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Nyle DiMarco Shares Facts, Busts Myths, To Celebrate National ASL Day

The sexually fluid deaf model and activist has much to teach you.

Sign me by your name, Nyle DiMarco.

In honor of National ASL Day, the deaf model and activist posted an informative Twitter thread to share fun facts and squash misconceptions about American Sign Language.

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For starters, National ASL Day is held on April 15 to commemorate the 1817 opening of Connecticut's American School for the Deaf, the first school for the deaf in the U.S.

Did you know ASL has different accents? Did you know there are more than 200 different sign languages? Did you know the ASL sign for “I love you” is a combination of the signs for letters "I," "L," and "Y"?

The America’s Next Top Model and Dancing With the Stars winner also dispels the myth that children taught ASL won't learn to speak. "It gives deaf children a linguistic base from which they can learn spoken language as a second language," he explains.

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Meanwhile, Giphy is also celebrating National ASL Day with a fresh series of sexy Nyle DiMarco slang GIFs.

DiMarco, who came out publicly as "sexually fluid" in 2015, spoke to Attitude last year about discrimination within the queer community.

“I’ve had so many LGBT+ people criticize me for my identity, and I think that’s not the point,” he said. “Why aren’t we working together for a larger goal? The bottom line is, what is our long-term goal for the LGBT+ community?”

He also told the magazine what he looks for in a guy. “Probably men who are athletic, who like the gym, love food and travel," he said. "That’s it, I’m a simple guy.”

DiMarco is currently a producer of Broadway's new revival of Children of a Lesser God.

Check out his full National ASL Day thread below.

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