For the past 12 years John Aintablian has been the Interpreter Services Supervisor at Austin Community College. When not working at the college he does freelance work to stay connected to the community. Since living in Austin, these past 22 years, he has taught credit and non-credit ASL and interpreting classes for ACC, the University of Texas and the Texas School for the Deaf. He has been RID CSC certified since 1981 and is a former Chairperson of the RID National Certification Board. He served as an RID evaluator for several years and currently serves as a Local Test Site Administrator. GROWING INTERPRETERS: One community college's response to the shortage of qualified post-secondary interpreters
Darlene is an Assistant Professor at San Antonio College in the Department of ASL and Interpreter Training. She was born in Austin, Texas to Deaf parents. Darlene graduated from the Texas School for the Deaf in 1980 and from Gallaudet University in 1984. She got her Master's from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1986. Her work experience includes a wide variety of jobs in different places - she was a counselor/program manager at Southwest Center for the Hearing Impaired, now Methodist Mission Home, for five years before transferring to Texas Rehabilitation Commission. She has presented a variety of workshops over the last 10 years at the state and national levels. Her topics include Communicating With High Visual Learners, Deaf Blind Interpreting, Conceptual Accurate Signing, Bringing ASL to Life and Deaf Culture. She has two beautiful children, Samantha and Kristina. Honoring Deaf Culture in a Mainstream Setting
Marty Barnum, MA, CSC was the Director of the Health Care Interpreter Program at the College of St. Catherine from 1985-2000. She enjoys focusing her interpreting in medical and mental health areas. Marty has presented at numerous workshops nationally and internationally on the topic of health care interpreting, including last summer's RID National Convention in Chicago. She has served as an expert witness for several trials on behalf of Deaf people who were not provided interpreter services while in medical situations. She currently co-leads, with Linda Gill, a statewide project that advocates for Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Deaf Blind individuals in medical and legal emergency situations. Probing Medical Interpreting
Born and raised by proud Deaf parents, Byron's origins are from the Lone Star State of Texas. Byron received his Bachelor's in Deaf Studies from California State University at Northridge (CSUN) and graduated from Gallaudet University with a Master's Degree in Linguistics. Since then, he has traveled all over North America giving workshops on various topics such as Non-Manual Signals, Strong Language in ASL, Structure of ASL, Complex Classifiers, and CDI Training. Byron also co-authored a book and produced a videotape entitled Deaf Tend Your. He is a co-founder of HMB Productions (Humphrey, Marbury, Bridges), which has produced several ASL/Interpreting videotapes. Byron is a member of Certified Deaf Interpreters (CDI), has his state Level V Certification in Interpreting, and does intermediary court interpreting regularly. Byron primarily teaches the upper level ASL classes and the Interpreting classes at Austin Community College. Interpreting for Angry Deaf People
The Role of the Regional Specialist
Houston comes to us from Southwest Texas State University where he held the position of Liaison Interpreter for six years. In addition to classroom interpreting, he worked with staff, faculty and students in promoting Deaf awareness and access at the University. Before that, he worked as an educational interpreter at Northeast Independent School District. Houston began working with the Deaf Community in 1989 as Production Supervisor in the Work Training Center at Southwest Center for the Hearing Impaired.. He began freelance interpreting in 1990 and teaching continuing education courses at Palo Alto Community College in 1992. He continues to provide interpreting services on a freelance basis in the Austin/San Antonio corridor with a penchant for Performing Arts Interpreting. He is currently TCDHH-BEI Certified Level III. Lift Up Your Hands In Song: Interpreting Music in Religious Settings
Ari-Asha Castalia, BS, CI/CT, is a native of Wisconsin who completed the UW-Milwaukee Interpreter Training Program in 1989 and now lives and works in San Francisco, CA. In addition to free-lance interpreting in both community and post-secondary settings, she currently coordinates interpreter services at two post-secondary institutions. Ari looks for opportunities to 'raise the bar' whenever she can, and loves to mentor/coach interpreters of all skill levels. As an accomplished and dynamic presenter she has offered workshops on a variety of topics at the national, regional and local level. She is an aspiring stand-up comedian, and in her spare time she crochets, does yoga and hangs out with her partner and their two adopted ['broken'] cats. The Way We Do the Things We Do and Why: Analytical Skills for Interpreters
