'Deaf Day' at Minnesota Children's Museum offers inclusive experience

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Inside the Minnesota Children's Museum on Sunday, organizers teamed up with the University of St. Thomas to give Metro Deaf School students memories to last a lifetime.

"This is a huge, fun way to see the eyes open in our community; that this is what deaf people look like, this is what deaf people do," Metro Deaf School executive director Susan Outlaw said. "We have a lot of kids here. It’s very busy."

A sign language interpreter was available on each floor of the museum during its first-ever "Deaf Day;" a new partnership allowing deaf and blind children to experience all the fun that the museum has to offer.

"Deaf Day" at the Minnesota Children's Museum offered a tailored experience for children with hearing loss. (FOX 9)

"Rather than being isolated, they are around deaf individuals, and they’re being exposed to sign language, which is great," Outlaw explained.

The event brought on a range of new feelings for their parents as well. Until Sunday, the parents say their children would normally miss out on many of the sights and sounds around them.

"We love this, this is amazing," Mara’s mother Joelle said.

"She was very, very excited," Norah’s mother Sara Klarstrom added. "These opportunities are so important because she doesn’t have a lot of peers in our neighborhood."

The Klarstroms made the most of several hands-on activities on Sunday, along with storytelling sessions, sign language lessons, and other arts and crafts.

"It’s amazing because she has a language to help her out," Klarstrom finished. "She can have the same experience as every other kid."