Summer 2015 • Vol. 31, Issue 4
Our First Digital Issue
A Publication of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc.
RID BOARD OF DIRECTORS President Dawn Whitcher, M.A., CI and CT, NIC president@rid.org
Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc.
The Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc., a non-profit organization, is dedicated to the professional development of interpreters and transliterators and is an advocate for the interpreting profession. Founded in 1964, RID has played a leading role in establishing a national standard of quality for interpreters and transliterators. The association encourages the growth of the profession, educates the public about the vital role of interpreters and transliterators and works to ensure equal opportunity and access for all individuals.
MISSION
The Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. promotes excellence in the delivery of interpreting services among diverse users of signed and spoken languages through professional development, networking, advocacy, and standards.
VISION
By honoring its past and building a dynamic future, RID envisions a world where: • Linguistic rights are recognized as human rights; • The Deaf Community and the Deaf-Heart are vital and visible in every aspect of RID, the interpreting profession as a whole and among individual interpreters; • Interpreted interactions between and among individuals who use signed and spoken languages are as rich as direct communication; • The interpreting profession is formally recognized and is advanced by robust professional development, standards of conduct, and credentials.
DIVERSITY STATEMENT
To actively foster an inclusive environment in which RID embraces diversity as an integral part of the association. RID is committed to establishing and maintaining a diverse, accessible, civil and supportive environment that adheres to RID’s philosophy, mission and goals. RID is committed to providing growth opportunities that allow members to reach their full potential and maximize member value. RID pledges to seek partners who share our philosophy and commitment to upholding high standards of diversity within the association.
Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. 333 Commerce Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 (571) 257-3957 VP • (703) 838-0030 V (703) 838-0454 Fax • www.rid.org 2
Vice President Melvin Walker, M.Ed., CRC, CI and CT, NAD V vicepresident@rid.org Secretary Joshua Pennise, M.A., CI and CT, NIC Adv secretary@rid.org Treasurer Billieanne McLellan, CI and CT, NIC, Ed:K-12 treasurer@rid.org Member at Large LaVona Andrew, M.A., CI and CT, NIC Master, Ed:K-12 memberatlarge@rid.org Deaf Member at Large Ritchie Bryant, CDI dmal@rid.org Region I Representative Lewis Merkin, CDI region1rep@rid.org Region II Representative Randall Chappell, CSC, NAD V region2rep@rid.org Region III Representative Sandra Maloney, M.A., CI and CT, SC:L region3rep@rid.org Region IV Representative Connie Herndon, M.A., CI and CT region4rep@rid.org Region V Representative Erica West Oyedele, M.A., NIC region5rep@rid.org RID HEADQUARTERS STAFF Interim Executive Director Anna Witter-Merithew, M.Ed., CSC, SC:L, OIC:C, SC:PA, CI and CT awm@rid.org
Senior Director of Finance and Operations Director of Public Policy & Advocacy Ethical Practices System Coordinator Policy and Compliance Specialist
Elijah Sow esow@rid.org Julie Anne Schafer, J.D. jschafer@rid.org Tressela Bateson tbateson@rid.org Neal Tucker ntucker@rid.org
Accounting Manager Jennifer Apple japple@rid.org Accounting Specialist Eric Dethlefson edethlefson@rid.org Senior Director of Programs Tina Maggio and Services tmaggio@rid.org Director of Member Services Ryan Butts rbutts@rid.org Member Services Specialists Estie Kruglak ekruglak@rid.org Certification Manager Dan Ebeling debeling@rid.org Certification Specialist Cassie Olson colson@rid.org Professional Development Carol Turner Manager cturner@rid.org Professional Development Ashley Potter Specialist apotter@rid.org Communications Bill Millios, M.S Coordinator bmillios@rid.org Communications Trey Gordon Specialist tgordon@rid.org Meetings Coordinator Julie Greenfield, CMP jgreenfield@rid.org
VIEWS Volume 32 • Issue 1
VIEWS Guidelines VIEWS (ISSN 0277-7088) is published quarterly by the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. Statements of fact or opinion are the responsibility of the authors alone and do not necessarily represent the opinion of RID. © 2016 the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. All rights reserved. Materials may not be reproduced or reprinted in whole or in part without written permission. Contact views@rid.org for permission inquiries and requests. VIEWS subscription is a membership benefit and is covered in the cost of RID membership dues. Address Change Policy: In order to receive uninterrupted delivery notifications, members must notify RID of any email address change four weeks in advance of the effective date of the new address. Address changes can be made in your RID online member profile, mailed to the national office, faxed to (703) 838-0454 or e-mailed to membasst@rid. org. Please include telephone number, fax number and e-mail address changes. SUBMITTING TO VIEWS Articles All submissions to VIEWS should be sent to the national office via the online submission process at www.rid.org. Any submission that does not meet the stated guidelines or is deemed inappropriate will not be published. The author(s), not RID, is responsible for the content of submissions published in VIEWS. VIEWS prints articles on matters of interest and concern to the membership. Submissions that are essentially interpersonal exchanges, editorials or statements of opinion are not appropriate as articles and may remain unpublished, run as a letter to the editor or as a position paper. Articles should be 1,800 words or fewer. Unsigned articles will not be published. Please contact the editor of VIEWS if you require more space. Unsigned articles will not be published. RID reserves the right to limit the quantity and frequency of articles published in VIEWS written by a single author(s). Receipt by RID of a submission does not guarantee its publication. RID reserves the right to edit, excerpt or refuse to publish any submission. Articles which have citations should follow APA format. Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor should be 300 words or fewer. Letters should be sent to views@rid.org or mailed to the national office. Unsigned letters will not be published, although a name can be withheld upon approval by the RID office. Advertisements All advertising copy is subject to the publisher’s approval. RID reserves the right to reject advertisements for any reason at any time. RID is not liable if an advertisement is omitted for any reason. Publication of an advertisement does not constitute RID’s endorsement or approval of the advertiser, nor does RID guarantee the accuraacy of information given in an advertisement. Because RID is committed to non-discriminatory personnel practices, advertisers in RID publications must affirm that they are equal-opportunity employers. Advertising specifications can be found at www.rid.org, or by contacting the editor. All editorial, advertising, submission and permission inquiries should be directed to (703) 838-0030, (703) 838-0454 fax, or views@rid.org. 5
www.rid.org
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issue in this
CONTENTS
departments, news, and features From the Editor President's Report From the Interim Executive Director Feature Story: Turning State Conferences on Their Head: A Hybrid Approach RID Partner Update: NCIEC Feature Story: So Many Resources, So Little Time! RID Partner Update, Mano a Mano: Trilingual Interpreters Benefit from Trainings Across the U.S. Texas Society of Interpreters for the Deaf (TSID) Conference Report: Trilingual Interpreting Column: Encounters with Reality Book Review: More Than Meets The Eye: Revealing the Complexities of an Interpreted Education Regional Conference Information (I-V) NAD Top 5 Priorities Update on Testing Moratorium PDC Report: "Un-choring" CEUs EPS Updates Newly Certified EPS Violations
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VIEWS Volume 32 • Issue 1
FROM THE EDITOR
Welcome to your digital issue of VIEWS! VIEWS: together in collaboration to inspire, create, innovate, share, educate, and visualize.
