13 minute read
Reflections on Kurdish ITP Pilot Development: Deaf Leadership and Cross-Cultural Collaboration
ASL Version: https://youtu.be/ZITHiMQYlD4
Emma DeCaro M.A., NIC, BEI Advanced
Originally from Austin, Texas, but with much of her childhood spent in Asia, Emma holds a B.S. in Public Relations from The University of Texas at Austin (‘15) and an International Development M.A. from Gallaudet University (‘23). She has over six years of experience in communications and partnership marketing and eight years of experience as a certified interpreter. Since 2017, she has volunteered with Deaf refugees, immigrants, and asylees (RIAs) as they resettle in the U.S. Since 2021, she has been studying and collaborating with Jordanian and Kurdish Deaf communities on educational and human rights priorities. She is currently a freelance interpreter and international development consultant.
Reflections on Kurdish ITP Pilot Development: Deaf Leadership and Cross-Cultural Collaboration
My introduction to the Kurdish Deaf community came through Hawal Abdullah, who grew up in Kurdistan without access to a shared sign language or education for 18 years. He came to the U.S. in 2016. Since being introduced by a friend in 2017, he and I have navigated the systems of education, healthcare, Vocational Rehabilitation, immigration, and more. In 2021, I contacted the Kurdistan Deaf Association –Duhok via Facebook to explore the possibility of six colleagues and me visiting and learning from them.
The Kurdistan Region of Iraq’s population is 6.5 million (Kurdistan Region Statistics Office, 2023). Its Deaf population could be as large as 325,000 if using the World Health Organization’s (2023) estimate of 5% of the world’s population having hearing loss or deafness, but there has been no census to confirm this. Marked by celebrations like Newroz (Kurdish New Year) and Kurdistan Flag Day, Kurdish people are known for gathering to enjoy picnics on mountainsides with friends and family, drinking tea, sharing stories, and cherishing their diversity, languages, and culture.
While Deaf Kurds also celebrate these same traditions as their hearing peers, they do not have the right to drive (Rûdaw, 2022), are only educated until grade nine (or never attend formal education) in several cities (Jaza, 2016, p. 571), sit in classrooms under teachers who have not been trained to sign (IOM, 2022, p. 11), have limited pathways to pursue higher education (IOM, 2022, p. 17), and only have legal rights to an interpreter in the courtroom (IOM, 2002, p. 6; Amnesty International, 2009, p. 48). What is the first step toward advancing systemic change toward equality? When my colleagues and I asked this question to 70 Deaf leaders across Kurdistan at a March 2022 conference we hosted, the resounding answer was a need for qualified Kurdish Sign Language (KuSL) interpreters. The need is so great, that one Deaf woman shared she was thankful to now have a hearing daughter so her son would no longer have to interpret her OBGYN appointments.
At the time, I was a first-year International Development M.A. (IDMA) student at Gallaudet University. The trip team included two Deaf Americans (a software developer and early childhood education specialist) and five hearing Americans, three of whom were also interpreters. I am hearing, and two of the other hearing members included fellow IDMA students Samantha (Hoeksema) Wulz and Elias Henriksen. In the IDMA program, we learned the importance of collaborating with local Deaf communities to advocate for the issues they care about most. We also learned about countries where well-intended people had gone to teach American Sign Language (ASL) without researching or preserving the local sign language. We committed to avoid that mistake in Kurdistan.
Concepting and Funding
Over the next 15 months, we listened to, researched, documented, and strategized alongside Deaf Kurdish leaders via Zoom as they articulated their priorities. We translated their vision into a concept note and a house graphic. For them, the lynchpin to removing barriers was having qualified interpreters to provide communication access during meetings with government leaders and policymakers.
An internship with the Kurdistan Regional Government Representation in the United States (KRG-USA) connected me to the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX). After presenting the concept note to IREX via KRGUSA with proposed solutions, budgets, and timelines to address various barriers, my colleagues and I received a one-time small grant to develop the first KuSL interpreter training pilot course in Kurdistan. The project was supported by the U.S. Embassy, Baghdad, under the U.S. Iraq Higher Education Partnerships Program.
Building the Team
The project team included four IREX employees (Dr. Lori Mason, Anmar Albabaka, Thomas Fenton, and Benjamin Hobbs) for grant administration and program guidance; three Kurdish Deaf consultants (Ahmed Ali, Rizgar Ismail, and Karzan Rasheed) to guide the partner institution selection process, learning objectives, and KuSL instruction; two project managers/course co-instructors (Elias Henriksen and me); and two faculty consultants (Sammie Sheppard and Rebekah Covington) from Tarrant County College (TCC). Another critical team member was our spoken Badini Kurdish/English course interpreter, Aram Harbi Saadallah, who also translated all our materials and written student communication.
