Kapiʻolani CC’s very own, Jan Fried celebrated the official launch of American Sign Language (ASL) tours at the Waikiki Aquarium as part of her project entitled Project WĀIʻA: Waikiki Aquarium Includes ASL. Through this program, the Waikiki Aquarium will be the FIRST and ONLY in the nation to offer ASL on-demand tours!

The American Sign Language/English Interpreter Education and the Waikiki Aquarium received SEED-IDEA funding from the University of Hawai’i to spearhead, “Project WĀIʻA: Waikiki Aquarium Includes ASL”, with the goal to translate into ASL selected ocean-related exhibits at the Aquarium. Phase one includes 4 videos. Through the use of smartphone, tablet or laptop, these on-demand videos will provide for deaf and hard of hearing community and guests the same information that the Aquarium’s on-demand audio tours do for guests. The second round of exhibits is currently being translated into ASL by our amazing team of deaf translators and should be available to the public in the fall.

Jan Fried (KCC Professor of American Sign Language/English Interpreter Education) and Pua Auyong (Director of UH SEED-IDEAS Committee)