Submitted by: Tina Maggio Sr. Director of Programs and Services VIEWS Editor
In the first years of the RID newsletter, content was typically held to one or two pages, was crafted on what we would now call a vintage typewriter, copied on a mimeograph, and mailed to the number of members at the time. If you want a look at one of the first newsletters of RID, click on the link to read the June 1965 Happy Birthday Newsletter. http://www.rid.org/1965birthday/ Fast forward more than 50 years, technology has taken a hold of how information is distributed as well as how information is consumed. RID’s reach into this technological age of digital content is a way for us to enhance your experience with your membership publication. While we have been digital with the website, social media, and electronic email, VIEWS is a new realm for us. We now have a way to create interactivity with content like never before. This is an exciting opportunity that we can share together in collaboration. As you may have experienced in your own professional or personal lives, sometimes the technological jump is not always as smooth and flawless as we would have hoped, dreamt, or imagined. So, while it is with great hands waving applause that we present you with the first digital issue of VIEWS, we recognize that the depth of value will come as we climb higher on this digital journey together in collaboration. What does that mean, VIEWS – together in collaboration? That statement is of course, redundant, but we think necessary to reiterate the importance of us – RID as an organization and RID as individual member, Board member, volunteer, staff, stakeholder, etc. - to participate in a new format of RID consumable content. No matter how amazing the platform and dynamic ability of the structure to shock and amaze, the true value is in the content that is shared; content that is authentic, that leads to productive and positive discussions about the profession, and that highlights skills, experience, and knowledge in a way that elicits passion and motivates contribution. This is the starting point of our digital VIEWS journey. The value of this exploration will come from within the profession and membership by you finding a way to share your experiences, research, and knowledge through contributions to VIEWS. We, the VIEWS editorial crew, will be creating more paths and opportunities for you to contribute to content as well. We understand the sporadic publication of the past few years has created confusion about deadlines for article submissions. This is just one area we are working to improve to create a welcoming path for your involvement. Another way for us to open the door to member participation in the production of VIEWS is through the creation of a VIEWS Board of Editors. With this first digital issue of VIEWS, the call is now officially open for both hearing and Deaf members to serve in this capacity. Please see the sidebar for more information about the open call. With the addition of a VIEWS Board of Editors, we will continue to enhance our digital journey as we grow and learn together in collaboration. This collaboration is also impacted by the recent motion passed at the RID Biennial Business Meeting in August 2015. The motion C2015.09, as passed states, “move that the RID Views and Journal of Interpreting (JOI) be published in bilingual format ASL and English, starting with the first digital www.rid.org
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FROM HEADQUARTERS copy of RID VIEWS and the next issue of JOI.” RID staff respect and honor the intent to create an accessible environment to the content we are providing, both to our external and internal audiences. It has been an intent that we have tried to incorporate on a daily basis in the development of our communications. In fact, it was this driving force that moved us to recommend the transition to a digital issue of VIEWS so that more content could be provided in ASL. As you may recall, in Spring/Summer 2014 issue of VIEWS (pages 21 and 24), we published two ASL articles. The limitations of the print copy required the use of a QR code, thus creating obstacles to access the ASL articles. As you will experience with this issue, the ASL is at your fingertips. However, creating an ALL English/ASL publication at this time is not possible. As we look to operationalize the motion from the members, the following challenges have presented themselves and still need to be addressed: 1. Standards and criteria need to be developed for the submission, production, and quality of ASL content. 2. Processes need to be developed on handling editing of ASL content, much like the existing processes we have in place for editing of English content. 3. Defining how we can incorporate the intent of the motion with the available resources (financial and personnel) allocated to publications. 4. Providing an easily accessible platform for the digital magazine that is viewable offline (does not require internet connection) and that also has print-on-demand capability. 5. Providing a platform for the digital magazine that will maintain it as an RID member-only benefit. 6. Finding authors who are willing to provide their content in ASL and English. 7. Overcoming the challenges faced with the low number of viewers of ASL content produced to date and the amount of resources extended to produce such content. (see below) A 1500 word article in English would equate to an average 10-12 minutes for the ASL video version. Data does not currently support that the consumers of RID’s content are viewing the ASL in its entirety to gain the complete message from the ASL version. RID recently produced an ASL video by Vice President Melvin Walker that was 31 minutes in length. There were a total of 3,381 viewers. The average viewer only watched 9 minutes and 49 seconds of the video; only 13 percent of the viewers watched the entire video; and at the 4:21 mark, 50 percent of viewers had dropped out, leaving over 25 minutes of the video unwatched. The original vision in moving from a hard copy publication to a digital one, involved content being delivered in the language most accessible and appropriate for the information to be delivered and consumed. For example, if an author felt the content was more suitable in ASL, then that is how that article would be published, with no requirement for an English counterpart. (See, VIEWS Spring/ Summer 2104, page 21 and 24) If the author felt the content was more accessible in English, then it would be published as such. The beauty of motion C2015.09 is that its intent is in line with the overall sense of digital VIEWS but has shifted the original vision a bit and provided an opportunity to move beyond solely the author’s choice to provide content in a more accessible way across the board. However, we are still in the process of defining that and determining what is capable. The move to a digital platform will be a fluid one. Not all of the content in this issue is provided in both English and ASL. There are some in English only and some both ASL and English. And thanks to Mano a Mano, we have an English/Spanish/ASL article as well. We look for your feedback and participation as we seek to continue to provide invaluable information about the interpreting profession via VIEWS, together in collaboration to inspire, create, innovate, share, educate, and visualize. 6
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VIEWS Volume 32 • Issue 1
FROM THE PRESIDENT PRESIDENT’S REPORT
EVOLUTION IS THE FUTURE: PRESIDENT’S REPORT by Dawn Whitcher, RID President
At this particular moment, within the timeline of the history of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. (RID), I felt that this article would be most relevant if I took time to identify where we are and where we are headed. With that goal in mind, I decided to invite RID Board consultant, Heather Harker, to assist in presenting the information. This provides us with the opportunity to frame some recent decisions regarding the Transition Team, and the shifting paradigms occurring within the association.
Video: https://youtu.be/8x_tn04JL5w
As we look at RID’s evolution from the founding days in 1964 to our present day, and then to the 50 years ahead, there is no doubt we are at a defining time of opportunity. I hold no illusion that everything is perfect, or that everything has an easy solution or resolution. However, the strength of this time of opportunity comes from continuing our conversations and from reviewing RID’s relevance to the profession and the communities we serve. This value-driven approach truly reflects the care of every leader, staff member, and member of this organization. Evolution is the Future As a part of the current leadership transition of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. (RID), the Board of Directors decided to work with a consultant, Heather Harker of Third Sector New England (TSNE), a nonprofit capacity building firm headquartered in Boston, MA, and an external Interim Executive Director, Anna Witter-Merithew, to strategically assess and make intentional decisions regarding the future of RID. The initial findings of the organizational assessment, shared with the board in the summer of 2015, show that RID, founded in 1964, has grown tremendously since its beginnings and the world within which it operates has changed considerably. However, RID’s purpose, core functions, and infrastructure have not evolved resulting in a loss in organizational relevance – both with its members and with the broader community. www.rid.org
Heather Harker, Director of Programs, TSNE
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PRESIDENT’S REPORT Separately, there are detailed updates from the Interim Executive Director on the RID website, and distributed in the monthly eNEWS and VIEWS, which share the steps taken to shape RID’s future including: restructuring of RID staff, a risk assessment analysis regarding the 2015 national conference, a certification risk assessment, presented to the Board November 1, 2015, and a future risk assessment of the whole concept of the national conference, delivered to the Board on November 24, 2015. Given that two of the core functions of RID since its founding have been the national conference and certification, the courage of the current Board of Directors to take on clear, strategic decision-making (even if the decision may be unpopular) is to be commended. In this regard, RID is similar to the many nonprofit organizations founded in the 1960s and 1970s, who are discovering that their ‘models’ are no longer effective and that this has affected their relevance, which is declining. This is a common phase in the life-cycle of nonprofit organizations. The more important question is what will RID choose at this critical juncture? Will it choose more of the same, which will continue the slow decline the organization has been experiencing over several years? Or will it choose to innovate and redefine its purpose and design its operations so that it becomes an organization of high relevance once again? There are many embedded issues and questions within this deceptively simple paradigm of decline or innovate including: systemic -isms including the prevalence of audism, racism, and classism, whether or not RID should be both delivering certification and requiring membership and the Certification Maintenance Program, whether the assumptions underlying the current approach to certification should be continued, whether a national conference (which only a small percentage of RID members actually attend – or can afford to attend) is relevant, among many others. There are some structural, governance related challenges as well which have made evolutionary decision-making challenging. The best example of this is that half of the members of the Board can turnover every year making it almost impossible relationally and intellectually to make decisions that evolutionarily shape RID’s future. What can we learn from the current Executive Director search process? During the Transition Team meeting on October 13, 2015, Heather Harker, TSNE consultant, shared that 72 people had been personally contacted as part of the individualized search outreach and that the feedback can be categorized into the following themes: • interested in position, but timing is wrong (due to other obligations such as to the National Association of the Deaf (NAD), or current university position, etc.); might consider in the future (e.g., one year or more from now); • disgruntled with RID and do not feel can ethically either consider position or recommend/ nominate others given current state of affairs within organization; • might be interested, but feel that decisions emerging from certification risk assessment could potentially (radically) alter RID’s future focus and structure, thus hesitant/unwilling to apply at this time. Additionally, some of the top candidates RID hoped to attract want to: • earn a higher salary than RID has currently considered, • negotiate unusual parameters such as routinely working from another state while agreeing to primarily be in DC/VA, and • understand – and have confidence in – what has shifted at the Board/governance level so that the executive director job is doable and they are supported in the position.
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VIEWS Volume 32 • Issue 1
PRESIDENT’S REPORT The Transition Team concluded, after a review of the data, that: • This current pool is neither broad enough nor deep enough to warrant the substantial resources RID would commit to advancing to the next phase of the search process (screening and interviews). • The feedback themes point to how RID’s current reality is affecting top candidates’ willingness to apply. • Given the multiple leadership transitions in a short period of time, it is critically important that RID get this hire right and position the next executive director for success. • RID has more work to do to ensure the next executive director is positioned for success. It is within this context that the RID Transition Team recommended to the Board, and the Board agreed: that RID extend the interim leadership period, with the goal to finalize the process by December 2016, at the latest. Additionally, the Transition Team recommended that the RID Board consider making strategic decisions regarding interim leadership of the organization and addressing the following success metrics prior to re-launching the search: • Clear set of decisions emerging from the certification risk assessment and implementation in progress, • RID business model (emerging from risk assessment) determined, • Relationship with the NAD and certification clearly defined, • Bylaws amendments changing the board governance structure (to move away from half the board turning over every year) completed and approved, • Delineation of decision-making between the executive director and the Board, acknowledging the existence of some ‘gray’ areas documented in writing, and • Position profile updated before re-launching search. The Transition Team is in favor of evolving RID to ensure the success of the next executive director. Delaying the hire was the last thing Transition Team members wanted to do; however, they also wanted to be courageous regarding the future of RID and ensure the success of the next executive director, which requires the systemic changes identified above. Intentionally evolving an organization in today’s fast moving world is not for the faint of heart. It takes courage to look unflinchingly, with detachment, at the current reality of RID and to ask ‘who do we need to be and what can we do to best meet our mission?’ Then, the courage and persistence to implement the decisions and ensure that the system is setup so that the key players: Board members, executive director, headquarters staff, and members are all able to be successful in their respective roles.
