Autoworkers learn sign language hoping connection with deaf colleagues improves work and lives

One doesn't need to know sign language to understand what Michael Connolly feels about his colleagues' efforts to break down the barriers posed by his deafness. When asked what he thought of his teammates' decision to learn British Sign Language, the 45-year-old autoworker at the Nissan plant in Sunderland, England, grinned and flashed a universal symbol: Two thumbs up.