Friday's Keynote: Lance Forshay

3:15—4:15 PM in William Philip Hall
Narration of a Legendary Deaf Couple

Family photo: (clockwise) Olof Hanson, wife Agatha, and daughters Alice, Helen, and Marion in 1930 in Seattle.

Lance will share a narration of Olaf & Agatha Hanson, a famous couple in Deaf history, who came to Pacific Northwest in 1900’s. Olof was the first internationally known Deaf architect, activist who served a term as a NAD president in 1913. Olaf was also an Episcopal priest. He designed many different buildings and introduced an early concept of DeafSpace in architecture. Agatha was one of the first women to enrolled in Gallaudet College and founded a sorority known as O.W.L.S. at that time. Lance will tell how both became an American model Deaf couple who contributed to the early development of the Northwest Deaf community with leadership after the founding the Puget Sound Association of the Deaf in 1901 and Deaf ministries in Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, and Vancouver.

Lance was born Deaf and has at least 30 Deaf family members and relatives that run through 5 generations since 1860’s. He graduated from Kansas School for the Deaf and Gallaudet University. He has a BA in Mathematics and Secondary Education. He also has a MS in Ministry from Ambridge University, Montgomery, Alabama. Lance came to the University of Washington when it started its ASL program in 2007. Since that time the program has expanded into a three-year ASL Language Minor Studies. He played a role in UW ASL Club’s affiliation with the national ASL Honors Society and the establishment of the UW D-Center, Disability and Deaf Culture Student Center, which is the first of its kind among American universities and colleges. He was promoted to the rank of Teaching Professor in 2024 and was a recipient of the 2014 UW Distinguished Teaching Award. With over 30 years of ASL teaching experience, he has given many workshops and presentations on ASL Verb Morphology and grammar topics, Deafhood, Deaf culture Deaf culture topics and issues related to cultural and language oppressions for interpreters, ASL teachers and the Deaf community.

Lance has been serving as a custodian trustee for the WSAD Endowment Fund Trustee, chair of Deaf Missions Board based in Iowa, member of national ASL Bible Translation Committee, and founder/elder for Deaf House Fellowship, a Deaf House Church network in South Puget Sound area. He lives in Puyallup with his wife. They have two grown kids, Matthew and Samantha. Lance’s hobbies/activities include essential oils, hiking, biking and gardening. His passions include history, natural health, languages and cultures.

Sunday's Keynote: Ben Jarashaw

12:30—2:00 in William Philip Hall (WPH)
Ben Jarashow Live! ASL Storytelling

Ben Jarashow was born deaf in California and grew up at the California School for the Deaf, Fremont. It was there that his passion for ASL storytelling was cultivated, but his love for Deaf Studies wasn’t realized until he enrolled in college. After that light bulb moment, he went on to graduate from Gallaudet University in 2004 with a Bachelor’s degree in Deaf Studies. In 2006, Ben then obtained his Master’s degree in Deaf Studies: Cultural Studies, also from Gallaudet University. His Master’s thesis focused on developing criteria for a better quality of ABC storytelling.

Ben taught Deaf Studies at Utah Valley University for ten wonderful years, where he helped develop and strengthen the curriculum for their Deaf Studies program. In 2019, he got a job teaching ASL and Deaf Studies at the University of South Florida. After four years at USF, Ben and his family relocated to the wonderful community in Rochester, New York, where he is a Senior Lecturer at the Deaf Cultural Studies program in the Department of Liberal Arts at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf/Rochester Institute of Technology. In addition to teaching, he has also traveled all over the country giving ASL performances and workshops covering a wide range of topics in the ASL and Deaf Studies field. Ben is best known for his hilarious stories about his encounters with jellyfish.

As much as Ben loves storytelling and Deaf Studies, his greatest loves are his family. Some of his favorite things to do are spend time with his wife, Kat, and their three children, Boone, Cypress, and Wilder. They’ve been giving him plenty of new comedic material for his storytelling —none involving jellyfish, much to Ben’s relief.

ASL storyteller Ben Jarashow’s one-man show offers a range of stories, from embarrassing, comedic real-life experiences to stand-up comedy to translated stories, personification, and many more! Ben takes advantage of technology for visual effect, interweaving PowerPoint slides and videos with his stories to enhance the audience’s experience. Prepare for a visual journey filled with humor, vivid imagery, and most of all, laughter.

Ben Jarashow was born deaf in California and grew up at the California School for the Deaf, Fremont. It was there that his passion for ASL storytelling was cultivated, but his love for Deaf Studies wasn’t realized until he enrolled in college. After that light bulb moment, he went on to graduate from Gallaudet University in 2004 with a Bachelor’s degree in Deaf Studies. In 2006, Ben then obtained his Master’s degree in Deaf Studies: Cultural Studies, also from Gallaudet University. His Master’s thesis focused on developing criteria for a better quality of ABC storytelling.

Ben taught Deaf Studies at Utah Valley University for ten wonderful years, where he helped develop and strengthen the curriculum for their Deaf Studies program. In 2019, he got a job teaching ASL and Deaf Studies at the University of South Florida. After four years at USF, Ben and his family relocated to the wonderful community in Rochester, New York, where he is a Senior Lecturer at the Deaf Cultural Studies program in the Department of Liberal Arts at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf/Rochester Institute of Technology. In addition to teaching, he has also traveled all over the country giving ASL performances and workshops covering a wide range of topics in the ASL and Deaf Studies field. Ben is best known for his hilarious stories about his encounters with jellyfish.

As much as Ben loves storytelling and Deaf Studies, his greatest loves are his family. Some of his favorite things to do are spend time with his wife, Kat, and their three children, Boone, Cypress, and Wilder. They’ve been giving him plenty of new comedic material for his storytelling —none involving jellyfish, much to Ben’s relief.