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FROM THE INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
RID: A Network of Interdependent Relationships Anna Witter-Merithew, M.Ed. CSC, SC:L, OIC:C, SC:PA, CI and CT Interim Executive Director Video: https://youtu.be/fpEZHq8IUuY
As my tenure as the Interim Executive Director (IED) continues to unfold, I am struck by the complexity of relationships that exist within RID and their impact for our shared context. I have been thinking a lot about our relationships in an attempt to understand their interdependence. As well, I realize how much we depend on each other to do our part within this complex network of relationships. At its core, RID is all about people and the connection of people to one another. Deaf people seek to connect to other people within society through linguistic access. Interpreters offer their skills and competence to facilitate that linguistic access. And, RID exists for the purpose of perpetuating interpreting standards and practices designed to protect the interests of deaf people and society in general, educate people about interpreting, and support the work of practitioners. As a membership association, the role of members is central to our effectiveness. RID is heavily dependent on its membership for engagement and volunteer leadership. To remain healthy and viable, associations need committed volunteer leaders, and we are fortunate that members choose to become engaged to achieve outcomes that matter to them and all of us. In our member-driven approach, members are actively engaged in decisions and activities the association performs through participation and voting in business meetings/referenda and through volunteer leadership roles. Members are involved as the elected Board of Directors and through the activities carried out by councils, committees, member sections, regions, and chapters of RID. Members drive the direction of RID through the motions they pass, the scholarship they contribute, and through their engagement at national, regional, state, and local levels, from anything to continuing education and advocacy to mentorship and beyond. The association membership recently elected the 2015-2017 RID Board of Directors. The Board is responsible for the overall governance of RID and steering the association toward a sustainable future by making sure there are adequate resources to advance its mission. Part of creating a system of adequate resources includes the Board recruiting, screening, and appointing of additional volunteer leaders from within the membership to work within councils or committees engaged in various aspects of the association’s work. They also rely on the expertise of consultants from time to time to assist the association in addressing criti10
VIEWS Volume 32 • Issue 1
FROM THE INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR cal issues or needs. As well, some of the volunteer leadership and advice from which RID relies upon comes from stakeholder groups—such as the National Association of the Deaf (NAD)—who are committed to shared goals and interests. These stakeholder volunteers are vital members of several key programs of RID, such as testing and certification, including the Code of Professional Conduct [CPC] and the Ethical Practices System [EPS]. In addition to committed volunteer leaders, RID also needs competent staff. RID staff is responsible for operationalizing the decisions of the board and membership. They are also responsible for the day-to-day operations and implementation of the association’s programs and services. They achieve this through the headquarters organizational structure and the application of various processes and procedures—some of which are designed in collaboration with the volunteer leadership, others developed internally based on association best practice. So, the membership, the member and stakeholder volunteer leaders, and headquarters staff form a complex network of interdependent relationships necessary to achieve our mission. Ideally, we all work together as collaborating partners to achieve our shared goals with the hope and/or desire that each of us is working from a common set of values, beliefs, and intentions. However, because RID is a system of human beings, all with unique talents, skills, and ways of being, as well as flaws and foibles, it is not surprising that we periodically have to deal with challenges caused by this reality. In times of challenge—such as the period of transition in which RID currently finds itself—we are vulnerable to forgetting that we are in this noble endeavor known as RID together, that our actions and decisions are interdependent, and that if any part of our partnership is out of sync, it impacts all the other parts. To illustrate, consider the current moratorium on performance testing. This decision was made by the Board, which is comprised of RID members. The decision was not reached in isolation, but rather after consideration of multiple factors and influences—including, 1] the membership survey results and stakeholder interview feedback received in spring 2015 during the Association Assessment conducted by TSNE, 2] determination of the Certification Committee that certain tests had reached sunset or that new test development or enhancement was required for some tests; 3] concerns expressed by members and stakeholders regarding the low pass rate of the NIC; and 4] concerns raised by headquarters about operational limitations and fiscal sustainability. The input of many individuals led to the decision. Likewise, the decision impacts many individuals and stakeholders. It also impacts headquarters and our day-to-day operations. Applications for performance testing received during the sixty (60) day period from the moratorium announcement to October 1 is equal to the number normally received over a 12-month period, thus creating a significant backlog. Please see the report provided by Dan Ebeling, Certification Manager: http://www.rid.org/2015/12/update-on-moratorium-registrations/ This backlog impacts test result notification to candidates and overall workflow at headquarters. Workflow backlog impacts members seeking a range of services. Thus, the interdependence of RID’s human component is evident. So, as we seek to move forward together in the midst of this complex, human, interdependent, relational reality, there is value in reminding ourselves of the important shared responsibilities we hold—regardless of our role within the association. To this end, I would like to articulate some of the responsibilities the headquarters staff has been working to address. It is our hope that these will be useful reminders to our association partners as well. • We all hold the duty of civility. Civility is about developing an awareness and application of respectful behaviors when interacting with www.rid.org
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FROM THE INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR others. It requires us to think before acting, consider the impact of our words and actions on others. Only by recognizing and respecting individual differences, perspectives, and qualities can our association fully realize its potential. We all have a duty to self-monitor the respect that we display in all areas of our communications. And given the passion many of us bring to our discussions, it can be a challenging—albeit necessary—skill for us to acquire. It takes ongoing practice and commitment, and the ability to accept constructive criticism. • We all hold the duty of accountability. Personal accountability has been defined as being willing to answer for the outcomes resulting from our choices, behaviors, and actions. When we are personally accountable, we take ownership of situations for which we are involved. We see them through and take responsibility for what happens. We don’t blame others if things go wrong. Instead, we do our best to make things right. Accountability also builds trust within associations because people learn that they can depend on each other. Volunteer leaders and staff who are accountable are more likely to be trusted and respected because people learn that they will keep their word. Personal accountability also allows us to adopt a positive and solution-driven approach to resolving conflicts, versus blaming, speculating, or other non-productive approaches. • We all hold the duty of integrity. Integrity involves moral judgment and character, honesty, and leadership values. When we show integrity in our professional relationships, we demonstrate that we not only understand right from wrong, but we seek to practice it in all we do. This is beneficial in a work environment where trustworthy actions set the foundation for successful professional relationships. Confidentiality is a prime example of integrity in professional exchanges. It is also a legal necessity. Volunteer leaders and staff have an obligation to keep certain information confidential. Violation of privacy policies could lead to fines, penalties, and possible lawsuits. Confidentiality instills trust and encourages sincere consideration of the privacy of others. Conversely, breaches of confidentiality breed a culture of rumor, speculation, suspicion, and distrust. • We all hold the duty of challenging our assumptions. We all operate on assumptions, and assumptions can be faulty or inaccurate. As a result, it is important to challenge our assumptions and to seek confirmation as to whether what we think or believe is true is in fact accurate. Rely on facts rather than assumptions before taking action that may, in the end, damage your valuable relationships. The best place for gathering relevant facts is to “go to the source.” • We all hold the duty to be informed. In our world of information overload, it can be overwhelming trying to be current in terms of what is happening within RID. However, we all hold responsibility to use our shared and reliable sources of information to remain informed. For example, by reading e-news blasts, newsletters, and journals, watching vlogs posted by volunteer leaders and/or staff, and/or looking to the association website for official information and announcements, we are making a commitment to acquiring a first-hand awareness of current news and information. These are some of the reliable sources for us to gather our information. And, if engaged in social media, we need to do so responsibly so as not to perpetuate misinformation and inaccuracies. These are a few of the shared responsibilities we are dedicated to improving at headquarters. It is our hope that you will see our commitment to these values in your interactions with us in the coming months. During this period of transition and challenge, we know we can all do better in our application of our shared responsibilities. We appreciate your assistance and patience in helping us do better to improve our interdependent relationships and look forward to continuing our RID endeavor together.
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VIEWS Volume 32 • Issue 1
Turning State Conferences on Their Head: A Hybrid Approach
FEATURE STORY
by Jenny Miller, CI and CT, SC:L, Ed:K-12, and Amy Kroll, NIC, Colorado
What does the word “conference” bring to mind? A multi-day, multi-track event held in a hotel? For us, Jenny Miller and Amy Kroll, the word “conference” became a label for organized learning, and learning should not be defined by a single approach. In 2015, we planned, organized, and hosted a successful hybrid conference encompassing online and onsite components for Colorado RID (CRID). A Little History Historically, CRID’s annual conferences are three days offering multiple workshops presented by various presenters to meet the diverse needs of interpreters working in different settings. On average, CRID’s annual conference is attended by 150 participants paying $150 registration fee, offers 1.0+ CEUs, receives donations to supplement registrations fees, and has a $40,000 operating cost. Since a conference of this magnitude requires time, energy, and manpower, the responsibility of the conference rotates around CRID’s four geographical districts. Conference Coming to Town… In 2014, Jenny, the Northern District Representative, hesitantly agreed to chair the 2015 conference coming to her district. Being a diehard CRID member, Jenny volunteered despite lingering burn-out from past conference planning. Jenny quickly recognized her lack of motivation and knew the district members were the same. How does a conference get planned when time, manpower, and motivation are in short supply? Even though the responsibility of the conference rotates, three years never seems long enough. The planning of the 2015 conference was already stalling. Finding Inspiration In 2013, Colorado interpreters started meeting to share their thoughts and experiences with peers in professional discussions, without earning CEUs! Such meetings are called Salons. The goal of a Salon is to increase the participants’ knowledge through conversations (Wikipedia, 2015). These www.rid.org
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FEATURE STORY professional discussions had ripple effects on individuals, organizations, and districts weeks and even months later. Confronted with the responsibility of another conference, Jenny asked Amy out for pancakes. The goal of the outing was to brainstorm about the upcoming conference. A challenge quickly became apparent – we are opposites. Jenny never misses a CRID conference. Amy rarely attends. Jenny is an extrovert. Amy is an introvert. Jenny learns in groups. Amy learns independently. Yet, we kept coming back to our experiences with Salons and the power of a good conversation. We set out to replicate the Salon experience on a statewide scale. Another Approach to Conferences We structured the 2015 conference as a hybrid learning approach focusing on a single topic. During an extended amount of time (three weeks), participants used the Internet to view vlogs (recorded presentations by speakers), read articles, and submit opinion polls. The guided independent learning allowed participants to develop and deepen their knowledge of the topic. Then participants engaged in small group face-to-face discussions for just one day. The discussions allowed participants to share their voice and benefit from their peers’ voices. CEUs were awarded for completion of online content and discussion attendance. Hurdles Associated to the New Approach The biggest hurdle of the new approach was buy-in. Would the diverse needs of interpreters in different settings be met? Would participants come? Is it really a conference? Many felt the approach should be abandoned. We began the uphill battle founded on three guiding principles. First, the field has universal topics with influence and implications for all interpreters no matter the work settings or years of experience. Second, there is no common learning style that supports one approach over another. Third, any approach to organized learning will have its supporters and opponents. We created buy-in by distributing monthly vlogs and holding three “coffee chats” (two face-toface and one teleconference). The purpose of these targeted activities was to promote and explain the hybrid approach, address concerns, and elicit potential topics. Over time, a shift occurred. Individuals were more open to and excited by the hybrid approach. The final strategy to increase buy-in was to have the interpreter community select the signal topic by a vote. An internal obstacle was the hosting of the online content. Initially, the plan was to host presenter vlogs through YouTube and distribute readings via email. Yet, in order to offer RID CEUs, engagement and completion of online content had to be verifiable since content would be completed independently. In today’s digital era, many websites are designed for online learning. Unfortunately, most are developed for large for-profit organizations with on-going use fee scales, which made the applications cost prohibitive for the conference. After much investigation, a short-term subscription was purchased with a video hosting company that tracks media engagement for marketing purposes. Benefits Associated to the New Approach The hybrid approach incorporated online learning and small group discussions. The online content was a self-paced, guided exploration which allowed participants to engage the material as their time, interest, energy, and personal learning style allowed. The small group discussions allowed participants to share their own voice on the selected topic as well as shape and be shaped through interactions with their peers. 14
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FEATURE STORY Comparison of Conference Approaches CRID Conference
Prior to 2015
2015
Number of Participants
~150
103
Registration Period
February-March Onsite registration
February-March NO onsite registration
Length
Friday, Saturday, & Sunday
April 1-24 (online) & April 25 (onsite)
Topics
Varied (K-12, legal, DIs, & community)
Single (collective interpreting community)
Presenters
Varied (live)
Varied (recorded)
Learning Methods
Varied (lectures, small groups, hands on, etc.)