Billy D. Collins, Jr., M.S., CSC, SC:L, Texas State Court Certified Interpreter. Currently the Director of Programs for the Texas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing where he oversees the development, implementation and monitoring of services throughout the state of Texas and is working with HHSC to help transition the agency into the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS). He oversees the newly developed Court Interpreter Certification Program. He works part-time as a free-lance interpreter in the courts, community college system as well the community. He has twice been the chair, once the vice chair and currently is the secretary/treasurer of the Interpreters with Deaf Parents (IDP) special interest group for the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID). He was one of the founders and past secretary of the Telecommunications Equipment Distributors Association (TEDPA). Worked as a trainer with the National Interpreter Training Consortium at the University of Arizona. He worked as an adjunct faculty instructor in the Interpreter Training Program at Eastfield Community College in Mesquite, Texas. He is also a graduate of University of Arizona with a Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling with the Deaf. The Restructuring of State Government and what it means for TCDHH
Serving as Regional Services Specialist for the Texas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (TCDHH), Doug Dittfurth is well versed in Federal and State mandates as well as requirements set by rule and policy of Texas agencies in regards to effective communication for persons who are deaf/hard of hearing. Doug oversees the Regional Specialist Program and works with other state agencies in ways of improving access to persons who are deaf/hard of hearing. Doug's undergraduate study was Habilitation of the Deaf, Texas Christian University/Ft. Worth and he holds Master of Education degrees in Counseling and Psychometrics from Midwestern State University/Wichita Falls. His post-graduate studies have included Chemical Dependency Counseling, University of Minnesota/St. Paul and Community Programming, Gallaudet University/Washington, D.C. Feeling Coerced to Interpret? Information to Help You Out of Awkward Situations
Darin grew up in Dallas, Texas and graduated from a Regional Day School Program in Richardson, which utilized S.E.E., ASL, and M.S.S. at J.J. Pearce High School. He participated in varsity football and baseball. In 1991 he graduated from Abilene Christian University with a B.B.A. in Business Management. He was a brother of the fraternity social club, Phi Beta Epsilon and was the director of their intramural sports events. He attended graduate school acquiring his M.S. in Deaf Education at Texas Women's University in 1994. Darin is certified at the state level in Deaf Education and is also a certified ASL instructor by the National Evaluation Service in TASC-ASL by T.E.A. He worked for the Northside Independent School District at John Marshall High School as an educator for the Deaf before joining the faculty at San Antonio College. Enriching Your Children's story time through enhanced expressive skills
Jackie is deaf-blind, with Usher Syndrome, and has less than five degrees in peripheral vision. Jackie has been very active in the Deaf-Blind community in Seattle for many years and currently works at the Deaf-Blind Service Center as the Project Manager. Jackie has been involved in educating many different groups about Deaf-Blind culture including ASL students at local high & middle schools, city employees, nursing students, staff at group homes, interpreting students and vocational rehabilitation counselors for the past seven years. Deaf-Blind culture and basic Deaf-Blind Interpreting
Linda Gill, BS, CI, CT is currently an adjunct faculty member at the College of St. Catherine. Her classes include medical and mental health interpreting. She had the extreme pleasure of interpreting for two Deaf dentists and a Deaf physician. She presents nationally on the topic of medical interpreting including RID's National Convention in Chicago last summer. Currently she co-leads, with Marty Barnum, a statewide project that advocates for Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Deaf Blind individuals in medical and legal emergency situations. Probing Medical Interpreting
