Mount Union American Sign Language instructor Susan McConnell will present “A Personal Journey,” detailing how an illness caused her son to lose his sense of hearing at an early age and put her on a path to learn sign language and eventually teach college courses on the subject. 

A wife and mother of three children, she will share stories of raising her family, which has some similarities to the family in Song for a Whale. She will also share her experience as a grandmother as one of her seven grandchildren is also deaf.

McConnell, who is supervisor of pre-clinical and clinical education majors at Mount Union, founded an ASL Club at  the university and  continues to serve as its advisor.