Varied (readings, vlogs, polls, written & verbal discussions)
Equipment Needs
For multiple rooms
Website (online) For one room (onsite)
RID CEUs
~1.0 CEUs (Awarded on individual attendance)
1.22 CEUs (Awarded as all or nothing) - Only 3 of the 66 participants seeking RID CEUs didn’t complete the requirements.
Registration Cost
~$150
$50 - $10 automatically donated to the CRID’s scholarship fund. - A school district was able to pay for their entire interpreting staff of 8.
Venue
Hotels with onsite convention centers - Requires a block of sleeping rooms and a minimum catering order to waive the meeting room fee.
Event Center with near-by hotel - No block of sleeping rooms to fill and no minimum catering order. - Fee for meeting room
Attendance Costs
Travel and associated meals Meals outside of conference time Sleeping room (multiple nights)
Travel and associated meals Sleeping room (1 night) - Most participants could travel to and from venue the same day.
Hosting Costs
Presenters (honorarium, registration, & travel) Accommodations (Interpreters) Organizations CRID districts
Presenters (honorarium) Accommodations (Transcriptionist & Interpreters)
~$40,000
$8,350
Donations Operating Cost
Organizations
The approach had more online content than onsite content which had positive implication for the conference budget. Costs associated with the venue, presenters, and interpreters were a fraction of their normal multi-day cost. No onsite registration meant the final participant count was known prior to catering deadlines. The topic voted on by the Colorado interpreter community was licensure. The discussions started at the conference have continued far beyond. The CRID Facebook group is talking about Title www.rid.org
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FEATURE STORY Protection as Colorado’s professional standard for interpreters. CRID will host a Salon to discuss the NIC’s pass rate and its implications for Title Protection and any future changes to professional standards. CRID and the Colorado Association of the Deaf will hold “Kitchen Talks” between the Deaf and Interpreter Communities to collectively talk about licensure as an appropriate/desired state standard. Lessons Learned The hybrid conference was very well received by participants. In the conference evaluation, 75 percent of respondents identified they would attend a hybrid style of conference again. Feedback indicated an appreciation for the online content - for depth and quality of information, for the development of prior knowledge which maximized onsite interactions, and for a value in both time and money. That being said, the hybrid conference was not perfect. Potential changes include offering fewer CEUs, using an application that allows participants to track their own online progress, better training for the table facilitators, and frequent incorporation of report outs to the larger group. The goal in offering 1.0+ CEUS was to be equivalent to past conference offerings. The CEUs offered by the conference included six hours of videos, four hours of reading, and four hours of discussion. Less content and fewer hours would not have compromised the participants’ content knowledge or ability to participate in discussions and would have relieved some of the participants’ stress in getting everything done on time. The most consistent feedback from participants was their desire to track their own progress and completion of the online content. The video hosting website used for the conference was a marketing-based application, not educational. Thus, the account owner was the only one allowed to view an individual user’s engagement with the material. Conveying participants’ progress over an extended period of time was logistically cumbersome. Checklists were provided, but participants wanted application generated progress and completion confirmation which is understandable given CEUs were tied to the completion of online content. Each discussion group was led by a table facilitator. Prior to the onsite component, the facilitators were sent a training guide providing an overview of their role as well as the focus and discussion questions for each discussion group. Based on the length of the discussion groups (one-hour) and our experience with Salons, we assumed the guide would provide adequate training. In reality, the role and responsibilities of the table facilitators should not be undervalued. In order to wrap up the day’s discussions, we collected key discussion points that each group wrote down. From all the key points, we selected various representatives to report their key points to the larger group. Conference feedback showed participants’ desire for the report out to occur with more frequency. They wanted to know what other groups discussed at the end of each discussion time, rather than waiting until the end of the day. Conclusion The hybrid approach to conferences took no less planning and organizing than a multi-day, multi-track event. Yet, we had passion to try something new and to do it at a fraction of the cost. We were successful on many fronts. Most importantly to us was the power of a good, old-fashion conversation (aided by the digital era of course). We see a change in the times and interests and believe organized learning should be approached in new ways. Change will provide additional options which will result in great things happening! Don’t be afraid to try something new. 5 16
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News from
PARTNER UPDATE - NCIEC
The National Consortium of Interpreter Education Centers (NCIEC) was granted a one-year extension of its federal funding until September 30, 2016. This allows us to continue to enhance and expand the quantity and quality of ASL/English interpreters through the dissemination of our products and educational opportunities. Below are highlights of our national projects and plans for the future. EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES Among the educational opportunities planned for this year, the NCIEC will prepare trainers to conduct healthcare interpreting immersion programs and to teach trilingual (ASL/Spanish/English) interpreting using the new Interpreting in Spanish-Influenced Settings: A Curriculum Guide (see below). Two programs will offer preparation for legal interpreters. Each region will have the benefit of educational programming offered by CDIs as well as SC:L interpreters trained to teach the legal interpreting modules and training packages developed in year five. Also available will be induction opportunities for 15 to 18 certified interpreters who wish to gain supervised work experience in court settings. These and other activities are currently under development. If you are interested in learning more, please contact nciec@interpretereducation.org. PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES Visit InterpreterEducation.org to discover the many rich resources NCIEC has to offer, such as:
Teaching Interpreting Media Register for unlimited access to videos on a wide range of topics. Practice your interpreting skills with the TerpTalks collection (www.interpretereducation.org/ tim/terptalks/) or view our new Specialty Settings Collection (http://www.interpretereducation.org/tim/video-series/) with professional development videos on interpreting in Legal, ASL/Spanish/English, and Vocational Rehabilitation settings, or Deaf Interpreter Practice.
Interpreting in Spanish-Influenced Settings: A Curriculum Guide This volume applies the domains, competencies, and skills published in Toward Effective Practice: Interpreting in Spanish-Influenced Settings in a teaching format that offers ideas and approaches for instruction. A directory of trainers prepared to teach from the curriculum is available on the ASL/Spanish/English Training Opportunities page.
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PARTNER UPDATE - NCIEC
Recent accomplishments of the NCIEC Trilingual (ASL/Spanish/English) Task Force include the launch of Interpreting in Spanish-Influenced Settings: A Curriculum Guide packaged with the Interpreting in SpanishInfluenced Settings: Video Vignettes of Working Trilingual Interpreters, designed to be used with the Compendium of Essential Readings and Toward Effective Practices resources. The curriculum guide is available in both English and Spanish at http://www.interpretereducation.org/specialization/aslspanishenglish/. Twelve trilingual (ASL/Spanish/English) interpreters participated in a train-the-trainer event in January 2015 to learn about effective teaching and the curriculum guide. They then offered trainings to their home communities. Plans for 2016 include working with two collaborating colleges (one on the East Coast, another on the West Coast) to prepare and provide a pilot certificate program on interpreting in Spanish-influenced settings and another train-the-trainer seminar. This seminar will educate Deaf and hearing trainers about effective practices in education and how to best use the curriculum guide to train others. More information about this seminar will be provided soon.
Deaf Self-Advocacy Training The Deaf Self-Advocacy Training Toolkit materials are now available online. Click here to access the DSAT Training, DBSAT Training, Train the Trainer materials, Video Modules from the Toolkit, and more! NCIEC is proud to be the driving force behind Deaf Self-Advocacy Training (DSAT) and DeafBlind Self-Advocacy Training (DBSAT). We thank RSA for their foresight in keeping it an NCIEC priority. DSAT is peer-to-peer training for Deaf, DeafBlind, and hard of hearing individuals.
