Jessica Bowden has full hearing ability but was raised in a deaf community. Both of Bowden’s grandparents are deaf, and she spent her whole life either living with them or in her family’s own house just minutes away. It was because of them she decided to learn sign language.

“I always felt different because my grandparents couldn’t hear, so it wasn’t as easy to talk to them at that age,” Bowden said, reflecting back on her elementary school years. “But they were so good with teaching me sign and helping me improve it that it ended up not being so abnormal for me.”

About four years ago, Bowden, a senior writing and rhetoric major, decided she wanted to get a tattoo that honored her grandparents.

On her right forearm, facing her so she can always see it, Bowden tattooed the sign for “I love you.” On the sides of the hand, Bowden has her grandparents names — “William” and “Kathleen.”

When getting her tattoo, Bowden said she didn’t like any of the fonts that the tattoo artist drew at the parlor, so she had him copy her own handwriting. She chose to tattoo her right arm because her right hand is her dominate signing hand.

Her grandfather died when she was a sophomore, so Bowden said it felt good to have a tattoo commemorating him. Her grandmother is still alive and turned 81 this year.

Bowden began taking American Sign Language classes at a community college in Iowa. She said she was frustrated because her professor made her feel as if she wasn’t progressing as much as her grandmother had praised her for.

When Bowden moved to the Syracuse area, she decided to try again at Onondaga Community College with a beginner ASL class. She learned her signing was actually excellent and was moved to an advanced class, eventually progressing to the highest level of classes.

“I was able to become part of the deaf community and engage with it,” Bowden said. “You meet so many cool people.”

Also incorporated in her tattoo is a version of a smiley face in sign language, as it’s something her grandparents included on every birthday and Christmas card.

Said Bowden: “I wanted it to be my ‘something special’ within the tattoo.”

Published on March 1, 2016 at 12:01 am

Contact: lmeyers@syr.edu