Texas State student creates deaf section at Bobcat Stadium
By Amanda Brandeis
September 12, 2015
SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN) — At Saturday night’s Texas State football home-opener, the team hopes to put a win in the history books. But win or lose, history will be made in the stands.
For the first time, a section of the stands will be designated for the deaf, as well as people fluent in American Sign Language.
“I feel like hearing people look over the deaf community a lot,” said Texas State Junior, Brian Guendling. “And we’re all human beings. They’re no different than anybody else, so I just want to provide equal opportunity for everybody to enjoy the football games.”
Guendling is a former Texas State football player. While he’s not deaf, he’s become an advocate for the deaf community.
“When I was younger, I didn’t say my first words until I was 4-years-old, so growing up I was around a lot of deaf people. My best friend’s neighbor was deaf and so I learned sign language.” said Guendling.
According to university officials, there’s 32 deaf and hard-of-hearing students currently attending Texas State. But Guendling hopes to draw deaf people from all over the state.
“We’re not different than anybody else, we just can’t hear!” said Karlie Franke, a deaf student at Texas State. “I’ve never heard of a deaf section at a university, and I hope it spreads for the deaf community to be involved too, it’s awesome.”
Attendees in the section will also get a discount on their ticket, $10 instead of $25.
“We want the deaf community to feel accepted and come out to the games,” said Guendling.
To purchase a ticket for the new section, you can contact Guendling on one of his social media pages:
Facebook: Brian Guendling
Twitter: @BrianGuendling
SOURCE:
http://kxan.com/2015/09/12/tx-state-student-creates-deaf-section-at-bobcat-stadium/