I want to discuss sex education for the Deaf community.
Often, a Deaf child is born into a hearing family
and in many cases, their parents—unfortunately—
do not know sign or how to effectively
communicate with their Deaf child.
Will this Deaf child have the opportunity
to talk about sex or discuss sexuality
(such as their identity) at home?
Most likely not.
They do not have access to this information at home.
There are many barriers preventing them
from receiving sex education, plus there is a lack
of incidental learning opportunities.
For instance, a hearing child can overhear many
different pieces of information regarding
sexuality through a variety of media.
They can learn so much about sexuality this way.
They can easily ride a city bus and overhear a
conversation on relationships.
Does the Deaf community have the
same kind of access?
No. Not even close.
Members of the Deaf community encounter many
underlying barriers in the attempt to receive
sexuality, sexual health, and sexual-related information.
I would like to address and solve this issue
so we can remove these obstacles.
We need your help.
We need you to break down these barriers in order
to create a more accessible path
to sexuality education.