"A Town of Their Own" - Laurent, South Dakota

By Michael Walton

Marvin Miller with his wife and children

Imagine it is Friday. You sign goodbye to your teacher, who is also deaf. Then, you leave the school building and step onto the bus to take you home. The driver signs to you: "How was your day?" You reply, "Great, I got a B on that Math test." The driver drops you off and you remember that you need to walk to the store for your Mom.

As you walk, you sign to some of your neighbors. Your neighbors smile and sign back. They are deaf, too. In the store, you pick up the milk and flour that your Mom wants. "What are you doing this weekend?" the store clerk asks. The clerk is hearing, but she signs, too. You tell her that you'll see a captioned movie at the theater. Then you pay for the groceries and walk home.

A drawing of what Laurent will look like when it's finished

Did you notice that everyone you met in the town is either deaf or knows sign language? Do you know why? Because there will be a new town in Laurent, South Dakota. In the future, when the town is finished, it will be a community for deaf people and hearing people who sign.

The town of Laurent was the dream of a deaf man named Marvin Miller. Miller went to school at Model Secondary School for the Deaf in Washington, D.C. He worked for a newspaper for deaf people in Michigan, and then he worked for DeafNation, a national newspaper.

M.E. Barwacz

A lady named M.E. Barwacz works with Marvin. Barwacz is Marvin's mother-in-law. Together, Barwacz and Miller are working very hard to start the new deaf town of Laurent. They began work in 2002. They worked with designers and other people to design the buildings and roads. In the Fall of 2005, they expect to break ground and start building the first houses and other structures.

Miller and his team hope that by the time the year 2014 arrives, the town of Laurent will be finished. "Laurent will be the world's first fully integrated town for people who use sign language everyday," says Marvin.

If you would like to learn more about the town of Laurent, South Dakota, visit the Laurent, South Dakota web site.