As a team and using screening criteria on applicant institutions, we selected The American University of Kurdistan (AUK) to host the “Introduction to Educational Interpreting” in KuSL course under its Center for Academic and Professional Advancement (CAPA). We joined status meetings with the IREX team to plan program logistics and facilitated weekly curriculum discussions via Zoom with the Kurdish Deaf consultant team and TCC.
As a final component of the project setup, we recruited a Kurdish community advisory board of representatives from three Kurdistan Regional Government ministries (Higher Education and Scientific Research, Education, Labor and Social Affairs), the Prime Minister’s office, two universities, two non-governmental organizations (NGOs), one Deaf school, a hearing parent of a Deaf student, and the president of the Kurdistan Deaf Association – Duhok. The board convened monthly to discuss course progress and larger Deaf community advocacy goals.
Designing the Curriculum and Student Selection Process
Due to funding and time constraints, we had the challenge of creating an eight-week course to cover interpreter fundamentals. To appropriately set expectations, we shared that U.S. interpreter preparation standards typically require a four-year degree, participation in an interpreter training program, and passing a certification exam. We understood eight weeks of training would not yield fully qualified interpreters; however, we knew it would be an essential first step and pilot opportunity to raise awareness about the critical need for KuSL interpreters.
The Kurdish Deaf consultants shared their hopes and desires for the course, which TCC translated into a draft syllabus. Together, we worked through each week of the syllabus to brainstorm culturally appropriate lessons, activities, projects, and assignments. We chronicled Kurdish Deaf history, role models, cultural norms, and fingerspelling.
We used Google Docs and Slides to build the curriculum, Flip for student video submissions, and EdPuzzle for receptive fingerspelling practice. We added images to virtually every curriculum slide to combat barriers from literacy limitations, and spent hours via video calls reviewing each prospective vocabulary word with the Kurdish Deaf instructors. This exercise was essential to confirm understanding and if a corresponding KuSL sign was available, while expanding our creativity and visual thinking. We filmed KuSL vocabulary YouTube videos because a Deaf-led KuSL dictionary resource does not exist.
We recruited prospective students via social media and AUK’s website to submit an essay and video in KuSL. We assumed the student applicant pool would be family and friends of Deaf individuals with strong KuSL experience; however, due to a lack of available KuSL education resources, most of the students who applied were beginner signers, and only two had Deaf relatives. Some prospective SODA and CODA applicants we connected with through the local Deaf community cited transportation, lack of a class stipend, work, and family commitments as barriers to applying for and joining the course (Anonymous, personal communication, [September 17-26, 2023]). Thirty-one students applied, 26 were accepted, and 19 attended and completed the course; 10 were local hearing teachers of Deaf (ToDs) students. The ToDs shared that no tailored Deaf education training exists in Kurdistan, and they have had to primarily rely on outdated printed KuSL dictionaries for instruction. The five applicants who were not accepted had no sign language background and did not respond to requests to resubmit their applications with KuSL resources; the seven applicants who did not attend the course even after being accepted, cited transportation and schedule conflicts as barriers to joining the course.
Teaching the Course
The course met for 32 three-hour sessions across eight weeks. For most of the instruction time, Ahmed Ali and Rizgar Ismail (Kurdish Deaf lecturers) were in the front of the class to focus on KuSL language modeling with support from hearing lecturers on higher education principles and classroom management. The course had to pivot from focusing on interpreter fundamentals to prioritizing KuSL fundamentals, layered with interpreting ethics, theory, and practice. During the first two weeks of the course, hearing students attempted to correct the Deaf instructors’ signs, which we quickly addressed: KuSL is the Deaf community’s language. Therefore, we will respect it and the Deaf instructors teaching it. We will not invent signs as hearing people. We witnessed mindsets in the 19 students shift from a limited view of the Deaf community’s potential and autonomy to an expansive view and appreciation of the Deaf community and its KuSL expertise.
For lectures, Ahmed/Rizgar signed in KuSL, Elias/I interpreted into English, and Aram interpreted into Badini Kurdish. Although we prioritized voice-off times in class to enhance the students’ KuSL expressive and receptive skills, having a spoken language interpreter in class benefited the more technical aspects of our lectures, such as interpreting ethics and theory. We dedicated several sessions to brainstorming a potential KuSL interpreter code of ethics, as Kurdistan does not have an interpreter governing body or certification process.
