Rafe Martinez: "Signing Up" for English-ASL Dual-Language Education

Rafe Martinez didn’t become a leader in deaf education in New Mexico because he’s deaf. He’s not. He became a leader in deaf education because his son was born deaf, and Rafe and the rest of the family needed to communicate with him. But Rafe quickly discovered that American Sign Language, or ASL, is not just for deaf students and their families. It’s also for hearing students whose parents are deaf. These students are known as CODA, or Children Of Deaf Adults. Then there are hearing students, whose special needs include the need to communicate through sign language because they are unable to communicate verbally. Finally, there are students who aren’t deaf, whose parents aren’t deaf, and who don’t have special needs. These students simply want to be fluent in two languages. But instead of pairing English with another oral language, such as Spanish, French, Mandarin, or Diné, they pair English with ASL. The problem was, however, that there were no schools in New Mexico that accommodated all four groups of students. So, Rafe created one himself, with the help of others interested in broadening the reach and influence of sign language as a mainstream instructional language. The result of their efforts is the Albuquerque Sign Language Academy, founded in 2008 as the only state-certified English-ASL dual-language school in New Mexico, and quite possibly in the United States. In this episode, Rafe relates his experiences with his son, Ben, the founding of the school, and much more. We even discuss Puerto Rican sign language interpretation at the 2026 Bad Bunny Super Bowl halftime show! Also addressed is language interdependence and language transfer.