8 minute read
REGION V
*ASL Unavailable
Jeremy Quiroga, CDI Region V Representative When we think of professional development, there are a lot of different truths to it. I have seen interpreters take advantage of every wonderful opportunity to get insight into improving. Then, some people brush it off and, at the last minute, try to scavenge for whatever is out there to meet the CEU requirements like it is a nuisance. Then others are apathetic, and their only interest appears to be to meet the bare minimum requirements. As a Deaf person who happens to be an interpreter, I have met interpreters in my career who say, “I work all week; I have no time to socialize with Deaf people” or “I sign all week. I need to rest. I do not want to sign anymore.” On the other end of the spectrum, I meet interpreters who take their work seriously and have respect for their craft. We all know the craft of interpreting has to include Deaf people; the saying “without Deaf people, there is no ASL” rings particularly true in the interpreting field. However, does the respect and behavior in our field, generally champion that thinking? Ask yourself.
For me, Professional development has three different areas to consider - our mind, skill, and heart. As for the mind, world knowledge and the fund of information are crucial to our interpreter development. It could be as simple as accurately understanding how welding works so you can interpret the concept better or reading a book on 20
the history of time to understand how past events impact today. However, do you have a hungry mind that does not want to stop learning and keep going because knowing more is just awesome? The desire to learn is why I am still an interpreter and not going anywhere. It allows me to absorb so much and opens many doors to lifelong learning.
The skill development aspect can be hard or soft skills. Choosing not to socialize with Deaf people when you are not working bothers me because it is a very important skill to push. I can tell whether interpreters socialize with Deaf people because of their signing style. If your signing style is from the 1900s, that is probably the last time you hung around Deaf people. That means you are choosing to drive a very old car compared to the Deaf community’s new car. You must remember that developing your skills and developing your mind are two very different things. Skill is the doing aspect and applying what you have in your mind to the hands using overall linguistic and cultural adaptation to create an accurate message. We need to focus more on professional skill development as an important balance in our work.
The third, developing your heart, might be the most important thing right now in our profession. We all know the buzzword from a few years ago, “Deaf Heart.” Ask yourself what this truly means to you. We all know interpreters are humans, which means we have an ego, and it is the ego that can interfere with our ability to truly gain an understanding of the meaning behind Deaf Heart. I must continue here; the lack of diversity in our field impacts this too. The interpreting field has put interpreters in front of Deaf people, making them the focus. When Deaf people or our POC colleagues express frustration or ask for an adaptation from the dominant way of thinking, the “I” often overcomes listening. We all need to work together to remove ego for the greater good of our field and the Deaf community. Once we do, the positive impact will ripple back to all of us.
Here are some things region five affiliate chapters are doing for professional development.
Hawaii
1) HRID AC has PDC to help provide training opportunities to our members and anyone from the community who is interested, which is probably true for most ACs.
2) We also have a Google group to share various news and opportunities for our members.
3) I believe that mindset is one area of training that might need improvement. However, mindset can be a potent tool in our professional and personal lives. ORID
Presently ORID has a professional development committee to help collect PD ideas from the membership and potentially coordinate workshops. Through the pandemic, though, there has been little action. However, through our connections with Western Oregon University, we are cosponsoring one fall workshop on co-navigation with blind persons.
Another professional development initiative in the works for the organization is a certification study group suggested by a member. The board agreed it would be a great way to support professional development and provide safe spaces for the community of practice to interact, which goes in hand with the idea that the board had to provide open remote supervision sessions to the membership once a month. These ideas are still in development, so please let me know if you would like a follow-up at any point.
UTRID
UTRID has been active in professional development for many years. Even though 20202022, we hosted virtual workshops each quarter for our members and students. In addition, we recently held our state-wide conference with the theme of “Level Up” and provided onsite and virtual options, including streaming our keynote. During the conference, we provided opportunities to earn 16 contact hours of professional development. We have an active Professional development committee with a new chairperson elected in August 2022 that looks forward to planning 2023 events during our board retreat in November.
Our membership continues to grow in learning about HI/DI team interpreting, and we will provide ongoing workshops focused on supporting our certified Deaf and hearing interpreters.
WSRID SCRID
Although WSRID has been without a PDC chair for several years, the board has accepted the responsibility of this work. As such, WSRID continues to host professional development opportunities through workshops, webinars, and information sharing of events hosted by other organizations. General areas of focus for our trainings/webinars often include “soft skills,” developing empathy, understanding systems of oppression, power, and liberation, and “hard skills.” Over the past few years, WSRID has prioritized workshops that offer more of the former and less of the latter.
Last year we hosted several online workshops and virtual social meet-ups. This year we have focused on board leadership and governance training as we revise our policies and procedures and recruit more committee coordinators. In addition, we are working with our new PDC and CMP coordinators to plan for 2023.
While not exactly a professional development learning opportunity, supporting interpreters in their journey to certification fits under this umbrella. WSRID launched our new scholarship program this year, offering four scholarships a year to qualified candidates. The scholarship covers the total exam fee for both RID CDI and NIC performance exams, and the EIPA performance exam.
We also hosted a virtual info session explaining the various pathways to certification. SCRID’s Professional Development Committee is offering professional development opportunities under the direction of a rotating project-based leadership approach, as the position of PDC Chair is currently vacant. In an attempt to demystify and accentuate the “doability” of professional leadership and engagement, we’re providing a fall workshop “Put Your Hand in it! A Recipe for Relevant Progress in Our Profession.” This workshop will explore what leadership looks like and how we all have experience in one way or another that is helpful when brought to the table. The aim is to highlight how doable it is to engage professionally and ramp us up for elections next May.
In the spring, SCRID will host a workshop, details to be determined, that focuses on self-assessment while in the field. This workshop will support to all participants, and lead into a three-month trial mentorship program that will replace the third of our usual workshop slots (our bylaws require a minimum of 3 PD opportunities annually).
Mentoring is consistently a primary ask from members (hence the workshop on self-assessment, teach to fish rather than get someone to fish for you. Mentoring is a response to your third question about relevant topics). So, we decided that instead of bringing in a presenter for a third workshop, we would support (pay and supervise) qualified local members in providing mentorship to emerging practitioners in our chapter.
Outside of SCRID’s PDC opportunities, we host social media sites on which members can post PD events.
SAVRID
SaVRID also has been fortunate to have an active PDC chair/committee. Historically, we have had “insights” one-hour CEU opportunities after our general meetings. Those went away, but now that we have a FULL TEN PERSON board (woot woot!), those are coming back, with our first one lined up for November.
Prior to this, in 2022, our former PDC chair/ committee hosted a workshop titled “The Medical Kaleidoscope: A Conversation on Perspectives” by Corey Axelrod (as required by a motion passed by the membership that SaVRID provides one .2 CEUs medical workshop every year). In addition, SaVRID hosted two workshops: “K-12 Interpreting in Mainstream School Settings” and “Reframing our Lens of Interpreting within BIPOC Deaf Community,” by Janae Cobbs.
IdahoRID
• IdahoRID is trying to provide 6 Mini Workshops each fiscal year ◦ Over Zoom making it accessible to interpreters throughout the state. ◦ 9 hours of Professional Development (Licensure Law requires 10 hours a year of CEUs) ◦ Free to Members
◦ Free to Region V (Region V Agreement gives all ACs in our region the member price, including IAD & Idaho ASLTA) ▪ Many North Idaho interpreters belong to WaRID due to their proximity. ▪ Many East Idaho interpreters belong to URID due to their proximity. ◦ Provides Presenter opportunities on a smaller scale for those wanting to gain experience.
BOOK YOUR HOTEL HERE!
