PROTACTILE INTERPRETER TRAINING GRANT

Staying in Touch - PLI Awarded Protactile Interpreter Training Grant

By CM Hall, NIC Advanced, Ed:K-12

In October of 2021, the DeafBlind Interpreting National Training & Resource Center in Western Oregon University’s Research & Resource Center with Deaf* Communities received a $2.1 million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA). The grant has since undergone a name change to the Protactile Language Interpreting National Education Program to reflect the work better. PLI works to address the critical shortage and increase the number of qualified Protactile language interpreters with the expertise to interpret communication exchanges with DeafBlind individuals effectively. This work also addresses distantism in interpreted interactions, which refers to the privilege of distancing senses (hearing and vision) and not needing touch as a means of communication. This is the second grant PLI has received from RSA. The grant will fund projects for five years and continue work that began in 2017. The first grant cycle included

• training nearly 30 DeafBlind leaders, • training over 150 interpreters to work with

DeafBlind individuals in the United States, • the creation of online video modules that nearly 5,000 people have viewed. For those interpreters who regularly work in communities with greater concentrations of DeafBlind individuals, PLI is launching a Pilot cohort in 2023. The PLI Pilot creates intensive immersions for DeafBlind educators to train Protactile language interpreters.

There is no other immersion opportunity to prepare interpreters in learning, practicing, applying, and interpreting in Protactile language.

In an effort to increase the number of qualified interpreters in states with larger DeafBlind populations, PLI’s immersion training programs will focus on interpreters from the following noncontiguous geographic locations: CA, IL, LA, MA, MN, NC, NY, TX, and WA. PLI Pilot participants will be able to:

• Compare and contrast the linguistic and cultural value differences between Protactile language and visual ASL. • Apply the principles of Protactile language. • Define the role of a Co-Navigator and practice guiding techniques and co-presence. • Define Protactile language and the cultural implications of autonomy.

• Socialize, learn, and communicate in an immersive

PT Zone. • Demonstrate Protactile back-channeling techniques, including emotions, conversational feedback, tactile mapping, and size and shape classifiers. • Articulate why using Protactile language builds trust and respect that will lead to greater DeafBlind autonomy.

• Define distantism and articulate distantist and antidistantist behavior.

Eligibility Requirements for PLI Pilot:

• Interpreters must live and work as an interpreter in one of these nine states: CA, IL, LA, MA, MN, NC,

NY, TX, WA • Interpreters must frequently work with DeafBlind individuals who use tactile language or Protactile language. • Interpreters must have worked consistently as sign language interpreters for the last three or more years. • Interpreters must have letters from 2 DeafBlind community members willing to serve as local mentors and supervisors for the mentorship and applied induction experiences.

PLI does not charge a fee to participate in the PLI Pilot but expects full participation and program completion from all participants accepted into this invaluable training opportunity. The estimated training value is $1500 per participant. Due to the costs of providing onsite, week-long, intensive training, the expectation is that participants pay for their airfare, travel to campus, and meals. In addition, participants must budget $300 for the Induction stage of the program, wherein interpreters return to their home community and compensate local DeafBlind mentors for their consultancy.

John Lee Clark, a DeafBlind poet, author, and PLI consultant, said of the grant award, “Cultivating the professional growth of interpreters and their Protactile skills is not merely a project, but truly a cause. A meaningful and transformative way to bring about the progress that benefits all DeafBlind people, directly and systemically.” training program will offer three separate interpreter competency certificates. Individuals enrolled in Certificate 1: Protactile Language Theory will complete an asynchronous, remote, online program of study focused on: 1) The Protactile Movement, 2) Protactile Language, and 3) Protactile: Power, Privilege, and Oppression. Individuals enrolled in Certificate 2: Protactile Language Theory and Fundamentals will complete a facilitated online program of study (asynchronous and synchronous), a one-week PT immersion program, and a three-month mentorship and induction period. Individuals enrolled in Certificate 3: Protactile Theory, Fundamentals, and Interpreting Practice will complete an extended, facilitated online program of study (synchronous and asynchronous), two separate onsite PT immersion sessions, community mentorship, and six months of induction.

PLI’s DeafBlind consultants and educators include Jelica Nuccio, Roberto Cabrera, John Lee Clark, Jason “Jaz” Herbers, Hayley Broadway, Earl Terry, Lesley Silva-Kopec, and Najma Johnson, who provides cultural competency training to the interpreter participants. Project staff includes CM Hall and Heather Holmes as co-principal investigators and directors, Elayne Kuletz as web manager, and Tracie Wicks as grant administrative support.

PLI will continue to serve as a resource center providing educational and professional development opportunities and technical assistance for interpreters, vocational rehabilitation professionals, interpreter educators, employers of interpreters, and service providers. In addition, the training content and materials will be regularly disseminated through online activities and will continue to be retrievable via the PLI website and digital commons archive.

For more information, please visit

www.ProtactileLanguageInterpreting.com

PLI will use asynchronous remote learning (individual modules and self-directed tracks), synchronous remote learning (online Community of Practice model), and onsite learning (language immersion training). This