TJC gives tours for the deaf at East Texas Oil Museum

KILGORE – In a historic moment, Tyler Junior College’s Sign Language and Interpretation classes give the deaf and hard of hearing community a guided tour of the iconic East Texas Oil Museum in Kilgore for the first time.

According to our news partner, KETK, TJC students set to graduate in May brought the history of the East Texas Oil Museum on Kilgore College’s campus to life, through sign language. As a part of an end-of-year project, the students gave full tours of the iconic museum, and interpreted a nearly 20-minute movie to people who are deaf and hard-of-hearing.

“Without the interpreters here, we would just look through the museum,” said Todd Lindstrom, a museum guest who’s deaf.

“It’s made me very thankful for the deaf community, because even though I’m still a student, they are very supportive of me and they understand that I’m still learning,” TJC senior, Denali Smith said.

There are nearly 90,000 people in East Texas who are deaf or hard-of hearing. Accessibility in these spaces are not just wanted but essential.

“Anybody should be able to go anywhere, and have communication access in what ever mode they need or want. So this is just part of that, and also this is the way our department gives back to the community,” TJC Sign language professor, Kim Hunt said.

Lindstrom hopes that more museums in East Texas will make closed captioning available in the future.

“I would hope to see more of captioning at in the museums in the area. If they’re showing a movie or doing a presentation or anything that’s on monitors,” Lindstrom said.