DeKALB | Video phones, baseball calls and the football huddle are all contributions of the deaf community. This week, NIU will recognize deaf awareness.

The week’s theme is “Diversity Established Accepted Flourishing.” Maggie Cormier, counselor of programming for hearing impaired, said she wants people to come away from the week knowing that “We’re all individuals; deaf people are not stereotypes. We have different tastes, different attitudes. We like to be treated as individuals.”

This is the 19th year NIU has taken part in Deaf Awareness Week. While nationally, Deaf Awareness Week is held on the last full week of September, it is usually held in the beginning of November at NIU. Since students return to school at the end of August, a week about halfway through the semester makes for better planning, Cormier said.

“It is an opportunity for participants to learn about deaf culture and the deaf community,” Cormier said.

Before the football game Tuesday night, students handed out flyers with facts about deaf athletes in professional and collegiate sports to further promote deaf awareness. Participants also stuck around to support the Huskies.

The video “I Love You” will be shown tonight at 7 p.m. and discussed in the Holmes Student Center’s Diversions Lounge. The film, directed by a deaf Japanese woman, is about growing up in Japan as a deaf individual. After the viewing, participants will discuss how sign language is different in the U.S. and Japan, as well as how each country has its own deaf culture, Cormier said.

Thursday, song performances in American Sign Language will be performed in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium at 9 p.m. Cormier said the acts will be very similar to lip syncing.

“It’s a fun one because you get to see how deaf people enjoy music as well,” Cormier said.