DEAF & TENURED

By Louis Ricciardi, Assistant Professor

“I experienced my mother interpreting for me during doctor’s appointments and Emergency Room visits before I understood my rights.”

In an era where Deaf students were lucky to have an interpreter, I experienced varying levels of quality from the good, bad, and just plain ugly. I attended mainstream schools with sign language interpreting services for most of my education in K-12, postsecondary, and graduate studies. It was only in adulthood that I started to recognize what quality interpreting services meant. I have been a consumer in many different types of scenarios. I experienced my mother interpreting for me during doctor’s appointments and Emergency Room visits before I understood my rights. I am thankful for the support of my family during my upbringing. Still, I grew up in the 1980s and ‘90s in an area where there was not a lot of awareness of the needs of the Deaf community and, therefore, not a lot of support for the accommodations I needed for effective education. I have experienced a funeral for my grandmother where the funeral home brought in a retired pastor to interpret despite not being an interpreter and having a limited grasp of sign language.

Following graduate school, I became an ASL instructor. It was during that time I started to come into my identity as a Deaf person. During medical appointments, meetings for work, and family functions, I experienced many situations where other people decided what appropriate accommodations were for me. For example, in the past decade, I have experienced medical appointments with doctors deciding that employees who have deaf family members are sufficient to be interpreters. Likewise, I have experienced faculty meetings where leaders decided it was acceptable to proceed as scheduled despite no available interpreters.

Sadly, this kind of experience is common throughout the Deaf community. Using this experience aided me in my career as an interpreter trainer. I have the opportunity to do what I love while making a living and building relationships. The students who graduate from our program will work with the Deaf community for a long time. I want to ensure they understand our communities’ beauty and richness. In 2018, I became a tenure-track faculty member with a 4-year route to tenure.

To be granted promotion and tenure, I needed to show that I had put in effort in three different activities. The most important activity at the instructor rank was teaching and learning. I taught all levels of ASL for our program while teaching Deaf Culture and Advanced Interpreting courses. Professional and Service activities were two other activities expected of me for consideration for promotion and tenure. I am involved with different organizations relating to ASL teaching, and I have served on various committees for the college. I knew I had put in the time and effort to get tenure, but the process was stressful!

This year, after successfully applying for promotion and tenure, I am honored to be the first Deaf person to earn tenure at Columbus State Community College (CSCC). Tenure is my most significant accomplishment by far in my life. I hope to honor my predecessors who helped the CSCC Interpreter Education Program be what it is today and to continue their hard work. In addition, as a tenured faculty member, I feel empowered to speak up for myself and my fellow Deaf community members to ensure communication access. I want my lived experiences, future actions, and teaching to ensure a more accessible world for all Deaf communities. In addition, the interpreting profession must recognize and value the Deaf people who share their experiences. Therefore, educating high-quality interpreters is my top priority!