Deaf team creates bike rack in sign language in Frederick

[Transcript] Last year, Downtown Frederick Partnership, in Maryland, had their first competition called “Pitchcraft” which allows people to participate and pitch their idea for what can better connect the people and places of the community in Frederick.

Two deaf women, Chanel Bonheyo and Tiffany Farias participated with this and pitched their idea about having a bike rack in sign language and they won.

Recently, on October 23rd, their idea has finally become a reality.

(Image of Frederick bike rack)

We contacted Farias and Bonheyo to share their experience.

(video)

CHANEL BONHEYO:

When I saw the advertisement during last summer, I thought it was really cool and something I’d want to be a part of! I’d be giving back to the community somehow and of course, there’d already be some influence with deaf people who know ASL since the city of Frederick has a huge deaf community. Even though I thought this was cool, with my background is in project planning, I don’t have much of an artistic mind. So it was then when I asked Tiffany if she wanted to be a part of it too.

TIFFANY FARIAS:

Yeah, she reached out to me and I was definitely up for it! So we had to submit our ideas online then Downtown Frederick Partnership created what’s called a Pitchcraft. They looked over the submissions then they picked the top 4 best submissions and we were one of the top 4. Then they hosted an event one night so all the 4 of us could do our pitches to an audience. That money from the ticket sales would go towards the projects. Then after we did the pitches, the audience voted on what they thought was the best ideas. So towards the end, they made the announcement that we’d just won.

CHANEL BONHEYO:

We were pretty thrilled that we’d won and I think it’s a really good way to show the people who work in Downtown Frederick how much deaf people contribute in the area. Lately there is some kind of disconnection. We know many deaf people here and Maryland School for the Deaf is right there! We know it’s there, but people still don’t realize how big of an influence ASL has on the local community here. We have communication access here. Now with our bike rack winning the competition, it’s been blowing up social media with tons of shares on Facebook. I took a look at Downtown Frederick’s Facebook page, and the average number of shares for news and the like is around 10, but the article about that bike rack got at least a thousand shares! So I think the people of Downtown Frederick were really impressed and are realizing how big of an influence this project has on us.

RENCA DUNN:

Regarding that design with “Frederick” hand spelt in ASL, out of all possibilities like a banner and whatever, why did you choose a bike rack?

TIFFANY FARIAS:

We felt that the bike rack is multipurpose, multifunctional and could be converted into an art as well. There are many purposes for the bike rack. I was also inspired by something I saw online. They have something similar in Fargo, North Dakota with “Fargo” in hand spelling. So I was inspired by that idea and incorporated that.

(Image of Fargo Street bike racks)

RENCA DUNN:

In 2018, the first bike rack that had a finger spelling of “Fargo” in sign language is in downtown Fargo, North Dakota. A hearing designer named Jeff Knight designed that bike rack. Farias and Bonheyo are the second people, but first deaf, to create a bike rack that finger-spells a city name.

(video)

CHANEL BONHEYO:

I do hope that more people will continue sharing our story. After doing this project, many people have said they’d love to have something similar in their hometown! I encourage them all to do that!

RENCA DUNN:

After they won, they walked around to pick a good spot for the bike rack to be most visible and decided the color yellow for the rack to stand out.

These two contacted a local deaf graphic designer for a commercial and federal contractor, David Magnabosco to help design the bike rack. We contacted Magnabosco for his comment.

(video)

DAVID MAGNABOSCO:

When they won the bid to design the bike rack, I was very impressed! Then they asked me to help them design the bike rack. I gladly agreed and was already comfortable with helping with the project. I set out my strategy and gave them 4 samples. Chanel reviewed the designs and chose what she thought was the best design which was the German Gothic font, but it was in ASL. It’s pretty simple. The nails in the design are sharper and more pronounced. We chose the German Gothic font style because Frederick’s sister cities are called Schifferstadt and Morzheim. Also, the architecture in the area has a strong German influence. So I wanted to try to blend that aspect into the design. I’m happy with the design. I tried to take a picture and the spot looked just perfect! I’m thrilled to see more of these spots for deaf people to assemble, take pictures and treat it as a tourist spot. I’m already seeing many people visiting and I’m proud of my work! I look forward to doing more projects in public spaces. I’m already coming up with tons of ideas and I’m really eager to get started!

They want to thank Shockley Honda for being their main funder that helped make this project happen.

We got a comment from Kara Norman, the Executive Director of Downtown Frederick Partnership, about this project.

(TEXT)

The bright yellow bike racks greet residents and visitors alike as they enter Downtown Frederick, providing a warm welcome and a sense of the vibrant deaf community that calls Frederick home. This project is the winning idea from Pitchcraft 2018, the Partnership's first ever placemaking competition…now that we have the bike rack project completed, the community continues to respond enthusiastically to this project - for its celebration of the Frederick deaf community, for its location near the train station and a beautiful City park, for its welcoming message to all who live and work here and for the amenity it provides to those who bicycle.

We asked how Bonheyo and Farias felt when they first saw their bike rack set-up.

(image of plaque: “This bike rack spells out ‘Frederick’ in American Sign Language. Chanel Bonheyo and Tiffany Farias were awarded the winning project from Pitchcraft: Downtown Frederick’s 2018 Placemaking competition. The bike rack was designed by deaf artist David Magnabosco.)

(video)

TIFFANY FARIAS:

It feels like a dream because our name is right there! We actually did that! I didn’t know if we could do something like this and make our dreams come true! It’s a trip, it really is! It’s just so surreal and people keep bringing it up. We actually made it happen!

CHANEL BONHEYO:

Yes, I really think the bike rack looked much better than what I had imagined! I just love it! I can see that bike rack inspiring other people too! That’s the whole reason why we wanted to be a part of this competition in the first place.

TIFFANY FARIAS:

I was on this shuttle at Gallaudet University and people kept telling me congratulations. I thanked them and at the time, I was actually on my way to the Pitchcraft in Frederick. People were telling me that at 4 o’clock in the morning, when they’re in their car, they’d see people taking selfies there. I’d tell them that it’s become a spot to take selfies, a tourist attraction, it’s amazing to me to see all this. That’s what I mean by the bike rack being multipurpose!

CHANEL BONHEYO:

Our next step is to challenge you all to go to Frederick to visit and take a selfie with a hashtag FrederickASLBikeRacks.

Let’s keep on tagging! Tag, tag away!

RENCA DUNN:

It’s really cool that three deaf people were involved with this project! So, whenever you visit Frederick, stop by Carroll Creek Park, take a selfie, and don’t forget to add a #frederickaslbikeracks.

https://www.facebook.com/DowntownFrederick/photos/a.10150723771418203/10158048010028203/?type=3&theater

https://downtownfrederick.org/pitchcraft/

https://www.westfargopioneer.com/news/4334946-new-sign-language-bike-racks-coming-soon-downtown-fargo-aim-unify-educate

https://www.facebook.com/FargoStreets/photos/a.996678500447242/1669785783136507/?type=3&theater

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