Melinda "Mindi" Gould has been the Lead Interpreter at Austin Community College since January 2002. She coordinates the Interpreter Mentorship Program for ACC and provides ongoing training and supervision for mentors, protégés and interns. Mindi holds a BA in Speech Pathology/Audiology from Western Washington University and worked at the Texas School for the Deaf while attending Social Work school at the University of Texas. Mindi was a mental health caseworker with deaf children and adults for 8 years before becoming a full time freelance interpreter in 1993. She was hired as a Staff Interpreter at ACC in 1995 and simultaneously taught American Sign Language in a local high school. Last year Mindi was selected to participate in the Master Mentor program out of the University of Colorado. GROWING INTERPRETERS: One community college's response to the shortage of qualified post-secondary interpreters
Jan grew up in Amarillo, Texas and worked as an interpreter and interpreter educator in Texas, Kansas, California and British Columbia. She learned ASL through interaction with members of the Deaf community and has more the 35 years of experience interpreting in a variety of settings. She is currently working with SignOn, an interpreting agency in Seattle, WA, as a video relay and community interpreter. Jan earned a doctorate degree from BYU in Education and Curriculum. She has held numerous positions with professional interpreter and interpreter education organizations, including serving as President of both the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (1988-90) and the Conference of Interpreter Trainers (1981-86). Jan is an internationally renowned author and presenter. Her first book, Miss Lillian, a biography about long-time Texas interpreter Lillian Beard, was written with Jerry Seale in 1977. She is the co-author of the popular text, So You Want to Be an Interpreter? Her most recent book, Decisions? Decisions! Is a practical guide on ethics and professionalism for Sign Language professionals. For more information, check out her website: www.SignLanguageServices.ca. Two Weddings and a Funeral: Interpreting in Religious Settings
Jackie Hyman, MEd., is the program director of NWDAC, a Chemical Dependency Program for the Deaf in Vancouver, Washington. NWDAC opened it's doors on April 30, 2001 after many years of being a dream. This program provides support to participate in treatment where language and culture does not present barriers. Jackie coordinated an intensive outpatient treatment program for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing individuals in Seattle for 7 years. She provided consultation to agencies and 12 step organizations to improve their understanding of ways to meet the needs of Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals in their community. She has also made over 10 presentations and workshops to help interpreters increase their understanding and skills in 12 step meetings and alcohol and drug treatment settings. Language of 12 steps and Alcohol and Drug Treatment
Raphael (Ray) James, MS/M.Ed., IC/TC, TCDHH-IV/CIC, ASLTA, has been a faculty member of the Interpreter Training Program since fall 1992. He generally teaches: ASL II, ASL III, Principles of Educational Interpreting, Interpreting in Academic Subjects, Advanced Interpreting, and Practicum. He received an MS/Ed in Rehabilitation Counseling with emphasis in Deafness from the University of Arkansas in 1995, and received a Bachelor of Theology from International Bible Seminary in Portsmouth, Florida, 1989. He achieved and maintains licenses with the Texas Board of Evaluation for Interpreters (BEI) under the Texas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (TCDHH) since 1980, and national certification with the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf Inc. (RID) since 1987. Mr James has been involved in Deafness and interpretation for more than twenty years with the last thirteen years as a professional educator. He is the Project Coordinator of Multi-State Preparation of Educational Interpreters at the Associate and Baccalaureate Levels, a federal grant awarded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) through the Department of Education, Washington DC. Mr. James served as adjunct instructor in the Houston Community College System, Communication with the Deaf Program, and has provided workshops, seminars, and presentations on various topics across the country and internationally. He received the Lillian Beard Interpreter of the Year award from the Deaf Community of Greater Houston, Texas, (1990), recognition for distinguished service from the Greater Houston Interpreters for the Deaf, (1992), and was awarded the Harry and Sally Bolton Award for outstanding achievement in Rehabilitation Counseling Education (with emphasis in Deafness - 1995). In 