September is Deaf Awareness Month, and folks in the deaf community around the Twin Ports are sharing their stories.

Julie Guddeck is an American Sign Language instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. She is hard of hearing herself and teaches Duluth Public Schools students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

“It’s important to know that every deaf person’s experience is different,” Guddeck said. “And so for me, I grew up in a family that has hereditary hearing loss.”

She started picking up ASL in high school.

Guddeck shared about an exciting initiative by Starbucks to create drinkware with hands making the sign for “connect” or “unity.”