At a lecture Thursday at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education, the 33-year-old Michigan native said he plans to build the first entirely American Sign Language (ASL) community.

Miller, who is deaf and whose wife and children are deaf, said a town like Laurent has been his dream since childhood.

He said deaf people are not disabled, but have to cope with a different way of life, including struggles with even the smallest of things such as asking for captions when seeing a movie.

This difficulty in communicating was apparent for members of the audience not proficient in sign language.

Miller signed his presentation, which was interpreted for the hearing audience by three different hearing signers, who often had difficulty keeping pace with Miller.

Named in honor of Laurent Clerc, the first deaf educator who brought sign language to America from France, the town of Laurent is "the first step to a better life for a lot of people," Miller said.

By establishing Laurent, Miller said the deaf community will be able to have a unified voice in city and county government and create an environment suited for deaf people.

The city would use lights instead of sirens for tornado warnings, and its local public school would employ teachers proficient in sign language and teach students both English and ASL.

"The challenges of building the town is a long list," Miller said, including opposition from local farmers who fear encroachment on their lands if the town grows.

He already has a land grant for 290 acres, a final design completed and almost 150 families who have joined a reservation list for housing lots.

Laurent is open to deaf adults, hearing parents with deaf children or anyone who feels comfortable communicating with sign language.

Christina Quattrone, a freshman from Kennesaw, was one of the interpreters for the presentation.

Quattrone, who can hear but was raised by deaf parents, said she often feels more connected with the deaf community.

"I would definitely live in an all-deaf community," Quattrone wrote in an e-mail Saturday.

Both University students studying ASL as a foreign language as well as local deaf residents attended the event.

"It’s a cool idea to have a community, one town where everyone knows sign language," said Adam Schaffer, an Athens resident who is deaf.

Schaffer said he has to write everything down for non-signers and is often ignored or misunderstood in public places.

"It would be faster and efficient, more productive for deaf people," he said.

Judi Oliver, who teaches ASL classes at the University, organized the event after she read about Miller’s idea in a New York Times article and contacted him to speak to her students and members of Athens’ deaf community.

Oliver said she wanted her students to see that someone who is deaf is just a regular person and that deaf people can be leaders in a community.

"Whether you agree with (the deaf town) or not, it does pose interesting questions," Oliver said.

Miller said he hopes Laurent becomes a self-sufficient community with a target population of 2,500.

Groundbreaking for Laurent is scheduled for the spring of next year.

By Sarah Whitmarsh