CBP and the ASL club team up for deaf bingo night

Photo courtesy of Evan Rudemi, Wikipedia

The CPB hosted a deaf bingo night with the American Sign Language (ASL) club in Friends Hall last Thursday with a good turnout of over 30 people in attendance.

“ASL reached out to CPB for a co-sponsorship and we thought it was a really cool idea because it was something we didn’t do before,” said CPB member Sam Schwartz, “and we want to work with more clubs so it was great they reached out to us.”

The game was to be played in groups of four people each, so one person would open a deck of cards and deal out 13 cards to each player. Then using a card randomizer known as Dingo, certain cards would pop up on a screen. If you had a card that was on the screen as one of your 13 you would set it aside. Once you go down to two cards you would stand up and if all of your cards were selected then you would walk over to the podium to claim your prize.

The first round of people were still trying to get adjusted to the rules, so when two people got Dingo at the same time they were bit confused. This caused a slight disagreement on how exactly the person who had gotten Dingo should claim their prize. The idea of having people line up on the wall closest to them and running to a person in the middle of the room was introduced and then scrapped.

Toward the end, it was decided that whoever won the round would stand up when they were down to two cards and raise their hand when they won. This did contribute to making the game flow a little better but eventually people went back to walking up to the podium to claim their prizes.

After the first two rounds audience members were asked to play in silence to really get the Dingo experience. Throughout the event members of the ASL club were teaching attendees some words and phrases in sign language to help people communicate during the silent rounds and just to educate those playing the game. They taught everyone how to say phrases like “ready,” “I love you” and “celebrate.”

Though there were a few mishaps the event was enjoyed by most people in attendance. One student Raquel Belen, freshman, said, “It was very fun but it was too new so they didn’t know the rules or how to make it work efficiently but it was fun.”

Another student was pleased by how they were able to showcase a way for people with disabilities to enjoy the things able bodied people take for granted. “Overall I thought it was a good event it showed how people who are deaf can still have fun despite their disabilities,” said Devin Anthony-Johnson, a junior. “I thought it was interesting and I’d definitely like to see them do it again.”

To get more updates on upcoming CPB events you can follow them on Instagram @cpbramapo or look out for the Daily Digest email.

 

amelvil@ramapo.edu