Connecticut CPA Magazine Excerpt: The ASL CPA - How Jon Sahlin Built a Practice – and a Platform – for the Deaf Community

By Caitlin Q. Bailey O’Neill – Connecticut CPA Assistant Editor

This article appeared in the Fall 2025 issue of Connecticut CPA magazine.

Jon Sahlin’s path to the CPA is a familiar tune for so many CTCPA members.

“My dad was in accounting,” Jon remembers. “I grew up hearing about how accounting was the backbone of business.”

But respect for accounting wasn’t the only part of his childhood that helped shape his future career. Jon is a CODA – a Child of Deaf Adults.

“That’s how I’ve been blessed with this skill, sign language, and also to be a part of a real community, the Deaf community,” he explains.

As the license plate on his car proudly proclaims, Jon Sahlin is the “ASL CPA.”

Learning the Language

With both of his profoundly deaf parents communicating solely through American Sign Language (ASL), MTV became the mechanism by which Jon learned both music and speech. With MTV in its heyday, Jon found himself drawn to the 90s rock bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. This, of course, led to the all-American teen guy hobby: starting a band with his friends.

Jon laughs as he remembers his bandmates coming over to practice. They’d set up a drum set and amps in the living room and jam in the way that rock music required ... while his mother sat on the couch watching TV, completely oblivious to the cacophony around her. 

Like so many moms, she’d tag along to his concerts to support him. She’d sign to her hearing friends – “Is he any good?”

In 2022 or 2023, after roughly 15 years of playing in cover bands, Jon was at a Deaf night out watching a friend’s band when inspiration struck.

“I asked, ‘Hey guys, you mind if I jump up there for a couple songs? I’m going to try singing and signing them at the same time.’” He did just that, working out the signs off the cuff as the music played.

Jon was so inspired by the outpouring of gratitude and love in response to that performance that he decided to start a band specifically dedicated to performing in a way that both deaf and hearing audiences could appreciate.

A Craigslist ad looking for deaf bandmates came up empty, so Jon pulled together some hearing friends and hit the ground running.

Blast Time was born – a band fronted by Jon both signing and singing. To his knowledge, they are one of only two bands in the country performing this way.

“[My bandmates] love it!” he laughed. “They love the idea, the concert – it’s a big ‘feel-good’ thing for them. They love being able to come out and provide this kind of opportunity to the Deaf community.”

While the band was getting started, Jon was also working on another passion project: “ASLpalooza.” The one-day festival launched in 2023 with approximately 225 people; the following year, the crowd grew to 400. Jon is working hard on 2025, scheduled for November 1, 2025 at The Truck Bar in Berlin.

“It’s my band performing, but I hire other performers that are deaf to try to give support to the Deaf,” he explained. “I am very passionate about giving back to the Deaf community.

Last year’s show, we gave 10% of our proceeds to a Deaf nonprofit. We also hired, whenever possible, Deaf-owned businesses.”

He’s recently trademarked the term ASLpalooza and lights up when he dreams about the future and the potential for events in other states and regions with a large Deaf population.

The band has gained traction and opportunities, ranging from the three-day “DeafStock” festival in Florida to shows at the American School for the Deaf. It’s the reaction from his audience that makes it all worthwhile; Jon remembers one Halloween show at the school when he brought a child up onstage, and the child started signing along.

“It was just beautiful,” he remembered. “Those are the things that just hit home and highlight this kind of project.”

Jon’s connection to the American School for the Deaf recently led to a spot on The Cridders, a sign language performance troupe that began at the school in 1982 and aims to “bridge the gap between two distinct and unique worlds: one filled with sound, one rich with silence.” Jon is just the ‘Baby CRIDDER,’ he laughs, joining the group well into their history. The group meets on Sundays to practice their variety show of signed music, comedic sketches, and more.

Turning Signing into a Business

From band practice to performing with the CRIDDERS to taking on side gigs as a certified ASL interpreter (he may, for example, accompany a deaf individual to a doctor’s appointment to ensure the patient is understood and understands), it seems to leave few hours in the day for “business.” Just a few years into his tenure as a business owner, Jon Sahlin, CPA is exactly where he wants to be.

“I own my own practice,” he explains. “I do a lot of taxes. I have bookkeeping clients and stuff like that, but the nice thing about my ‘busy time’ is that it provides a good amount of my income throughout the year, but then I have the offseason that allows me to pursue these passions a bit more.”

For more than 10 years, Jon worked in private industry but did taxes on the side ... Until the pandemic hit. Jon found himself furloughed and, without the safety net of a steady job and benefits, decided to take the plunge into life as a business owner. In the past five years, he’s seen “exponential growth” – and a very personal niche.  

“It’s nice to be able to give back to the Deaf community,” he said. “I will generally take any clients if they’re deaf, because what’s their other option? H&R Block with a piece of paper and a pencil? I want you to have the ability to have a tax preparer you can talk to and communicate with.”

He estimates his practice is currently 50/50 deaf/hearing, with deaf individuals and Deaf-owned businesses becoming an increasingly larger segment.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had deaf clients who come to me for the first time and they’re thrilled with me being able to kind of break things down,” Jon marvels. “The difference between standard deductions, itemized deductions. We talk about everything from IRAs to high-yield savings accounts, just trying to make sure that everybody is fiscally educated when it comes to those kind of things.” (And yes, there are ASL signs for many of those financial terms – the rest are finger-spelled!)

“It’s been a wonderful experience,” concurred Alexandra McGee, a deaf client of Jon’s who happens to be a longtime family friend. “It’s been a blessing. Jon can clearly articulate for us what’s going on. We don’t have to sit there and rely on writing everything down.”

“This is obviously important stuff, so having a direct line of communication and clarity is extremely important, so thank God we have Jon,” she signed. Alexandra is also the treasurer of the Connecticut Association of the Deaf, so Jon has also supported her with business filings and the 990.

Jon works with one full-time employee who’s hearing and a few part-time tax preparers who happen to be deaf. He’s currently looking for an ASL tax preparer or CPA to help finalize returns, as much of the final signature work falls onto Jon’s shoulders.

“If I can give a job to a deaf person, you know, that’s a huge thing for me,” he said.

It isn’t just giving back to the Deaf community that matters to Jon. He jokes that he took the long road to the CPA credential, starting off with an associate’s degree from what was then Tunxis Community College before going to work and taking night classes for a bachelor’s degree at Central Connecticut State University. He earned his master’s degree from the University of Hartford before earning his CPA license in his mid-thirties.

“After I got my master’s, I went back to the folks at Tunxis and I said hey, wouldn’t it be a nice story if one of your former students came full circle and became a teacher here?” he remembers. There were no openings at the time, but two years later, they called to offer him a position teaching taxation.

For seven years now, Jon has added “teacher” to the many hats he wears, teaching both tax and intro to accounting courses at CT State Community College Tunxis. He brings his trademark creativity to the classroom, making the profession come alive for his students.

“You’re not going to struggle finding work in accounting,” he tells his students. “There’s lots of opportunity for jobs. If you’re crafty, you can do something like I do, where you can go into the tax world and have this intense portion of the year, but then you know that outside of that, it frees you up to do other things. It can be a way to provide you opportunity for passion projects.”

It’s passion projects that Jon has in spades. He has, after all, built an entire accounting firm, a rock band, and events around the language his parents taught him from birth.

“It’s not all peaches and cream,” he recognizes. “But I certainly can’t complain. I’ve been very fortunate in many, many ways. I just continue to try to do the best I can and give back the best I can. And have as much fun as I can.”