1999, the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. awarded Mr. James with the Distinguished Service Award, and in 2002, UALR's College of Education selected him for the Faculty Excellence Award in Public Service. Mr. James is politically active in interpreter organizations nationally and served as President of the Arkansas Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (ARID). He was involved for nine years with the development of the Certification Maintenance Program and the Associate Continuing Education Tracking (ACET) for the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. He served as the Chairperson of the Professional Development Committee of RID, which administers certification maintenance, for five of those years. He was recognized by the Arkansas Leadership Academy for his contribution with excellence toward the implementation of the Distance Teaching and Learning Seminar at UALR. Issues that Plague the Educational Interpreting Arena
Robert (Bob) Le Mons grew up in the military spending much of his young life in Europe being exposed to and speaking several languages. Being an "Air Force brat" he's lived in Europe, Colorado and Anchorage before settling in Seattle in 1978. While pursuing his passion for flying he obtained his private pilot license in 1984. His interest in sign language was piqued 1986 by Dan Mansfield (a well-known deaf/blind man) who encouraged him to pursue this interest. Much of his language skills he gives thanks to the Deaf/Blind community of Seattle and served as Treasurer of WSDBC (Washington State Deaf/Blind Citizens. After attending American Sign Language Interpreting School of Seattle (ASLIS) and a few years of internship, he obtained his CT in 1994 and CI in 2000. He has been a free-lance interpreter in the Seattle from 1993 to 2002 and has worked extensively with Jackie in chemical dependency settings as well as specializing in sex offender treatment both in and out of the prison system. He now resides in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma (fulfilling another passion-storm chasing!) and is currently an adjunct instructor for ASL and ASL Interpreting at Tulsa Community College. Language of 12 steps and Alcohol and Drug Treatment
Patricia Lessard has been a certified member of RID for 23 years. She has worked as a professional interpreter for at least that long, and for the last 11 years as an interpreter trainer. She has interpreted in all imaginable settings for an extremely wide range of situations including professional performers, heads of state, university courses, as well as private family functions. A caring person who regularly donates her skill to worthy causes, she is an unflagging supporter of Deaf culture and an advocate of Deaf rights. As a firm believer in the value of higher education, she continues to take graduate courses in Linguistics and Second Language Learning. For the last two years, she has been working on an interactive curriculum, Classifiers: A Closer Look, which is now available in both video and CD format. Currently Patricia divides her time between her appointment as an instructor in the interpreting program at Ohlone College, as an adjunct instructor at Vista College, various freelance commitments, and her understanding husband and dogs. She resides in Fremont, California. Revisiting Viewpoint and Perspective
Carla M. Mathers, Esquire, CSC, SC: L (2000) is an attorney in private practice with offices in Baltimore and College Park, Maryland. Ms. Mathers works for a civil litigation firm and is licensed to practice in the state and federal courts of Maryland and the District of Columbia. Ms. Mathers graduated magna cum laude from Howard University School of Law and received her undergraduate degree from University of Maryland where she graduated summa cum laude. Ms. Mathers' interpreting degree is from the College of Southern Idaho. Ms. Mathers is a former President and Vice President of the Potomac Chapter Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. Ms. Mathers is a member of the Maryland Administrative Office of the Courts' Advisory Committee on Interpreters. She sits on the Sub-committee on Ethics and the Sub-committee on Testing and Training. As a certified interpreter and a practicing lawyer, Ms. Mathers is in a unique position to provide current theoretical and practical knowledge to participants through a variety of formats. Ms. Mathers has traveled and taught court interpretation nationally since 1986. Introduction to Legal Interpreting