DSAT trainings are coordinated by Commissions for Deaf, advocacy agencies, state associations of the Deaf, colleges with large Deaf populations, and high school transition programs. Examples of impact include, the state of Georgia mandates that all Deaf, DeafBlind, and hard of hearing students receive DSAT training. Another example is the Helen Keller National Center’s expansion of DBSAT to areas outside of interpreter advocacy. More than 2,000 Deaf, DeafBlind, and hard of hearing individuals have taken the training and over 250 individuals have been prepared as consumer trainers. If you are looking for a trainer or the curriculum, both are available at www.deafselfadvocacy.org. DSAT plans to continue to promote or co-host trainings while also striving to infuse DBSAT into the fabric of the community. Plans are also being made for a DBSAT fundraiser (consider contributing). To learn more, please contact: deafselfadvocacy@gmail.com. www.rid.org
The UNC-DO IT Center exists to provide online educational opportunities for those interested in learning ASL, teaching ASL, and an array of options for ASL-English interpreter practitioners. • • • • • •
ASL 3 & 4 Online Courses MA in Teaching ASL BA in ASL-English interpretation OSEP scholarships available for K12 emphasis Legal Interpreter Certificate Program Leadership and Supervision Certificate Program
For more information visit: unco.edu/doit 19
Don’t forget to visit our other websites! • Deaf Interpreter: DIInstitute.org • Healthcare Interpreting: HealthcareInterpreting.org • Aspiring Interpreter: DiscoverInterpreting.com
PARTNER UPDATE - NCIEC
All of these products are available at no cost to you! Deaf Interpreter Initiative: During this cycle, the Deaf Interpreter work team developed and published the Deaf Interpreter Curriculum. Based on the unique competencies required of the Deaf interpreter, the curriculum is designed for use in interpreting education programs and community-based forums. A train-the-trainer session was held in June 2014 for selected Deaf interpreter educators to utilize this curriculum. For the first time, they could offer prospective Deaf interpreters a curriculum based on effective practices research. Participants then applied that learning by offering 23 trainings in 10 states, reaching more than 300 prospective Deaf interpreters. Click here for a list of trainers. A Deaf interpreter training was conducted in May 1-6, 2015. For more information on upcoming training, the full curriculum, a list of trained Deaf interpreter trainers/consultants, an annotated bibliography of print and video material on Deaf interpreter practice, findings of a national survey of Deaf interpreters and focus groups, and much more, visit diinstitute.org. Healthcare Interpreting: This year’s work will focus on the online interactive Healthcare Interpreting Career Lattice. Designed to help current and potential interpreters better understand the progression toward competency in healthcare interpreting, specific uses include: • Recruiting individuals to healthcare interpreting. • Providing professional development guidance in healthcare interpreting. • Offering specific information about training, education, and experiences leading to greater competence and expertise. • Providing educators, students, and others with information and identifying experiences essential for building a career in healthcare interpreting. • Informing individuals who may rely on healthcare interpreting services about the general levels of experience, education, and training of ASL/English interpreters. To build the skills of interpreters in the top stages of the Lattice, training opportunities include, a Healthcare Interpreting Immersion train-the-trainer intensive program aimed to increase qualified trainers available to offer healthcare interpreting immersion programs around the country and online training for fellowship supervisors aimed to increase qualified supervisors available for future fellowships. Novice to intermediate healthcare interpreters will have opportunities to build their skills through the Body Language modules and Healthcare Reader series. The next module started December 2015. For more information, visit healthcareinterpreting.org.
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PARTNER UPDATE - NCIEC
Legal Interpreting:
The UNC MARIE Center serves as the NCIEC Center of Excellence on Legal Interpreting. The following highlights illustrate some of the achievements and plans for the 2010-2016 cycle. Two cohorts of both the Legal Interpreting Certificate Program (LITP) and the Leadership and Supervision Certificate Program (LSCP) have graduated. Third cohorts of each started in August 2015. These online certificate programs supported more than 250 students and are unique offerings available to the field. Fourteen CDI and SC:L interpreters have been trained to provide a series of legal trainings and have trained more than 180 practitioners. In 2016, they will offer additional trainings in legal interpreting. The intent is to provide three to four legal trainings in each of the five NCIEC regions. The Court Interpreting Induction program provides practitioners who have legal training the opportunity for supervised work experience in the court/legal system. In 2016, this program will serve up to 15 additional practitioners nationwide. Dynamic resources, such as an ASL glossary of legal terms, can be found at: http://www.interpretereducation.org/specialization/legal/. Anyone seeking legal trainings and/or court interpreting induction opportunities should contact: Amy Williamson Carrie Woodruff MARIE Center Instruction Coordinator MARIE Center Program Coordinator amy.williamson@unco.edu Carolyn.woodruff@unco.edu We are grateful to our funders for the opportunity to continue our work this coming year. For more detailed information about NCIEC activities please visit interpretereducation.org. STAFF NEWS The National Interpreter Education Center (NIEC) director, Cathy Cogen, retired at the end of the previous five-year cycle. We would like to thank Cathy for the many years of outstanding work she has contributed to our field and community. Her successor is Trudy Schafer, former Project Coordinator of the NIEC, who started in the role as director on October 1, 2015. The University of Northern Colorado (UNC) MARIE Center is happy to announce that effective Monday, August 24, 2015, Amy Williamson, M.A., CI and CT, SC:L, Ed:K-12, began her service as the Legal Interpreting Programs Coordinator. In this role, she provides the oversight and lead instruction for the foursemester, online Legal Interpreting Training Certificate Program (LITP) and Court Interpreting Induction Program, as well as coordination of specialized training events that will be implemented in each of the NCIEC regions during year six. The National Consortium of Interpreter Education Centers regional and national centers are funded by the U.S. Department of Education Rehabilitation Services Administration, CFDA 84.160A and 84.160B.
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FEATURE STORY
So Many Resources, So Little Time! NCIEC Products Featured at the 2015 VRSII Interpreter Educators Symposium On March 3, 2015, participants arrived in a snow storm for the 2015 VRS Interpreting Institute (VRSII) Interpreter Educators Symposium and spent the next three days digging through drifts of teaching modules, teaching media, research articles and supports, essential readings, specialized curricula, and Deaf and DeafBlind self-advocacy training materials produced by the National Consortium of Interpreter Education Centers (NCIEC). Boston members of the NCIEC presentation team were thanked heartily by Salt Lake City locals for bringing the long-awaited storm with them. The overarching goal of the symposium, a collaborative effort of the VRSII and the NCIEC, was to provide participants with the knowledge and tools to more deliberately and effectively infuse the myriad NCIEC resources into their interpreter education programs. To accomplish this goal, the symposium created a hands-on environment that allowed participants to wade, sift, and drill deeply into NCIEC interpreter education resources that they believed would have merit for their program and enhance their teaching. Participants’ work began before they arrived – three weeks prior to be more specific, when participants engaged in a self- assessment, pre-test, and pre-symposium “homework.” This preparation helped participants gain an initial overview of the structure and content of the NCIEC website at www.interpretereducation.org, so they could hit the ground running once arriving in Salt Lake City. According to one participant, “I never knew so many NCIEC resources existed. And, thank goodness I did my homework ahead of time.” Even the NCIEC presentation team was pleasantly surprised, and a bit overwhelmed, by the depth and breadth of the free resources, as they prepared for the event.
Team Street CredZZ shows off their attitude and their technology skills. From left to right: Michelle Swaney (University of Tennessee-Knoxville), Dr. Carol Patrie (Effective Interpreting, Inc.), Dr. Julie Delkamiller (University of Nebraska-Omaha), Dr. Nanci Scheetz (Valdosta State University), Denise Smith (Nova Scotia Community College), Stacy Marsala (Western Michigan University) 22
Once on site in Salt Lake City, 98 participants, representing more than 50 interpreter education programs and a handful of freelance interpreter educators, worked in groups of five to eight, immersing themselves for two full days in relevant NCIEC products. Participants enjoyed the luxury of having not a single distraction (except perhaps the occasional text and email) to focus on one of the following six themes: 1) classroom media; 2) classroom modules; 3) Deaf self-advocacy training (DSAT); 4) research; 5) specialized curricula; and 6) student readers. Each group was charged with not only highVIEWS Volume 32 • Issue 1
FEATURE STORY level critical thinking, but also assigning a personalized name to their group, a task most groups took very seriously. The team names included, among many others, the Media Mavericks, the N.E.R.D.S., the Modulators and Street CredZZ. Focusing on a single theme, each team collectively researched, pondered, and problem-solved, and shared countless possibilities about the theme’s potential in the classroom – 16 hours to be a learner rather than a teacher. The symposium culminated in group presentations that afforded the participants an opportunity to share what they gleaned and offer possible teaching applications for the NCIEC materials. The creativity conveyed and the countless possibilities developed were outstanding. For some participants, the impact was immediate. One attendee said, “During one of our sessions, I discovered an article/video under ‘classroom modules’ under the social justice topic. It was a perfect match for our college’s comparative cultures class. I forwarded the link to the instructor and she used it the very next day! Going forward, I feel I have a little extra ‘pot of gold materials’.” With the blizzard looming outside, according to one participant, “If you’re looking for a blizzard full of easy-to-use, tropical breeze-reflected resources in your program, please don’t miss the road sign directing you to the NCIEC website.” A huge thank you to the VRSII team for creating an environment that allowed for the days of learning that occurred, and one that left everyone wanting more, as they echoed the same lament, “So many resources, so little time!”
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Group Photo Names: L to R: Clint Behunin (VRSII), Teresa Edwards (VRSII), Trudy Schafer (NCIEC), Cathy Cogen (NCIEC), Samond Bishara (VRSII), Pauline Annarino (NCIEC), Anna WitterMerithew (NCIEC), Joseph Featherstone (VRSII), Beverly Hollrah (NCIEC), Holly Nelson (VRSII), Annette Miner (VRSII), Teddi von Pingel (VRSII); not pictured: Carolyn Ball (VRSII)
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FROM THE DESK OF JULIE ANNE SCHAFER, J.D. FEATURE STORY
Looking for free NCIEC Resources? Go to one or more of the following sites: • interpretereducation.org • diinstitute.org • healthcareinterpreting.org • discoverinterpreting.com • deafselfadvocacy.org
www.deafselfadvocacy.org: Dedicated to an “…of, by, and for the Deaf, hard of hearing, and DeafBlind” philosophy The NCIEC Deaf Self-Advocacy Training initiative promulgates an “…of, by, and for the Deaf, hard of hearing, and/or DeafBlind” philosophy in all aspects of its programming. The DSAT curriculum was developed by individuals who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing or DeafBlind and designed as a peer-led training. For more information on available free resources, please contact: nciec@interpretereducation.org The NCIEC Centers are funded from 2010 to 2015 by U.S. Department of Education Rehabilitation Services Administration grants, CFDA 84.160A and 84.160AB, Training of Interpreters for Individuals Who Are Deaf and Individuals Who Are Deaf-Blind.
