District of Columbia Code Division VI. Education, Libraries, and Cultural Institutions. § 38-2432. Definitions.

(1) “American Sign Language” or “ASL” means a visual language that is separate and distinct from English and other languages, and uses the hands, arms, facial markers, and body movements to convey grammatical information.

(2) “ASLTA” means the American Sign Language Teachers Association.

(3) “Deaf” means the inability to hear or understand oral communication, with or without the assistance of amplification devices.

(4) “Deaf people” means persons who use ASL as their primary language to communicate.

(5) “Hard of hearing” means permanent hearing loss which is severe enough to necessitate the use of amplification devices to hear oral communication.

(6) “Professional certification” means a teacher has met the ASLTA professional level certification requirements specified in the standards section of the ASLTA Certification Procedures and Standards.

(7) “Provisional certification” means a teacher has met the minimum ASLTA provisional level certification requirements specified in the standards section of the ASLTA Certification Procedures and Standards.

(8) “Qualified certification” means a teacher has met the ASLTA qualified level certification requirements specified in the standards section of the ASLTA Certification Procedures and Standards.