The massive gym was filled with hundreds of people, yet the only prominent sound was the rush of air flowing from the ventilation system. People’s hands moved in the air at rapid speed, and a short laugh sometimes broke the silence.

This was DeafNation’s annual expo, an event run by and for deaf people to showcase nearly 100 vendors, dozens of performances by deaf people and networking opportunities for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. The expo, which travels around the nation, made its final stop for this season in Palatine, Ill. on Nov. 7.

A prominent site among the vendors were demonstrations for different relay companies. These offer video phoning for deaf and hard-of-hearing people to call each other. One of them promoted international relay calling while another offered videophone translators.

“The most interesting thing I saw was a video phone translator. Somebody can talk sign into it and it will come out in spoken Spanish, or someone can sign into it and it will come out in spoken Spanish. It runs really smoothly,” said Jonathan Strassner, an American Sign Language-English interpretation major and Columbia College.

Across from the relay services was a cochlear implant company, there promoting its brand of artificial ears. Those interested would undergo a surgery that implants an artificial cochlea inside the ear with a transmitter and microphone on the outside of the head. These have varying degrees of success in helping a deaf person hear.

Several T-shirt companies sold shirts, bags and cups with different ASL signs and mottos printed onto them. Shirts with the signs for “Jesus loves you,” tote bags imprinted with the sign for “interpreter” and cups branded with the sign for “I love you” filled the shelves.

A giant inflated castle sat in a corner of the gym for children to play in. When close, their laughter could be heard, as well as some of them talking. Many children of deaf parents are hearing, and the majority of them counted down aloud from 10 as their turn in the castle came to an end.

A woman handed out condoms from Sinai Health System saying to a rather harassed-looking older woman, “You can give them to a friend, if you would like.” This conversation took place through an interpreter, as the woman handing out the condoms is hearing and does not sign.

She said she was there because HIV and other medical concerns are less known within the deaf community. As English is their second language- ASL being an entirely separate language with its own syntax and grammar- the media that hearing people consume is not as easily interpreted by most deaf people.

“A lot of the information we pick up as hearing people, we hear about it on the news, we glance at Time magazine, we see it in a newspaper,” said Kimberly Taylor, who works with Sinai Health System to offer outreach to the deaf community. “While many deaf people can read, they can’t overhear things and captioning isn’t as good as being able to hear it. Deaf people just don’t know as much about cardiovascular health, HIV, diabetes, strokes, anything like that.”

The expo began in 2003 with six locations, and now tours between 10-15 locations each year. Overall, the conference brings in approximately 350,000 people, according to its Web site.

A handful of legal groups were at the event to showcase their services. The deaf community often struggles to get equal access in employment and legal matters, an attorney explained.

“Employers tend to see deaf people as not being able to do anything, and if they do hire them it is usually entry-level,” said Howard Rosenblum, senior attorney for Equip for Equality, an organization that advocates civil rights for those with disabilities. “The biggest thing [hearing] people can do is to be aware. If a hearing person opens his or her door, open it to everybody. We are a big niche in the market.”

Performances by deaf artists and actors took place on the main stage throughout the day. ASL lends itself very well to storytelling, as it is very expressive and based heavily on body language. There were many stories being told in the form of skits or monologues.

One group, the Deaf Professional Arts Network, interprets popular music, such as John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to Change,” and Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” into ASL.

Deaf Professional Arts Network co-founder Sean Forbes was at the expo. Forbes, who identifies as deaf, has some hearing with the help of hearing aides. He turned a song into a expressive visual performance. By utilizing ASL and his entire body as well as visual images projected behind him, he transferred the song’s power to the audience. The song, a rap about how deaf Forbes is, has a unique and catchy beat. 

The end result was a performance that both deaf and hearing people could appreciate.

“ASL is a beautiful language. You can see the need for sign language interpreters, and it’s just really cool,” said Crystal Kellogg, an ASL-English interpretation major at Columbia College Chicago. “There’s a big misconception that because someone is deaf they are handicapped, but they are totally capable of doing the same things everyone else does.” 

Many people at the expo were hearing. Some have deaf children, some aspire to be ASL-English interpreters and others are just interested in the language.

“I grew up with a friend who was deaf,” said Columbia College Chicago ASL-English interpretation major Jen Biesadecki. “Just being with him made me want to learn sign language and I love using it. I teach a little bit to kids at the daycare I work at. It’s fun.”