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From http://www.perkins.org/stories/how-pro-tactile-american-sign-language-ptasl-is-changing-the-conversation

Q&A: How Pro-Tactile American Sign Language — PTASL — is changing the conversation
Perkins Diversity and Inclusion Speaker Jaimi Lard and Sign Language Interpreter Christine Dwyer describe the revolution sweeping the deafblind community
October 1, 2018
by Meredith Fidrocki

Jaimi Lard, a former student in Perkins’ Deafblind Program, and Christine Dwyer, a Perkins sign language interpreter, met in 1984. Since then, they have used tactile American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate — much like Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan did more than a century ago. 

Today, three decades later, Lard and Dwyer are helping lead a revolution in the way deafblind people communicate. They are ambassadors for the cutting-edge linguistic movement known as Pro-Tactile ASL (PTASL). 

Tactile ASL is a visually-based language that is practiced through touch in the air, while PTASL is rooted in touch and practiced on the body. PTASL, developed by and for people who are deafblind, can also be used to connect small groups of people in communication, instead of just one-on-one. 

...Read on to hear what PTASL means for Lard and Dwyer, as well as their hopes to help educate the world about this groundbreaking movement. 

Read the full article at http://www.perkins.org/stories/how-pro-tactile-american-sign-language-ptasl-is-changing-the-conversation