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MANO A MANO Video: https://youtu.be/Wre31T75A6c
Intérpretes trilingües en todo los EE. UU. se benefician de capacitación patrocinada por el NCIEC Por Rafael Treviño
Intérpretes trilingües en todo el país que trabajan entre la ASL, el español y el inglés aprovechan este año de un nuevo currículo con base empírico, llevado a cabo por doce líderes debidamente formados en el campo. Éstos fueron seleccionados por un comité organizado a través del Consorcio Nacional de Centros para la Educación de Intérpretes (NCIEC, por sus siglas en inglés) para que participaran en una sesión para capacitar instructores en Silver Spring, Maryland, del 23 al 26 de enero de 2015. Hasta la fecha, más de 90 intérpretes trilingües han participado en talleres y minicursos en Chicago, Illinois; Miami, Florida; Sacramento, California; San Juan, Puerto Rico; y Portland, Oregón, y con más por venir. De hecho, la mayoría de las capacitaciones se llevaron a cabo simultáneamente el último fin de semana de mayo. Los formatos de las capacitaciones incluyeron desde seminarios virtuales y talleres presenciales hasta cursos semipresenciales (parte en línea y parte presencial). Parte del motivo de la variedad en formatos de las capacitaciones es que fueron basadas en el nuevo Interpreting in Spanish-Influenced Settings: A Curriculum Guide (‘La interpretación en situaciones influenciadas por el español: una guía curricular’, 2015), un instrumento pedagógico flexible. Según el sitio Web del NCIEC, la guía curricular es justamente eso —una guía: «Su intención no es ser un currículo exhaustivo que se puede tomar e implementar tal cual, sino que se considera como una hoja de ruta llena de ideas y pistas educativas». Las diferentes duraciones y formatos de los talleres son un testamento de qué tan bien la guía curricular ha cumplido con su meta. La guía curricular en sí parte de las categorías de destrezas y competencias trazadas en otro hito publicado por el NCIEC, Hacia las prácticas efectivas: Interpretación en situaciones influenciadas por el español (Annarino, Aponte-Samalot y Quinto-Pozos, 2014), que a su vez se basaron en una investigación realizada por Kristie Casanova de Canales y Rafael Treviño. Las categorías comprenden las destrezas y competencias únicas de la interpretación trilingüe en las áreas de (1) conocimientos, (2) lengua y cultura, (3) evaluación del usuario, (4) el ejercicio de la interpretación y (5) el profesionalismo. Ana Hernández, una de los instructores, manifestó: «Creo que el elemento más beneficioso es que el currículo proporciona un estándar común a seguir por los intérpretes trilingües para ofrecer mejores servicios, no como lo que ha sucedido hasta el momento en que todo el mundo sigue su propio camino. Éstas son pautas basadas en la investigación». Muy semejante a cómo la comunidad de intérpretes en general descubrió que conocer dos idiomas no es suficiente para llamarse intérprete, la comunidad de intérpretes trilingües ha descubierto que los profesionales pueden beneficiarse de la capacitación y un fundamento sólido, alentados por la investigación y las mejores prácticas. Se dirigió la formación de los instructores por Leonardo Álvarez (Nueva York), Arlene Narváez 26
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MANO A MANO
Trilingual Interpreters Benefit from Trainings Across the U.S., Sponsored by the NCIEC By Rafael Treviño
Trilingual interpreters across the country who work in ASL, Spanish, and English are benefitting this year from a new, evidence-based curriculum, executed by 12 specially-trained leaders in the field. The 12 trainers were selected by a committee organized through the National Consortium of Interpreter Education Centers (NCIEC) to participate in a train-the-trainer session in Silver Spring, MD, from January 23–26, 2015. To date, more than 90 trilingual interpreters have participated in workshops and mini-courses in Chicago, IL; Miami, FL; Sacramento, CA; San Juan, PR; and Portland, OR, with more to come. In fact, most of the trainings occurred simultaneously during the last weekend of May. The format of the trainings has ranged from webinars and in-person workshops to blended courses (part online, part in person). Part of the reason for the variety in formats of the trainings is that they are based on the new Interpreting in Spanish-Influenced Settings: A Curriculum Guide (2015), a flexible pedagogical instrument. Per the NCIEC’s website, the curriculum guide is just that, a guide: “It is not intended to be a comprehensive curriculum that can be picked up and implemented. Rather, consider it as a roadmap full of ideas and educational pathways.” The differences in lengths and formats of the workshops are a testament to how well the curriculum guide has accomplished its goal. The curriculum guide itself pulls from the domains of skills and competencies outlined in another landmark publication by the NCIEC, Toward Effective Practice: Interpreting in Spanish-Influenced Settings (Annarino, Aponte-Samalot, & Quinto-Pozos, 2014), which were based on a research study conducted by Kristie Casanova de Canales and Rafael Treviño. The domains consist of skills and competencies unique to trilingual interpreting in the areas of (1) knowledge, (2) language and culture, (3) consumer assessment, (4) interpreting practice, and (5) professionalism. Ana Hernández, one of the trainers, says, “I think the most beneficial element is that the curriculum provides a common standard for trilingual interpreters to follow in order to offer better services, as opposed to what has been happening so far where everyone does their own thing. These are evidence-based guidelines.” Much like the mainstream interpreter community found that knowing two languages is not enough to call oneself an interpreter, the trilingual interpreter community has found that its practitioners can benefit from training and a solid foundation informed by research and best practices. The train-the-trainer session was led by Leonardo Álvarez (New York), Arlene Narváez (California), and Rafael Treviño (Florida), and facilitated by NCIEC liaisons and personnel: Pauline Annarino (California), Diana Doucette (Massachusetts), Beverly Hollrah (D.C.), and Hilary Mayhew (D.C.). In addition to Álvarez, Narváez, and Treviño, the others who completed the training were Esteban Amaro (Illinois), Masanda Boyd (New York), Edwin Cancel (Oregon), Ana Hernández (Florida), Gloria Herrera (Illinois), Caleb López (California), Nora McAllister (Texas), Jorge Santiago O’Neill (Puerto Rico), and Eliezer Sierra (Florida). Representatives from the Council de Manos, formerly www.rid.org
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"Interpretes trilingues...", continuación.
(California) y Rafael Treviño (Florida), y se organizó por los enlaces y el personal del NCIEC: Pauline Annarino (California), Diana Doucette (Massachusetts), Beverly Hollrah (D.C.) y Hilary Mayhew (D.C.). Además de Álvarez, Narváez y Treviño, los otros que completaron la formación fueron Esteban Amaro (Illinois), Masanda Boyd (Nueva York), Edwin Cancel (Oregón), Ana Hernández (Florida), Gloria Herrera (Illinois), Caleb López (California), Nora McAllister (Texas), Jorge Santiago O’Neill (Puerto Rico) y Eliezer Sierra (Florida). Se invitaron a representantes del Council de Manos —antes conocido como el National Council of Hispano Deaf and Hard of Hearing— a participar, pero desafortunadamente no pudieron asistir.
MANO A MANO
"Trilingual Interpreters...", continued.
known as the National Council of Hispano Deaf and Hard of Hearing, were invited to participate, but unfortunately they were not able to do so. The curriculum guide and the other resources mentioned here, as well as a list of the trainers and upcoming trainings, are available free to the public on the NCIEC’s website: http://www.interpretereducation.org/specialization/aslspanishenglish/.
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La guía curricular y los otros recursos mencionados arriba, así como una lista de los instructores y las capacitaciones pendientes, están disponible sin costo al público en el sitio Web del NCIEC: http://www.interpretereducation.org/specialization/aslspanishenglish/.
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Rafael Treviño, M.A., is a member of the NCIEC’s Trilingual Task Force and one of the presenters for the Train-the-Trainers session held in 2015. He holds NIC Advanced certification (ASL-English) by RID, Trilingual Master certification (ASL-Spanish-English) by the Texas Board for Evaluation of Interpreters, and he is a Florida Certified Court Interpreter (Spanish-English, #12-00226). He lives and works in Miami, Florida, as a freelance interpreter, translator, and consultant.
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VIEWS Volume 32 • Issue 1
Dear Encounters With Reality:
ENCOUNTERS WITH REALITY
A Deaf student attending the university is looking to make extra money by offering to babysit to faculty and staff on campus. If she is a student for whom I interpret, is it appropriate to use her services as a sitter? I’ve thought about this from several angles and from the fact that this is such a small community. There is often overlap in the community. However, she did not babysit for my family before she was in college or before I was her interpreter. Thus, I don’t know if it’s appropriate to assume those boundaries are secondary because of what COULD be. Brenda Cartwright, M.S., CSC, CI and CT, Michigan
An Experienced Interpreter’s Perspective: It is not appropriate to confuse roles. This becomes way too personal. Even if the student babysat in the past, that relationship has changed, so it is no longer appropriate.
An Experienced Deaf Consumer’s Perspective: This could be sticky, so I would say no. It is a grey area, and I would wager some interpreters would not see any conflict. I would steer clear though just to be safe. Boundaries are important. An NIC Candidate’s Perspective: My gut instinct is no. I am a firm believer in separating personal and professional lives. It just causes complications. Maybe not immediately but is it really a door that needs to be opened? What will your children tell this person? What types of attitudes or problems might be exposed? For me, I would not do it. I would not have a client that I work with on or off campus babysit my children as a general rule. Do you really want this person to see your personal belongings, such as your bedroom, your bathroom closet? Do you want them to see you come home after a long night out? It just doesn’t settle well with me. If there was an emergency, and I knew this person could help out in a pinch, then that might be different. I like boundaries. Boundaries are beneficial for all professions. It might be interesting to see the different range of opinions on this topic in different areas of the country too.
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INTERPRETER’S RESOURCE SHELF
Interpreters Resource Shelf, by Kathy MacMillan, NIC, M.L.S.
