Picture by Shatara King 

Warm-up

1. Attendance
2. Begin with 5-7 minutes of conversation (This can be cut short for this lab because there is a lot of content to cover) 
   • “NOW START 5 MINUTES CONVERSATION DISCUSS WHATEVER”

Dating Struggles and LGBTQ+ Discussion

1. Open the Google Slides Presentation – make sure you have access to edit the presentation before starting the lab.
2. Vocabulary
   1. STRUGGLE
      • Both hand shapes 1 dom hand located close to the chest pointing out towards the non dom hand pointing in towards the dom hand both hands moving in a bouncing motion up and down
   2. PSYCHOLOGY
      • Non dom hand shape 5 with curved bend thumb located in front of chest. Dom hand closed 5 finger tips bouncing off the space between the thumb and pointer on the stationary non dom hand
   3. SOCIAL
      • Both hand shapes S touching at the thumb and pointer palm orientation facing outward from the body located by the chest moving in a circular moving the palms to face inward towards the chest ending with the pinkies touching
   4. INCLUDE
      • Non dom hand shape collapsed C located in front of chest palm orientation to the left. Dom hand shape 5 closing to hand shape O inside of the non dom collapsed C
   5. COMMUNITY
      • Both hand shapes B with finger tips touching located at non dom side of the chest moving across the chest to the dom side with palm orientations switching back and forth
3. Ask students to think of some potential struggles Deaf people experience with dating and type out their ideas in the presentation itself.
   • “YOU DEAF PEOPLE DATING STRUGGLE THINK WHAT?”
4. Click on the photo in the presentation to watch a video on a Deaf woman explaining her experience dating.

Gender Neutral Signs

1. THEY  
2. NON-BINARY PARENT 
3. HONORED GUESTS 
4. PARTNER/SWEETHEART
5. NON-BINARY SIBLING
6. NON-BINARY NIECE/NEPHEW 
7. SPOUCE 

LGBTQ+ Discussion

1. Flip to the LGBTQ+ slide and explain to students the higher population of LGBTQ+ individuals in the Deaf community compared to the hearing community.
2. Have a discussion with these guiding questions:
   1. Why might this be? Is it physiological? Is it social?
      • • “THINK PSYCHOLGY [SHIFT] SOCIAL? WHY?” 
   2. What are the similarities and differences between the Deaf and LGBTQ+ communities?
      • • “SAME [SHIFT] DIFFERENT WITH DEAF [SHIFT] LGBTQIA+ COMMUNITY WHAT?” 
      • Oppression
      • Struggles dating
      • When to disclose deafness vs. sexuality
      • Family dynamics
      • Cultural norms

Main Activity

Dating App!

1. Explain to students that they will be creating their own dating app that is more inclusive for the Deaf.
   • “NOW ALL DATING APP INCLUDE DEAF MORE MAKE”
2. Scroll through the three different dating app screenshots to give students an idea of what they want to include in their initial profile setup.
3. The lab assistant will hand out whiteboards and markers to students and allow them time to create a company name, logo, and questions they would use to set up their dating app.
   • “ALL WHITE BOARD PEN HAVE. WORK PLACE NAME, PHOTO fs-LOGO, QUESTIONS THINK WRITE”
4. After students have completed their app, they will take turns and share with the group what their app is, who it is intended for, and why theirs is better than others on the market right now.
   • “FINISH SHARE WITH GROUP. YOUR fs-APP BEST WHY?”
5. The students that are not presenting will take a vote on whether or not they would fund the app presented to them. Encourage them to give the presenter some tips on how to make their app more inclusive or popular.
   • “ALL OTHER VOTE GIVE MONEY FOR fs-APP YES NO? WHY?”

Wrap-up

1. Did you know of any gender-neutral signs other than cousin?
   • • “YOU KNOW GENDER NEUTRAL SIGNS OTHER-THAN COUSIN?” 
2. Had you thought about the similarities between the Deaf and LGBTQ+ communities before?
   • • “YOU THINK ABOUT SIMILARITIES WITH DEAF [SHIFT] LGBTQIA+ – COMMUNITIES BEFORE?” 
3. Did anything you learned today surprise you?
   1. • “YOU LEARN SOMETHING SURPRISING TODAY? YES? [SHIFT] NO?” 

End of Lab:

• Sign or show Can-Do statements once more and have students evaluate their confidence
  • (Use thumbs up/ thumbs down or have them rate 1-5 on how they feel after the activity)
• Encourage students to be honest in their self-evaluation
• Pay attention, and try to use feedback for future labs!