"Today in 1st grade one of my Deaf students farted loudly in class and other students turned to look at them. The following is a snippet of a 15-minute conversation that happened entirely in American Sign Language among the group of Deaf students," she wrote in her Facebook post. After the class turned toward the student, they signed, "Why are they looking at me?" Trupiano explained it was because they had heard the fart. The child was stunned. "Whhhhat do you mean?!?!" they signed. When Trupiano confirmed that people can, in fact, hear farts, the student was horrified and immediately wanted to know: could they hear all farts?
Teacher tells her deaf students that people can hear farts and their jaws just dropped
Anna Trupiano highlighted this case of limited access to info due to a lack of signing awareness.
Anna Trupiano, a first-grade teacher at a school that serves deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing students, is dedicated to helping her students navigate a world that often isn’t built with them in mind. Recently, she shared a hilarious and eye-opening moment from her classroom. A 6-year-old student who is deaf passed gas, and when some of their classmates started laughing, the child was confused. They had no idea that farts made a sound. Trupiano later explained to the student that, yes, some farts can be heard—something they had never realized before. The moment was funny, but it also underscored a larger issue: how easily deaf students can miss out on everyday knowledge when their families don’t use sign language at home.
"So you can hear and smell all the farts?" the kid asked. "Some of the farts, yes. Not all of them," Trupiano replied. The kids were intrigued. "How do you know which farts they can hear and which farts they can't?" asked one kid and Trupiano thought about it for a second and said, "Hmmm....you know how sometimes you can feel your butt move when you fart? A lot of those they can hear. But if your butt doesn't move it's more likely they didn't hear it."
The kid responded, "TELL THEM TO STOP LISTENING TO MY FARTS! THAT IS NOT NICE!" Trupiano explained it wasn't a choice. "Hearing kids can't stop hearing farts, it just happens." The kid said, "I just will stop farting then." Trupiano knew she had to explain that farting was healthy and normal. "Everyone farts, it is healthy. You can't stop," Trupiano explained. The kid was confused. "Wait. Everyone? Even my mom? My Dad," the kid asked. "Yep," confirmed the teacher. She then asked if the teacher also farts and Trupiano nodded, resulting in the kids laughing hysterically.
The 6-year-old was stunned that people could hear farts, but then a new thought popped up in her head. "Can hearing people see farts?" Another kid jumped in, "Yeah. Green smoke comes out of their butt, I saw it on TV." Trupiano said that was not true and confirmed that it was only an exaggeration in the cartoon. "That doesn't happen in real life," she said. "What?! Ugh. I don't understand farts."
Trupiano might have had a funny and enlightening conversation with her kids, but she said it also pointed out a larger problem faced by the deaf community. "I know it started with farts, but the real issue is that many of my students aren't able to learn about these things at home or from their peers because they don't have the same linguistic access," she told GOOD. "So many of my students don't have families who can sign well enough to explain so many things it's incredibly isolating for these kids," she continued.
Trupiano is hoping her story inspires more people to learn sign language and help bridge a gap with the deaf community. "I would love to see a world where my students can learn about anything from anyone they interact with during their day... Whether that means learning about the solar system, the candy options at a store, or even farts, it would be so great for them to have that language access anywhere they go."
This article originally appeared 2 years ago.
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