More Than Meets the Eye: Revealing the Complexities of an Interpreted Education by Melissa B. Smith, Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet University Press, 2013. ISBN: 978-1-56368-579-8. It is well-known that educational interpreters are called upon to do much more than just interpret or transliterate, but research into what exactly that they do has been surprisingly scarce. Smith’s book seeks to bridge that gap with a detailed study of a sampling of interpreters in fifth and sixth grade classrooms. Smith observed six interpreters, with video cameras catching multiple views of the students, interpreters, and teachers. Follow-up interviews with the interpreters focused on analysis of the interpreters’ responses to the many demands, linguistic
and otherwise, that arose. Many of the challenges faced by educational interpreters are well-known, if not well-documented: not enough training, not enough time to develop content knowledge, lack of appropriate teaming and support, and lack of collaboration from educators. Smith’s study also illuminates another prevalent challenge - competing visual demands. The study found that interpreters and Deaf students were confronted with competing visual information – demonstrations, video presentations, writing on the board, use of visual aids, and more – an astounding 89 percent of the time. Smith’s analysis of the strategies that the interpreters used to attempt equivalence in the face of this near-impossible situation is fascinating and useful information for any interpreter, not just those who work in schools. In her breakdown of the other tasks that educational interpreters perform, such as tutoring, advocacy, and direct reinforcement, it becomes clear that these activities, rather than taking the interpreter out of role, are in fact vital to creating a mainstream classroom experience for Deaf students that even approaches equivalence. Smith offers much food for thought, as well as directions for future research and recommendations for improved training of educational interpreters. CEU Savvy To earn CEUs using this book, initiate an Independent Study by contacting an RID-approved sponsor. (See http://www.rid.org/continuing-education/earning-rid-ceus/independent-study-2/ for details.) Read the book, then submit a reflection paper to your sponsor addressing questions such as: What other skills besides interpreting must an effective educational interpreter possess? Give three specific examples of competing visual demands in the classroom and strategies that the interpreter could use to address them. What are the issues related to interpreting read-alouds in the classroom? Read the RID Standard Practice Paper for K-12 Interpreting at http://www.rid.org/about-interpreting/standard-practice-papers/. How does the information in this paper relate to Smith’s study? What can interpreters do at the individual or organizational level to improve the state of interpreter-mediated education for Deaf children? This column appears in each issue of VIEWS. Please direct questions, comments, or suggestions for resources to highlight in future issues to Kathy MacMillan at kathymacmillan@gmail.com. Kathy MacMillan, NIC, M.L.S., has been interpreting full-time since 2005. She is also a librarian and the author of Little Hands and Big Hands: Children and Adults Signing Together (Huron Street Press, 2013).
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NAD: TOP FIVE PRIORITIES
TOP 5 Priorities 2014-2016
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t the 52nd Biennial NAD Conference, approximately 150 delegates from nearly every state association and numerous affiliates gathered to determine the top five priorities for the NAD to address in the next two years. To see a full listing of the priorities, visit www.nad.org/about-us/priorities.
Preservation and Advocacy of Relay Services The NAD will work to preserve and improve the relay system. This priority requires us to: produce a white paper on the current situation of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations and how they affect relay services; oppose the Video Relay Service (VRS) Neutral Platform as proposed by the FCC; advocate for higher reimbursement rates for VRS and IP Relay providers; demand that consumers have the ability to choose their preferred VRS interpreter based on skills through a skills-based routing system, videophone numbers for hearing users; reimbursement for VRS Certified Deaf Interpreters (CDIs); and call for congressional attention to the current relay services situation and how the FCC has handled this system.
FEMA Communications to Deaf and Hard of Hearing Persons The NAD will work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to ensure equal access to all communications during emergencies or disasters. During disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, fires, as well as shootings or bombings, it is critical that deaf and hard of
5 hearing people have the information before the event so that they can be safe during the event, and get assistance after the event is over. Emergency planning should include how certified interpreters and closed captions will be provided before, during, and after emergencies.
Preservation of Mental Health Services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People The NAD will develop a position statement with guidelines on the different kinds of mental health services managed care entities must provide to deaf and hard of hearing individuals., The NAD will work with mental health experts to determine best practices within the system and to ensure appropriate services are available to our community. The NAD will also conduct dialogue with stakeholders in the mental health field to promote the need for specialized programs and funding for deaf and hard of hearing individuals to become mental health counselors.
Defining and Supporting the Education Strategy Team’s Focus for 2014-2016 The NAD Education Strategy Team will continue its work by developing strategies to: preserve deaf schools; conduct outreach to mainstream programs; promote employment of deaf and hard of hearing people in educational settings; encourage diversity in education; include ASL-English bilingualism in the Deaf Child’s Bill of Rights; collaborate with other organizations to make sure deaf and NADmag
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Fall 2014
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VIEWS Volume 32 • Issue 1
opportunity to achieve their full potential and to participate in various NAD youth leadership programs. In addition, the NAD will provide educational advocacy training to professionals and students, with an emphasis on socio-emotional needs and language access. The NAD will also create a Deaf Youth Day model for state associations to help elevate recognition, awareness, and self-esteem for deaf and hard of hearing youth across the country. n hard of hearing children enter kindergarten ready to learn; support state parent advocacy groups; and develop a clearinghouse with information on successful schools and programs for deaf and hard of hearing students.
Jenny Buechner is the NAD Region II representative, and Andrew Phillips, Esq., is policy counsel at the NAD.
Outreach to Deaf Youth in Mainstream Programs The NAD will engage in direct outreach to mainstream school programs to ensure that deaf and hard of hearing students everywhere have the
NADmag
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FROM THE CERTIFICATION DEPARTMENT
Update on Moratorium Registrations
Video: https://youtu.be/Wre31T75A6c
by Dan Ebeling, Certification Manager, RID (video signed by Julie Anne Schafer, J.D. Director of Public Policy and Advocacy)
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he announcement of the moratorium on certifications created a large influx of exam registrations, particularly for the NIC Interview and Performance Exam. During the two months between the announcement and the October 1, 2015, registration deadline, RID processed 339 registrations for RID Knowledge Exams and 832 for RID Performance Exams. This is over five times more than were registered during the same time period in 2014. The chart below demonstrates exam registrations on a monthly basis between April 2014
and October 2015. It is anticipated that the vast majority of these exams will be taken during the months of November and December 2015. With such a large number of test takers in a short period of time, we anticipate that there will be delays in score reporting. The extent of these delays depends on the capacity of the exam processing systems, which are being assessed at this time. Realistic results turnaround times will be communicated with the candidates in queue as they become available. This content is duplicated on our website (with a larger graph) here: http://rid. org/2015/12/update-on-moratorium-registrations/
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VIEWS Volume 32 • Issue 1
FROM THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE Is earning CEUs a chore? Are you taking just any workshop that come to town because it seems to be the only way to get 8.0 CEUs by the end of your four-year cycle? Do you ever feel like everything you see with approved CEUs is something you’ve done before? Do you ever feel like you’re just not interested in anything that is offering CEUs? Whose idea was this, to require CEUs anyway? Ours. Unanimously. At the 1993 national convention in Evansville, IN, the RID membership unanimously approved the Certification Maintenance Program (CMP). This was the first recorded unanimous vote in our history. The quest for required documentation of learning had been a part of the national conversation since at least 1981. In the early conversation, a framework for locally-designed and locallyadministered certification maintenance had been proposed. Over the course of the next few years, only three affiliate chapters actually implemented an education documentation program. In 1989, RID members were dissatisfied, and an ad hoc committee was established to design a uniform national program. Four years later, the ad hoc committee proposed to the membership what is today – 20 years later - our Certification Maintenance Program (CMP). (Author’s aside: Can you imagine the environment and the ethos in which a membership would unanimously approve that additional requirements be set upon itself? Can you imagine being a certified interpreter asking for mandated CEUs? At the time there were no requirements beyond certification - no required workshops, no expectations around continuing studies, no documentation! And yet the membership supported the instantiation of the CMP without opposition.) What’s the point? You! A three-part system supports your credentials and makes them legally defensible. The CMP is just one leg in that structure. It is directed by the Professional Development Committee (PDC). The PDC, the Certification Committee, and the Ethical Practices System (EPS) compose our certification triad. Each piece is a vertex that supports the other two. These three systems work together to ensure that your credentials have meaning. They declare that interpreters have demonstrated basic knowledge and competence, that interpreters continue to engage in professional development and education, and that they have a commitment to ethical behavior. Rationale for the CMP aside, CEUs are still a drag.
Well, maybe you’re doing it wrong!
Let’s set aside continuing education for a moment. Let’s pretend that we have no need to prove that we, as practicing professionals, continue to engage in learning. What kinds of things are you curious about? What topics do you hear about and say, “I want to know more?” What challenges do you experience that you wish you understood more deeply? What do you explore in your spare time, when no one is looking and no one is asking you to prove that you’ve done what you’re doing? If you weren’t so busy chasing CEUs, what would you WANT to learn? Learning isn’t reserved for the classroom. As living people, we all learn every day. We watch the news and hear about events that we knew nothing about yesterday. We have conversations with www.rid.org
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our friends and see how they’re handling their lives. We look up new recipes and learn new culinary techniques. We ask someone how they built a beautiful piece of furniture, or started a business, or got through a trying time in their life. We learn because we want to, because we have to, or because we’ve got nothing better to do. Challenge yourself: can you think of a day when you went to bed knowing nothing that you hadn’t known the day before? Imagine getting credit for the learning that you do on a daily basis. Why can’t you? What’s standing in your way? Are you waiting for someone to create a workshop for you? You probably have questions that you want to explore right now, such as: how do I find the right care for my ailing family member? What can I write off in my taxes? What are surrogates in ASL? What does reflective practice look like (and what does it not look like)? With just a little attention, questions turn into inquiry, inquiry into investigation and investigation into knowledge. A well-designed workshop hopefully asks a question that you yourself have been wondering about. It leads you through a process of exploration. In the end, hopefully you have acquired some new knowledge that you didn’t have before the workshop. And then you write down your RID number. You don’t need the workshop to get the knowledge! When you create the questions, you tailor the learning to what inspires you! And you still get to put down your RID number – most of the time. Take a class at an accredited college or university and file Academic Coursework with a CMP Sponsor. Attend a lecture at a local library and file participant initiated non-RID activities (PINRA) with a CMP Sponsor. Choose a topic of interest and develop your own personal learning program for up to 2.0 CEUs through independent study by working with a CMP sponsor. And, if that perfect workshop actually comes to town, make sure it’s approved for CEUs through the CMP Sponsor as a sponsor-initiated activity! Who knows, maybe after you do an independent study, perhaps you’ll be the one presenting that workshop! If you’re not enjoying earning your CEUs, behold, there is another way! Start a relationship with a CMP administrator today, and you can get credit for things you care about. It takes only a little time and a little planning, and you’ll never regret breaking free from the CEUs chase. After certification, interpreters are bound to four-year cycles of earning CEUs credit. Why spend the next 10, 20, 30, or even 40 years attending workshops that don’t thrill you? Giving up your time, your money, your sense of peace and ease, all for a few CEUs? You have your own interests, your own questions, your own ideas and opinions! Can you afford NOT to pursue your own interests? Stop chasing the CEUs and let your curiosity be your driver. You might be surprised at how many CEUs pile up in the wake. The Professional Development Committee: Richard Laurion (Chair) Mary MacLean (CIT Rep) Lisa Bolding Nathan Fowler Dawn Raymond Dawn Duran CM Hall (RID Board Liaison) Carol Turner (RID HQ Liaison) For more information about the PDC, visit: http://www.rid.org/pdc/
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VIEWS Volume 32 • Issue 1
FROM THE EPS DEPARTMENT
EPS Updates
by Tressela Bateson
RID and the Ethical Practices System (EPS) Welcomes New EPS Coordinator On October 1, 2015, Tressela Bateson joined the RID Headquarters staff as the EPS Coordinator. She replaces Pamela Whitney, who served as Interim EPS Coordinator prior to Tressela’s arrival. Tressela (Tressy) was born in West Virginia and grew up there until her family relocated to Virginia. After graduating from Model Secondary School for the Deaf, she obtained her B.A. in Psychology from California State University, Northridge, and then attended Gallaudet University for a Master’s of Arts in School Guidance and Counseling. Tressy worked in the counseling field, including 14 years in Mental Health Counseling, before making a career change and teaching ASL. She taught at Clemson University for six years during the development of Clemson’s interpreter training program. Her combined experience working with ASL students/future interpreters as well as the empathy and expertise gained in counseling add tremendous value to the EPS and to RID as a whole. Since beginning as the EPS Coordinator, Tressela’s primary focus has been on understanding and applying the EPS Policy Manual, learning the process, and reaching out to parties involved in complaints.
