Daniel Greene

Tag: Deaf

Posts about Deaf people and deafness

  • Where Are The ASL Interpreter Blogs?

    Is it possible that mine is the first ASL interpreter blog? I have searched the Internet for other ASL interpreter blogs, and I can’t find any. There are hordes of Deaf Blogs and Vlogs out there—hooray for deaf people!—but where in the blogosphere are my interpreting colleagues?

    I wonder if there are no ASL interpreter blogs because we have to keep our mouths shut about our work to protect client confidentiality. Yes, we need to protect our consumers, but we can talk about our work publicly! I believe it will benefit our profession and our consumers, too, if we talk about our work in a way that is illuminating without betraying any confidential information.

    That is my goal here—to talk about ASL signing and interpreting in such a way as to inform and stimulate discussion while maintaining a sense of professionalism and respect for my colleagues and our hearing and deaf consumers. I look forward to the time when this blog is full of comments from deaf and hearing readers engaged in meaningful dialogues that have a profound and positive effect on the work we do and the people we serve. I look forward to adding other ASL interpreter blogs to my blogroll and being added to theirs.

    Blog on, ‘terps!

    Related posts:

  • Deaf Guy Touts Top Ten WordPress Plugins

    This guy subscribed to my videos on YouTube (thank-you-very-much!) so I checked him out. He has several ASL videos, and one in particular caught my eye because my new blog is “powered by WordPress.” In this video, he describes his 10 favorite WordPress plugins. I’m glad I watched, because several of the plugins he described could improve the functionality of my blog.

    While watching his video, I felt so happy to understand ASL! Ah, the benefits of knowing a second language! 😀

  • “The ADA and Interpreters” workshop review

    On April 2, SCRID sponsored a workshop entitled “The ADA and Interpreters” on the Palomar College campus in San Marcos. The four-hour workshop, presented by Darlene West, gave participants an overview of the Americans with Disabilities Act as it is written, interpreted and enforced. Darlene’s bold and animated style brought to life the five titles of the ADA covering employment, state and local government, public accommodations, telecommunications, and miscellaneous provisions. She peppered her lecture with vivid anecdotes, lifting the text of the ADA off the page and into the realm of everyday life.

    Darlene discussed how to successfully navigate some of the loopholes of the ADA, such as “reasonable accommodation” and “readily achievable” versus “undue hardship” and “direct threat,” “program accessibility” versus “site accessibility,” and “fundamental alterations.”

    She referred to section 35.104 to define the term “qualified interpreter” as required under section 35.160 (“Auxiliary Aids and Services.”) According to ADA section 35.104, a qualified interpreter is, “one who is able to interpret effectively, accurately, and impartially both receptively and expressively, using any necessary specialized vocabulary.”

    The workshop itself was made accessible to the deaf via both ASL interpreting and real-time captioning, the latter provided by the firm Words Apart, using Rapidtext Infosign.

    Darlene handed out plenty of supplemental literature and supplied the following toll-free phone numbers for those who wish to pursue more detailed information: 1-800-USA-ABLE, 1-800-USA-EEOC, and for TTY, 1-800-800-3302.

    Darlene West is the co-owner of Accommodating Ideas, Inc., an enterprise based in North Hollywood established to consult with businesses to provide training in how to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Her firm also handles the provision of interpreting services and the rental and sale of auxiliary aids. Ms. West holds a CAD level V “Master” Certificate of Competence, and is a veteran ASL interpreter.

    This review originally appeared in the SCRID newsletter in June 1994. Darlene West’s name has since changed to Darlene Geyer. Hyperlinks were added in 2012 for publication on danielgreene.com.