Outside of class, Elias and I spent time with the Kurdish Deaf community to learn as much KuSL as possible. For three weeks in the middle of the course, Elias and I co-taught remotely from the U.S. due to a security protocol concern, while our Kurdish Deaf colleagues and spoken Badini Kurdish/English interpreter continued in person with the students. We received approval to return for the final week and completion ceremony.
Course Takeaways
Students completed evaluations at the midpoint and end of the course. They loved the activities (e.g., KuSL “telephone,” Pictionary, speed challenges, and Rory’s Story Cubes), KuSL vocabulary instruction, and the Kurdish Deaf role model interview assignment. Improvement requests included a desire for additional courses, splitting KuSL and interpreting into separate semesters, a KuSL video dictionary app, and including KuSL grammar fundamentals. As course instructors, we completed a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) diagram to reflect on the course process critically and enhance future offerings.
The course fostered additional benefits, like the opportunity for Kurdish Deaf women artisans to showcase their work at AUK; facilitating three outreach events for the Kurdistan Deaf Association – Duhok; hosting seven Deaf guest presenters; and bringing Deaf leaders to meet with 15 organizations and government representatives about the Kurdish Deaf community’s future economic, educational, and civic opportunities. In addition, discussions are underway to explore the possibility of Deaf-led KuSL courses at Kurdistan universities. The importance of collaboration with local Deaf communities cannot be understated and requires patience. Pulse-checking and maintaining open lines of communication with a posture of humility throughout the process was vital to maintaining mutual understanding and priority alignment.
Although this interpreter training course provided a basic framework of KuSL and the sign language interpreting profession, it was only the first step in creating a robust two-year university-level training program. We acknowledge this course alone is insufficient to combat the history of social stigma and limited resources the Kurdish Deaf community has confronted.
Through this pilot course, our colleagues introduced KuSL as a living, diverse, and respected language to a class of hearing students. We spotlighted Deaf Kurdish leaders in public events, high-level government meetings, and social media. This course was the first time a Deaf Kurdish person had instructed at a university level in the region. With the momentum built and the public eye placed upon the Deaf Kurdish social movement, future Deaf human rights advocacy in the region remains possible.
Food for Thought
If you want to learn how to apply your sign language interpreting skills to international contexts through collaborative projects, I highly recommend the Gallaudet University IDMA program. It gave us a critical foundation and lens to envision this project and invite stakeholders to support it. Please contact idma@gallaudet.edu for more information. Or, if supporting future interpreter training endeavors in Kurdistan is something you would like to explore, please reach out to me at emma_decaro@me.com We will continue to seek grant opportunities for expanded interpreter and educator training in Kurdistan and are always looking to build the team.
Additional Reading and Resources
Introduction to Educational Interpreting in KuSL Class. (2023). Draft of Proposed KuSL Interpreter Code of Ethics. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lzmGskMF6oN-fl_nvPefqJLelSNhAHWwL5GRliOT0hc/edit?usp=sharing
KuSL Vocabulary Videos. (2023). Home [@HannahDeafLove]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@HannahDeafLove-rf1nb
World Federation of the Deaf (WFD). (2022). Declaration on the Rights of Deaf Children. https://wfdeaf.org/rightsdeafchildren/
References
Amnesty International. (2009). Hope and Fear: Human Rights in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/49e6e8922.pdf
International Organization for Migration (IOM). (2022). Deaf People in Iraq, A Cultural-Linguistic Minority: Their Rights and Vision for Inclusion. https://mena.iom.int/sites/g/files/tmzbdl686/files/documents/Deaf%20people%20in%20Iraq%2C%20a%20cultural-linguistic%20minority%20their%20rights%20and%20vision%20for%20inclusion%20report.%20%28Updated%29%5B2%5D.pdf
Jaza, Z. (2016). 23 Kurdish Sign Language. In De Gruyter Mouton, Sign Languages of the World (pp. 567-582). https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781614518174-029/html
Kurdistan Region Statistics Office. (2023). Population. https://krso.gov.krd/en/indicator/population-and-labor-force/population
Rûdaw. (2022). Deaf People Call on the Government to Grant them Driving Licences. https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/24092022
World Health Organization. (2023). Deafness and Hearing Loss. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/deafness-and-hearing-loss
