3rd Annual Deaf Awareness Night is coming to Pawtucket. The event was launched with the help of Curtis Pride a former major league player who is also deaf. Pride spoke with students at Rhode Island School for the Deaf this week to help promote the night.
“Pride talked about his opportunity to play baseball at the highest possible level. It’s a message of hope and encouragement in the face of adversity that Pride stressed to the audience. He never allowed his disability to hold him back and neither should the students.” (from RI Central)
Curtis John Pride (born December 17, 1968) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder who is deaf. He is currently the head baseball coach at Gallaudet University. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. In 2015, Pride was named MLB’s Ambassador For Inclusion. (from Wikipedia)
- RIT (Rhode Island mascot RITchie along with PawSox mascots PAWS and SOX to teach ASL signs prior to the game.
- “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” will either be interpreted or signed
- The national anthem will be performed in American Sign Language
- Handouts with the ASL alphabet and highlights of deaf baseball great William “Dummy” Hoy’s contribution to major league baseball will be distributed.
- Trivia questions will be shown between innings to help raise awareness of deafness and Deaf culture
- Baseball-related signs such as ‘pitcher’ and ‘catcher’ will be shown on the scoreboard to teach members of the audience.
You can read more about a Deaf Awareness Night in the G-League in this installment of the Water Cooler.
#ICYMI: Curtis Pride joined us yesterday at @RISDEAF to unveil our special sign language uniforms that will be worn on June 7th for our #DeafAwareness Night. pic.twitter.com/2TM4xe5wHo
— PawSox (@PawSox) May 8, 2019