State of the EPS Effective September 1, 2015, the EPS was internally restructured and is now under the purview of the Standards and Practices Department. Julie Anne Schafer, previously the Director of Public Policy and Advocacy, is now the Director of Standards and Practices. Restructuring, along with multiple staffing changes, has created an 8-month backlog in case processing. The total number of cases received to date for 2015 is 53. This is a 15 percent increase from 2014, and double the number of cases received in any year prior to 2014. There currently are 49 cases that are being processed in intake or are open. Backlogged cases will receive priority attention while we continue processing new cases. Your patience is appreciated during this time of transition. Headquarters staff is working with the Ethics Committee to identify challenges in the EPS, including seeking their review and feedback on potential updates to the EPS Policy Manual. The committee www.rid.org
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has begun to review the current EPS manual, which has not been updated in 10 years. Together, we have identified some key issues within the EPS Policy Manual that need revision and have been discussing specific sections that need immediate attention. Another challenge we anticipate addressing early in 2016 is the need to recruit more mediators and adjudicators, as well as offer training to those currently serving in those roles. There are currently 12 mediators on our roster and 12 adjudicators. As the number of EPS cases has risen dramatically over the last several years, the pool of mediators and adjudicators to address the influx of cases is insufficient. Our goals for the EPS for 2016 are to: 1. Eliminate the backlog of cases currently in the EPS. 2. Recruit mediators and adjudicators to meet the current system demands. 3. Ensure mediators and adjudicators receive appropriate training and resources to do their work. 4. Enhance EPS materials on the RID website, including completion of the electronic EPS complaint form in both English and ASL. 5. Update and revise the current EPS Policy Manual. We want to thank all of the volunteers, including the Ethics Committee, mediators, and adjudicators, who have worked tirelessly to support the EPS. We also thank Pamela Whitney for her months of dedicated service to help the EPS navigate a time of significant transition. We look forward to providing updates on our goals and work in the VIEWS. Meanwhile, please feel free to contact us at: ethics@rid.org or 571-384-5849
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VIEWS Volume 32 • Issue 1
Newly Certified Certifications awarded 6/19/15 to 12/2/15 We hope you’ll join us in congratulating these newly certified interpreters! National Interpreter Certification Region I Michelle Anne Christopher, MA Tsana Dimanin, MA Amy Houran, ME Lori Amato, NJ Jamie Forman, NY Michael John Miille, NY Jennifer Tester, NY Kate L. Blank, PA Emily Donati, PA Heather Hamilton, PA Kathy A Shively, PA Region II Katherine Lynn Anderson, AL Jordan Castilla, DC Aimee Forte, DC Brittany Cooper, FL Trevor Kazaks, FL Alexia Linzy Schwab, GA Cara Lee Keith, MD Christine Anne McQuaid, MD Daniel J. Johnson, NC Stephanie Oliver, NC Paula Jo Fisher, TN Mario Murry, TN Brian Courtney, VA Amber Hess, VA Region III Kyndal Gonzalez, IL Glen Wood, IL Jennifer Michelle Jackson, IN Angelica Lehman, IN Melissa Ann Poore, IN Jesse Coyer, KY Mandi McCann, KY Megan Elizabeth Gaines, MI Mitchell Holaly, MI www.rid.org
Patricia Marie Kanke, MN Rachel Ann Rothering, MN Jackie Schreifels, MN Jennifer Ann Ansevin, OH Kaylee Blake Collins, OH Tanya L Haga, OH Dagmar King, OH Jessica L Tucker, OH Region IV Clint Jacob Brockway, AR Gwen Walton, CO Danielle Bredenberg, IA Nicole Grant, IA Andrea M Stermin, LA Brandi Lauren Burrell, NM Efrain Elias Rodriguez, NM Katie M. Peterson, SD Kristina A. Arellano, TX Donna M Head, TX Amanda Rojana, TX Region V Gavin Baker, AZ Noah Kenney Berlove, CA Kristin D Deverin, CA Shyan Hamidi-Sabet, CA Melissa Hernandez, CA Courtney Lloyd, CA Jafet Sauceda, CA Patricia Ellen Durham, ID Laurielle Yvette Aviles, OR Renee Lynette Bisnett, OR Amanda Hays, OR Jennifer Kidd, OR Elizabeth Bennion, UT Marcela Stanger Lopez, UT Kaila Allen, WA Kristina Bookshnis, WA Alexis Nicole Chasney, WA Jennifer Rix, WA 41
Jennie Melvina Stair, WA Zachary A. Welch, WA Certified Deaf Interpreter Region I Ronald C. Thomas, MA Veronica Lepore, NJ John P. Dunleavy, NY William E Windhorn Jr, NY Christy Hennessey, PA Mary Essex, VT Region II Aaron Kubey, DC Kevin Taylor, MD Donnie Dove, Jr, NC Rhonda L Jennings, VA Region III Susan Elizabeth Rangel, IL Raymond Rodgers, IL Pauline Ballentine, MN Region IV Elsie Sue Stecker, CO Suzanne L. Stecker, CO Krystal Sanders, KS Michael C Francisco, TX Alicia liane Mcclurkan, TX James Douglas Rollins, TX Benjamin Swindle, TX Region V Brenda L Tress, AZ Mando Garza, CA Justin Luke Jackerson, CA John Lee Maucere, CA Matthew Moyers, CA Gary Dean Christensen, UT Specialist Certificate: Legal Region I Christine A. West, RI Region II 42
Ruth A. Dubin, GA Amanda C Fish, MD Amanda HF Mueller, MD Jeannie Settlemire, TN Region III Jamie Rix, MI Amy L. Fryman, WI Region IV Leah G. Ekrut, NM Benjamin M. Davis, OK Region V Nichola Flovia Horrell-Schmitz, CA Paula Bazinet, WA Conditional Legal Interpreting Permit-Relay Region I Arkady Belozovsky, MA Fatima Maria Silvestre, MA Region II Ritchie Bryant, DC Region III Jake Hartmann, WI Region V Ryan A. Shephard, CA Buck Rogers, WA Educational Certificate: K-12 Region I Olivia Andert, MA Sarah Littlefield, ME Janet Lee Rivera, NJ Katharyn Head, NY Mary Biggans, PA Region II Kris W. Courson, AL Nicole Bihlmayer, FL Jodi Lynn Manore, FL Kristen Smith, FL VIEWS Volume 32 • Issue 1
Levi Cooper, GA Martha Perdomo, GA Kathlyn Rachel Stevenson, MD Meghan Harpold, NC Ashley Lombardi, NC Steve Fitzmaurice, SC Tanya Jennette-Thomas, SC Michele L. C. Bach-Hansen, VA Angela Teasley, VA
Rhonda T Scott, MO Kristina Gullett, NM Korie Shaw, OK Region V Shawn Francis Carlino, CA Diane King, CA Sherri DeAnn Marshall, CA Jaclyn Su Rivas, CA Patricia Loraine Shaffer, CA Christina Stevens, CA Lindsay B. Weishaar, CA Janina Witteborg, CA Camille Marie Gabriele, NV Alisa Ensign, UT
Region III Dawn L. Milka, IL Rashel Fredell, MI Region IV Kahla Scroggins, AR Cynthia L Jensen, IA Jana Broussard, LA
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EPS DECISIONS
Decisions from the Ethical Practices System (EPS) In accordance with Standard 3.10 of the EPS Manual, when a violation of the NAD-RID Code of Professional Conduct has been determined by an adjudication panel, regardless of the sanction, the interpreter’s name, location, violation, and summary of the sanction is printed in VIEWS. Interpreter
Credentials State
Amanda Niven
NIC Master
Tenets
Michigan Violation of CPC Tenet 1: Confidentiality, Tenet 3: Conduct, and Tenet 4: Respect for Consumers
Sanction Suspension of NIC: Master Certification for a period of 6 months, and completion of prescribed mentoring, ethics training, and readings, culminating in a reflective paper addressing defined criteria to be reviewed by a panel. All to be completed within 9 months. Effective March 30, 2015 Update: Suspension of NIC Master Certification and RID membership pending completion of the above referenced sanctions pursuant to EPS Policy Manual §3.12.
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Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. 333 Commerce Street A l e x a n d r i a , VA 2 2 3 1 4 views@rid.org
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