Meet Kamil Gerald | ASL Art Instructor & Social Worker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kamil Gerald and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kamil, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I’m from Buffalo, NY. My background and upbringing in the foster care system, experience with emotional/verbal abuse, and having a hearing loss impacted the woman I am today.

Being in the foster care system and experiencing emotional/verbal abuse taught me to be humble, and limit people’s access to me. It also taught me to treat people with kindness, because you never know what battles they are fighting behind closed doors.

Coming to terms with my hearing loss was a challenge for me. It was a love and hate relationship within myself. It was due to the fact I didn’t love myself for who I was. I was letting people project their negativity on me without realizing the negative affect it had on me. I was tired of being bullied and taken advantage of.

Eventually, I accepted full responsibility of people’s treatment towards me, because of how I treated myself. I had to learn the hard way that the way I treated myself taught people how to treat me. If I don’t respect myself, then I’ve given people permission to disrespect me. It wasn’t easy embarking on a journey to learn how to love and respect Kamil. But it was all worth it to mold me into the woman I am today.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My business is Signing Is Art (SIA). I teach the American Sign Language (ASL) as “Art” to the community. I also promote disability and hearing loss awareness by hosting events within the community. Honestly, I believe creating unique events to bridge the gap between the hearing and deaf community is what sets me apart from others. I like to be different.

I am proud of formulating SIA. It is my passion. I’m excited about the future of SIA as it is gaining recognition. I created my first ASL movie titled, “Brick Love Fashion”. It was a different and fun experience filming the movie. On behalf of SIA, I was Buffalo Talent Show’s Judge. SIA supported the nonprofit, Create The Culture’s 4th Juneteenth Jamboree in Olean, NY. Sign language is becoming more popular within society due to increased awareness of the deaf community’s culture.

To get to where I’m at today business wise with SIA was not easy. People were not open to understanding the importance of learning “Art” which is sign language. To overcome the challenges, I had to educate the community on disability and hearing loss awareness every chance I had to whether that be during a lunch meeting, phone call, etc. I also had to increase my presence on social media which is sometimes difficult when I’m working on projects.

The lessons I’ve learned along the way are; to not give up and to always celebrate steps I’ve taken whether big or small. I’ve also learned that it’s okay to take risks to challenge myself to think outside of the box.

I want the world to know that communicating with the deaf community is not difficult. Learning sign language in 3D art form is fun and engaging, you just have to find the right Instructor. Come sign and have fun with me by booking your session on www.signingisart.com.

Signing Is Art will be hosting a grown and sexy event, “Artistry” on Saturday, August 26th from 5-9pm at the Mahogany in Tonawanda, NY. Buffalo’s own Heem from BSF will be performing in addition to Atlanta’s own Beautiful The Artist. And lastly, NYC’s own DJ Hear No Evil will be entertaining the crowd! There will be free food, beverages, 50/50 raffle, etc to make this a memorable experience for both the deaf and hearing communities. I’m really excited and look forward to this event that is aimed at bridging the gap between both communities.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Honestly, I don’t have a favorite spot mainly because I haven’t travel. I’ve been so occupied with parenthood and working.

However, I am learning how to take time out for my self care.

Hypothetically speaking if I was to go on a week long trip with my best friend, this would be our itinerary:
-Fly to Bali.
-Stay at an Airbnb.
-Sightseeing different places
-Eating at healthy/natural/plant based restaurants
-take walks in community/beach
-spa
-venture to night life.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to give a shout-out to my biological mother, Natalie. She’s not living, however her words of encouragement, “Kamil, I want you to be better than me” is embedded in my mind. She stressed it so much while I was in foster care. And her actions let me know she meant every word by watching my children while I went to undergraduate and graduate school. She had my best interest at heart despite her flaws.

Shout out to the people who saw the best in me and planted seeds of wisdom that were blossomed. You are appreciated. And lastly to the people who didn’t believe in me, projected their fears on me, underestimated me, etc., thank you for giving me the fuel to face my fears and believe in myself!

Website: www.signingisart.com

Instagram: @siabykamil

Facebook: @Kamil Gerald

Youtube: @Kamil Gerald

Other: TikTok @signingisart

Image Credits
Kamil Gerald