Dr. Monikowski received her B.S. (Secondary Education) from Shippensburg State College, Pennsylvania. She has two Masters: Counseling from Gallaudet College and Linguistics from the University of New Mexico (UNM). She received her doctorate from UNM in Educational Linguistics. Dr. Monikowski is an Associate Professor in the Department of ASL and Interpreting Education at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID/RIT) in Rochester, NY. She teaches courses in American Sign Language, ASL/English interpretation, and second language acquisition. She presents local and national workshops for interpreters and interpreter educators. Her areas of interest include second language acquisition, assessing language proficiency, educational interpreting, and distance learning for interpreters and interpreter educators. Discourse Analysis for Interpreters
Chef Jeff Perri is the first deaf graduate of Scottsdale Culinary Institute of Le Cordon Bleu. Through his experiences with interpreters in culinary school, Chef Perri saw the need to create visual CD-ROM ASL dictionaries of food signs and terms used in culinary education. His first CD-ROM dictionary, Food Signs, was released July 2002. Chef Perri, a former US Postal Service worker for 13 years, has a passion for educating the deaf public on cooking and healthy eating, as well as increasing interpreter awareness of culinary signing. Chef Perri also currently stars in his own series of instructional cooking videos presented in ASL. Learn more about Chef Perri and his educational mission at www.tomatochef.com. Culinary Signs
Julie Simon, Coordinator of the Region X Interpreter Education Center at Western Oregon University, has been an interpreter educator for over 14 years and an interpreter for over 22 years, primarily in post-secondary education, community, business, and conference settings. She holds certification through the Registry of Interpreter for the Deaf, Inc. (RID, CI & CT) and is a member of several professional organizations including the Conference of Interpreter Trainers. Julie earned her doctorate in May 1994 from the University of Arizona in Language, Reading & Culture. Understanding Register Variation in Interpreting
Sharon Newman Solow works as an interpreter, interpreter coordinator, performer, lecturer and consultant. Her career has taken her around the United States, and to Canada, Mexico, Europe, Scandinavia, New Zealand, and Australia. She is the author of two books, Sign Language Interpreting: A Basic Resource Book (Newly revised!) and Say It With Sign along with a number of professional articles and handbooks. Her television appearances include talk shows, variety shows and documentaries and she co-stars with her husband, Larry Solow, on the Emmy award-nominated NBC Knowledge series, "Say It With Sign" which still airs throughout the United States. As the female lead in "The Electric Sign Company", she and Gary Sanderson have delighted audiences for over three decades. She is a working interpreter, mostly in legal and conference settings, with a long history of classroom interpreting, interpreter training and administration. In court work she specializes in work with deaf people with minimal language skills. Her travels and some of her conference work have involved the use of international gesture interpreting (a gestural, pantomimic form of communication across international language barriers). Sharon is an active member of the RID and CIT (Conference of Interpreter Trainers), holding the specialist Certificate: Legal as well as NAD's SIGN (Sign language instructor) Comprehensive Permanent Certificate. The 1987 recipient of the national Virginia Hughes Award for outstanding contributions to the field of sign language interpreting, Sharon has lived on the Monterey Peninsula since 1984. She and her husband have two wonderful children, Megan age 24 and Jered age 21. I am Not My Work: Not taking things personally
Serving as Communication Access Specialist for the Texas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (TCDHH), Randi Turner is well versed in Federal and State mandates as well as requirements set by rule and policy of Texas agencies in regards to effective communication for persons who are deaf/hard of hearing. At TCDHH, Randi provides technical assistance and training for state and local agencies and service providers, public and private entities, regarding their obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the Rehabilitation Act and various state disability rights laws. She provides statewide advocacy training to empower people who are deaf or hard of hearing with knowledge of their disability rights and provides technical assistance to them regarding situations they encounter. She also provides statewide training for parents of children with hearing loss regarding their rights under the IDEA. Ms. Turner holds an RID CI/CT and Texas Level III Interpreter Certification. Educational Interpreters (K-12): Meeting State and Federal Requirements Feeling Coerced to Interpret? Information to Help You Out of Awkward Situations
