Clayton Valli
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Clayton Valli (d. March 7, 2003) was the author of numerous articles and books on linguistics and on American Sign Language poetry. He gave workshops and presentations across the country that raised awareness and appreciation for the movement, meter, and rhythm in ASL poetry. His own poetic works, which have drawn international recognition for their aestheticism and contribution to literary scholarship, are available on video, taped both by him and by other ASL artists.
A frequent visitor and presenter in the Rochester area, Valli gave several workshops on ASL poetry at the University of Rochester. He also visited classes and was a keynote presenter at the Second National ASL Literature Conference, which was held at the University in 1996.
He also made an impact in Canada, working at the Ernest C. Drury School for the Deaf in Milton, Ontario. He provided teacher training workshops in ASL poetry for the Ontario ASL Curriculum Team. He helped to pioneer the worldwide movement to develop an ASL-as-a-first-language curriculum for Deaf children.
Dr. Valli was born in Massachusetts and attended the Austine School for the Deaf in Vermont. He attended the University of Nevada, Reno, where he graduated with a B.A. in Social Psychology in 1978. In 1985, he received his M.A. in Linguistics from Gallaudet University. His Ph.D. in Linguistics and ASL Poetics from the Union Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio which he received in 1993 made him the first person ever to achieve a doctorate in ASL poetry. He was also the first individual to identify the features of ASL poetry as a literature genre in its own right.
Dr. Valli authored and co-authored many books about ASL linguistics and literature. He was also a reviewer for the Ontario monograph Teacher Research in a Bilingual-Bicultural School for Deaf Students. But it is his craft as an ASL poet and his contribution to ASL literature for which he is most remembered. His poems "Cow and Horse" and "Dandelions" are known and loved by Deaf children and adults across the continent.
