Meet D’yann Elaine Crosby | ASL Educator, Influencer, Producer, Author, Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with D’yann Elaine Crosby and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi D’yann Elaine, do you disagree with some advice that is more or less universally accepted?
There’s an old adage that says, “You cannot teach an old dog new tricks.” What is meant by this is that it is difficult to teach someone especially an older person a new skill or behavior if they are already firmly set in their ways.

I agree the younger mind works a lot better when it comes to learning new things and retaining information. However,
getting older doesn’t have to mean learning has to stop at a certain point in your life. Learning is lifelong and is known to improve the quality of life. This is by far one of the most valuable lessons I believe I have learned in the business of education.
While it is true learning to master something new as you get older can pose a challenge, it’s a challenge one can overcome with the right mindset. Learning sign language is no different. Consider it preventative care. The earlier you start to learn and use it the more you will retain it. Imagine grandkids signing with their grandparents, sons, and daughters signing with their parents, and patient care practitioners signing with their patients. Seeing others signing will motivate the aging adult to want to incorporate this fresh new way of communicating in their daily routines.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

Dr. D’yann was born in Watts, and raised in South Los Angeles in known gang-infested territories, yet earned all of her educational degrees from Southern California-based prestigious universities. She has overcome great odds, unfavorable circumstances, and even abuse in her childhood and has managed to rise like cream to the top of the educational ladder with accolades, dignity, and grace. Dr. DE is a strong “manifester” long before the word became a popular term and has several testimonies to evidence this. As a testimony of her strong faith, she believed against all financial odds and refused to believe any limitations her circumstances revealed to believe she would go to the University of Southern California (USC) and play for the USC Women of Troy’s basketball team. She did. She graduated eight months pregnant with her daughter and declared she would go back for her master’s degree when her daughter turned seven. She did. She envisioned a business, intentionally focused on the deaf community while pursuing her first master’s degree. After graduating she moved to Maryland and within 2 years Sign With Me was established. Two bachelor’s and two master’s degrees, later she declared she wanted an honorary doctorate degree. On June 17th, 2023 she will be conferred an honorary doctorate in divinity from Bible Believers Christian College and Seminary. With a passion for social equity and inclusion, Dr. D’yann’s goal is to help people expand their perspectives to focus on one’s abilities instead of their limitations. With the accessible media products she undertakes with her team, she is forging new avenues of access for those interested in learning sign language and collaborating with those who are members of the deaf community.

With nearly two decades of experience, Dr. D’yann has dedicated her life to teaching others. Where she sees a need, she finds a solution and does not allow the fact that she may not have ever done it before to stop her. It is with this tenacity she jumped into the executive producer seat to produce the first ASL Emergency Preparedness DVD Series based on LA County Brown Book and Unheard Voices Talk Show, and her new book series as a newly self-published author of the “Seniors Sign, Too!” Her vision is to inspire a new generation of signers and make a positive impact by unifying communities through language. She has been featured in iDominate (April 2022 and February 2023)and Voyage LA (December 2022) and has appeared on various on-demand streaming and podcast platforms including Power of Praise Network and Unshakeable Woman and Radio Theatre For Your Soul.

The million-dollar question people often ask is “What made you get involved in the Deaf Community?” Dr. DE’s shares, “It was God-inspired. I was introduced to sign language through music. Prior to that, I had never met a deaf person until the opportunity came for my church ministry group to participate in an ASL song concert for a deaf church. After the performance, I was approached by a deaf young man. As he begin to sign to me, I did not understand what he was communicating. I only knew the lyrics of the songs we had learned. This was a pivotal moment for me. At that moment I realized the difference between words and communication. I learned if I wanted to become an effective communicator, I needed to learn about the people, their culture, their history, and their language. I learned ASL is more than an artistic way to express an art form it is the most treasured cultural element of the deaf community that demanded more from me beyond my love for music or singing a song in sign language. I learned the language belongs to the deaf culture and deserves respect, and use it must be in a way that is culturally appropriate; in a way that honors the deaf community, and celebrates equity and inclusion.

“Being a hearing, African American woman who has found an interest in serving, advocating for, teaching, and partnering within a community I am not native to, I find myself treading very fine lines that caution me to engage in culturally appropriate ways that demonstrate my knowledge with cultural sensitivity, and support of the deaf community,” says Dr. DE. While language is for all, we at SWM recognizes the importance of making everything we do inclusive of those to whom the language belongs.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Some of my favorite spots to visit in the Los Angeles area include Hiking trails (Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook, and Runyon Canyon Park),
Food: Take a drive to San Diego and have lunch at Slater 50/50.
Take in a movie and walk around LA LIVE or the Grove in Mid City
Close out with a trip to the day/spa at Spa Palace, LA.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Are you or a loved one facing hearing or speech loss or experiencing difficulty communicating without a voice? Often we take the ability to hear and speak for granted until the inability to do so impacts us suddenly or by attrition.

Well, celebrated American Sign Langauge (ASL) educator, producer, and founder of nonprofit Sign with Me, Incorporated (SWMINC) has an amazing solution that improves memory and cognition for our aging adults while bridging the gap between young and old through sign language.

Using a culturally inclusive approach, hearing/American author Dr. D’yann Elaine Crosby also known as D’yann Elaine and
Deaf/Belgium illustrator Filip Heyninck is working together in collaboration to make a positive impact on our world.

As a servant and ally to the d/Deaf community, Dr. DE has been on a mission for over 18 years to raise awareness of ASL and advocate for equal communication access for individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing through cross-cultural classes, training, consulting, interpreting services, and accessible media products (ASL Emergency Preparedness 2012, Unheard Voices Talk Show 2019). In 2021 during the pandemic, while teaching a group of seniors in one of SWMINC’s on-line Summer ASL Music courses, Dr. DE discovered yet another disparaging concern and shifted focus to address this staggering number of aging adults over 65 years old experiencing latent deafness to bring a solution that supports the aging adult population with yet another first-of-its-kind accessible media product.

Seniors Sign, Too! is a ASL illustrated, self-help 12-book series written with the senior perspective in mind. The series accompanies a an educational system designed to teach the fundamentals basics of sign language not only to seniors but cross-generationally to their families, health care professionals, senior centers and facilities, hospitals, schools, churches, and industries.

On March 18th, 2023 Seniors Sign, Too! ASL Alphabet Book #1 and Flashcards were released with a bang at El Camino Community College in the city of Torrance. The Book Launch Experience event was well-attended with over 70 attendees representing the gamut of our community: hearing, deaf, young, old, multi-ethnic/cultural backgrounds, and genders. The event also accommodated a live stream broadcast for out-of-state and international guests. This event modeled what a quintessential diverse, equitable, and inclusive (DEI) event looks like; the way ALL events should be according to Dr. DE’s beliefs. No doubt, this experience will be talked about for years to come.

As Henry Ford once said, “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eight.” While language is for all ages, sign language is a viable alternative way to help our build a ccommunity of signers communicating with the aging adult, encourage exercise of arthritic hands, and improve connection.

Dr. DE’s invites sponsors, donors and partners on local city, state, government levels, corporations and industry to join Sign With Me in puting the power of sign language in the hands of every senior nationwide and promote healthy aging after hearing loss.

Dr. DE is currently avaible for booking Book Signing events, speaking and consulting. Seniors Sign, Too! Book #2:Family is scheduled to hit the market in September 2023. Branding opportunites availble for business is availble. For more information bookings and services contact us: Website: www.signwithme.org. | Book Website: www.signtoo.net |
Email: contact@signwithme.org. | Phone: 310.362.8290

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