12 Reasons Knowing Sign Language Is Actually The Best

And Nyle DiMarco is only, like, 5 of them.

1. You can still communicate while you’re chewing.

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This is actually so key. No awkward pauses after you’ve just taken a huge bite of food.

2. It's important if you want to keep up with pop culture.

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America's Next Top Model. Dancing with the Stars. Spring Awakening on Broadway. Switched at Birth.

While all your friends are admiring Nyle DiMarco, Marlee Matlin, or Sean Berdy from afar, you can go to an event they're at and communicate with them in their language.

3. Um, being introduced to only the BEST MOVIE EVER.

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So this is just a generic image of black sand, but Black Sand is anything but a generic movie. Think horror meets comedy meets wait what just happened?

Learning American Sign Language (ASL) means learning about a whole slew of movies and poetry and literature that you never before knew existed!

(And tbh, even if you don't know ASL, I recommend getting yourself a copy of Black Sand and throwin' up those subtitles because this movie is actually the best.)

4. Also omg all the hotties.

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Like Russell Harvard.

5. No, like, actually. All the hotties.

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Like Katie Leclerc.

6. You can chat in way more places.

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Unlike this couple, who can't and so is doing this weird thing for some reason. Don't be like this couple. Learn ASL.

But seriously: Underwater conversations. Conversations from afar. Conversations through windows. In the library. Under the table. It's the best.

7. It will introduce you to a whole community of great people.

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Sign is an instant connection you can have with another person. When you find someone else who signs, you both get so excited.

8. It’s a totally new way to experience music! (Didn’t expect that, did you?)

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Like this lit interpretation of Luke Bryan's Rain is a Good Thing. Yaaasss ladies slaaay.

9. Honestly, it’s a really really cool way to experience music.

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10. If you weren’t familiar with Deaf culture before, learning ASL can be world-shifting and totally perspective changing.

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You see the world in a new way. You see language in a new way!

11. Okay but wait can we just one last time appreciate the hotties?

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12. And, lastly, ASL is important.

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While learning ASL is RIDICULOUSLY fun, it is important to remember that there is also lot of linguistic prejudice against American Sign Language. ASL is a right denied a lot of Deaf people.

Go out there and learn ASL, and help spread the word that ASL is something that everyone should have access to!